The Importance of the Mayflower Compact.
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Some of the passengers on the Mayflower signed a contract to work for seven years to pay for their passage to the new world. Once they arrived in Cape Cod, some of these indentured servants decided they were outside English law and could do as they pleased. The Pilgrim leaders knew that they would need everyone's cooperation if they were going to survive. This prompted the writing of the Mayflower Compact. The compact was signed by all of the men; women were excluded from the governing process. The Compact stated that they would make their own laws and choose their own leaders with equal justice for all. This is the first document of American democracy establishing "government of the people, by the people, for the people."
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