ShmoopTube

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in the early 17th century some new folks arrived in Plymouth yep there goes the

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neighborhood who were these odd-looking ankle hiding [Statue of Liberty talking]

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people and just what secrets were they hiding beneath their bonnets suppose

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you're looking for the absolute definition of conservatism which by the

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way is a philosophy that promotes the ideas that tradition should be preserved

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hard work should be regarded above all else and anything the least bit racy is

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the devil's work well look no further than the Puritans who even have the word [The Puritans appear]

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pure in their name in case you weren't sure the Puritans were devout Protestant

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Christians meaning they'd broken off from the beliefs of the Roman Catholic

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Church in a number of ways like they believed the Bible was the be-all

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end-all accept the word of the Bible and everything else was gravy as Catholics [Bible book and pot of gravy appears on a table]

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liked up to sprinkle in some other stuff like going to purgatory praying to

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Saints worshipping the Almighty Big Mac etc the Protestants also felt they could

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be saved by faith in God alone so they didn't have to do all sorts of good

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deeds to get into heaven the Native American were real big fans of this one

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and so was King James and so was the Church of England which is a big part of [Pope riding on the Pope-mobile]

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the reason the Puritans wanted to skedaddle and seek refuge in America...

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you won't let us play our way fine then we're picking up our ball and going home [Puritans walking off with a basketball]

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because the Puritans separated from the Church of England to create their own

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denominations they are called separatists so clever they looked at the

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journey to the new world as an errand into the wilderness yeah it was pretty

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much like when your dad tells you he's taking the family camping for the

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weekend but with slightly more death and disease [Bear drags man away]

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the Puritans didn't care if the way was hard because it was the way they felt

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like they'd been chosen to leave England and start a colony overseas so it was

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like they didn't even have a choice in the matter [Pokeball lands in a field]

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when they arrived it occurred to them that they knew zip about agriculture

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but these guys helped them out taught

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them how to fish even plant corn the colonists returned the favor by trying

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to convert them to their own religion and then murdering them in their sleep

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it was like you scratch my back I'll stab you in yours kind of arrangement

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nevertheless these prim and proper dudes and dudettes were determined to give

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humankind a nice fresh start think Adam and Eve part dude no more body jokes no

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more sinful behavior no more Ted movies because they had some big ideas about

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how to speak, behave, chew your food, brush your teeth, comb your mullet and so on

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they thought of themselves as pilgrims i.e people who are forging a new [Man riding on a ship]

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spiritual path by making a holy journey to a new world here's a day in the life

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finding food was fun so was keeping cool and warm and bathe... many of them starved

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other died in Indian attacks still others knelt and prayed themselves to death...

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but no matter what happened these pilgrims stayed strong because they [Pilgrim walking and tree lands on him]

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believed that everything that went down was the will of God they believed their

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path was the true and holy one and their sacrifices would be rewarded in the long

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run in the short run however there would be plenty of scurvy scurvy is a disease

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caused by lack of vitamin C these guys did not drink their oOJ... but some survived

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they were fighters their God had ordained that they were going to be the [Puritans appear on Amazon order]

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founders of a new order had commanded them to separate from the

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Church of England to come to the new world to spread word of his awesomeness

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and help the ignorant masses see the light so yeah they better do his bidding

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God was not an employer you wanted to tick off....

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there was no severance package at the end of this rainbow anyway the Puritans

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decided to start up their own government [Old England and New American Government outlines]

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back in England they'd had to jump every time King James said jump which he did a

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lot for some reason but no more it was time for a democratic situation one word

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that people had a voice nobody wanted their new colony to repeat old habits

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the idea was to outline a new system of government that would prevent any one

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lunatic from seizing absolute power instead power would be shared by a large

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number of lunatics, like it is today the Puritans arrived on a ship called

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The Mayflower so they decided to call their document the Mayflower Compact - It [Mayflower Compact album CD appears]

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goes a little something like this in the name of God.....[mumbling]

