Pilgrims made a migration to the New World in 1620 which was the result of the pinnacle of a group of events that started years before, when the King of England, King James abandoned the Roman Catholic Church and constructed the Church of England. Throughout his reign it became a criminal offense to practice any other religion than that which was proposed by the Church of England. The pilgrims demanded that they should be allowed to practice the religion they chose. There demands were not tolerated by the ruling government, the pilgrims found it necessary to flee the country. Initially they escaped to the Netherlands for about a decade but a war between the Spanish and the Dutch was taking shape and with a growing feeling that their children were beginning to lose their traditions, the pilgrims …show more content…
One of the challenges the pilgrims faced was creating an organized structure of governance. They had presumed that reaching the New World on land set aside by the Virginia Company, they would be under the control of England, whilst practicing any religious beliefs. They bargained with the Virginia Company and reached an agreement with the King of England. The pilgrims still found themselves free from the sovereignty of either the Virginia Company or King James, they knew without some form of governance their settlements would eventually fall apart. The Mayflower Compact was signed on November 11, 1620 onboard the Mayflower shortly after she came to harbor off Provincetown Harbor. The Mayflower Compact which is a primary source. It was written for settling pilgrims as an attempt to establish a temporary, legally binding form of self-government. The compact was signed by forty one of the men in the new settlement. This compact formed a majority ruling as the substructure of their