Mayflower set sail in 1620 with 102 passengers and a meager crew. Its destination was Jamestown in Virginia, but it encountered terrible storms and was blown off course. It arrived at what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1620. The passengers went ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 26, 1620. Children could read On the Mayflower by Kate Waters. They could also visit: Mayflower.
Mayflower dropped anchor in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the Mayflower Compact was signed in 1620. This brief but extremely important document, reproduced below, was one of the first steps toward democracy.
In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.
Peregrine White, born 1620, was the first child of Pilgrims born in the New World. His parents, William and Susanna, chose the name peregrine because it means “traveler” or “pilgrim.” This meaning of peregrine is very different than the meaning most Americans would have today; a peregrine is a bird of prey. Born on the Mayflower anchored off Plymouth Colony, Peregrine had one sibling. His father died in 1621, and his mother married Edward Winslow a short time later. Both his father and stepfather were signers of the Mayflower Compact. Peregrine served in the military, and he was a well respected member of the community. He died on July 20, 1704.