The colonization of New England was a complicated affair. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was the largest. South of it was the Plymouth Colony, the oldest. Then there was Rhode Island and Providence Plantation and the Connecticut Colony. In 1643 these four Colonies formed a confederation for defense called the United Colonies of New England. In 1692 King William arranged things to his liking; he annexed the Plymouth Colony to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but let Connecticut and Rhode Island keep their beloved charters, and so the Plymouth Colony forever after remained a part of Massachusetts.
The establishment of the New England Confederacy, the division of the ancient church, the annexation to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the loss of wealth and population, marked the end of Plymouth as an independent Colony, but not of the great influence which the Plymouth Colony and the Pilgrims have exerted, and, we hope, will continue to exert with increasing force, in perpetuating, as it originally established, our democratic form of government.
The signing of the Mayflower Compact in the cabin of the Mayflower
THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT
Signed in the Cabin of the “Mayflower,” Nov. 11th, Old Style, Nov. 21st, New Style, 1620
“In the name of God, amen, we whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc and Ireland king, defender of the faith, &c., haveing undertaken, for the glorie of God, and advancemente of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and countrie, a voyage to plant the first colonie in the northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutualy in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherence of the ends aforesaid; and by vertue hereof to enacte, constitute and frame such just and equall laws, ordenances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the general good of the colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cap-Codd the 11 of November, in the year of the raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James of England, Franc and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, ANo Dom 1620.”
| ‡ | John Carver | ‡†* | Edward Fuller |
| ‡* | William Bradford | ‡† | John Turner |
| ‡* | Edward Winslow | ‡* | Francis Eaton |
| ‡* | William Brewster | ‡†* | James Chilton |
| ‡* | Isaac Allerton | ‡ | John Crackston |
| ‡* | Myles Standish | ‡* | John Billington |
| * | John Alden | † | Moses Fletcher |
| * | Samuel Fuller | † | John Goodman |
| ‡† | Christopher Martin | †* | Degory Priest |
| ‡†* | William Mullins | † | Thomas Williams |
| ‡†* | William White | Gilbert Winslow | |
| * | Richard Warren | † | Edmond Margeson |
| * | John Howland | * | Peter Brown |
| ‡* | Stephen Hopkins | † | Richard Britteridge |
| ‡† | Edward Tilly | * | George Soule |
| ‡†* | John Tilly | † | Richard Clarke |
| * | Francis Cooke | Richard Gardiner | |
| †* | Thomas Rogers | † | John Allerton |
| ‡† | Thomas Tinker | † | Thomas English |
| ‡† | John Rigdale | * | Edward Doty |
| Edward Leister | |||