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Oct 12, 1492
Columbus discovers the New World
Columbus reaches America in 1492, and sparks the interest of many people looking to escape from Europe's harsh government. The pilgrims were looking for a place to go, and the New World was as good a place as any to secure their religious freedoms. -
the pilgrims leave Great Britain
Some 100 people, many of them seeking religious freedom in the New World, set sail from England on the Mayflower in September 1620. That November, the ship landed on the shores of Cape Cod, in present-day Massachusetts. A scouting party was sent out, and in late December the group landed at Plymouth Harbor, where they would form the first permanent settlement of Europeans in New England. These original settlers of Plymouth Colony are known as the Pilgrim Fathers, or simply as the Pilgrims. -
The Mayflower Compact
Forty-one men signed the Mayflower Compact, agreeing to submit to all civil laws the "body politick" might enact over time. Despite the word "civil," in most respects the Plymouth Colony was a theocracy, in which civil and religious laws were one and the same.
They are uncertain when the compact was signed....
They took two months to sail to cape cod. -
The constitution is ratified