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and yeah that's pretty much the way they used to talk back then you don't get a

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lot of furtherance these days so what did this wordy document actually say in

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'Merican.. why did the Puritans write it and what did they hope to accomplish short

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answer first the Mayflower Compact was a social contract a document that clearly [Do's and Don'ts of Mayflower Compact]

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outlined how people should behave in this new society the hope was that by

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getting everyone to adhere to this new way of living they could avoid a nasty

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situation like the one in England where a single iron fist ruled all the little

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people okay here's the long answer in the course of the compact the writers

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established a number of things one; God was in charge they hit this 1) right

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out of the gates and gave him several other shoutouts later in the document

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2) they declared that they were still loyal subjects of King James of England

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debatable they were basically settling Plymouth because there were over the

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whole cake thing they left England to get away

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from him so a nice sentiment but you have to wonder if their heart was really

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in that one....3) they were going to give a new system of government a try

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since they felt the one that they were leaving where one man had all the power

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was unfair they wanted the people to have some say in the course of their

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lives 4) There's the whole bit about submission and obedience ie once all the

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rules were decided the people of the colony would be expected to submit or

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yield to authority and obey ie follow any instructions they were given or else...[Submission and obedience definitions appear]

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and 5) finally they made the whole thing official by saying they were

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putting their names to the thing basically taking an oath that everyone

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was willing to stick to the guidelines okay now for the really long answer

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let's dive into the text a bit more and really break this baby down in the name [Puritan dives under water]

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of God amen any question about where their allegiance lies right off the bat

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we get the idea that God comes first in all matters but it's also important to

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note in the name of part these guys many of whom were ministers were

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speaking for God we hear they were pretty good at doing the accent we whose

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names are underwritten the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord

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King James so yeah all the signatures at the bottom of the document were those of [Signatures at the bottom of document appear]

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the gents who were putting forth and agreeing to the terms and they called

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themselves loyal subjects of King James although maybe they needed a look up

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loyal in the dictionary they were breaking away from the King and startin

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up their own thing so they weren't exactly candidates for a loyal subjects [Loyal subjects of the month pictures of dogs appear behind King James]

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of the month having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the

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Christian faith and the honor of our King and country a voyage to plant the

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first colony in the northern parts of Virginia in addition to beating the

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whole god thing to death, there's also a mention of honor which was a biggie for

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the Puritans they were die for their principles type of people a life without [Puritan tied up and Indians with pikes]

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honor wasn't worth living and then the specifics they lay out what they were

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doing planting a colony and where they were doing it in parts of Virginia okay

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so the location is a tad vague but maybe they were trying to keep their party

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from being crashed...Do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of

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God and one another so here it's a bit of a guilt trip sponsored by trivago

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anyone who dares to break any other rules of the colony is breaking not only

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the vow they've made to God but the promises they've made to one another no

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pressure there ....covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body

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politic for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends

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aforesaid....well sounds like there's a bunch of Autobots [Explosion sounds and Michael Bay appears]

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combining themselves into one massive transformer which is roughly the idea

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rather than everyone being purely an individual and living by their own rules

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the pilgrims are agreeing to work together as one by doing so they believe

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they can keep order in the colony preserve it for a long time and further

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their ends ie spread the good word about God and help any disbelievers believe [Knife buttering toast]

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and by virtue here of do enact constitute and frame such just and equal

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laws ordinances acts constitutions and officers from time to time as shall be

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thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony unto which we

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promise all due submission and obedience this part of the compact is just saying

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for all the reasons the author's just mentioned they're framing this thing so [Framed document of the Compact]

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that as they go along they can meet and agree which laws and acts need to be

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established so that the colony can thrive and also they throw in that whole

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submission and obedience thing in there to remind everyone that it ain't

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optional and rules are broken there will be consequences and punishment like a

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punishment even worse than having to wear a doublet and breeches... in witness

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whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of

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November in the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James of England France and

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Ireland - the 18th and of Scotland the 54th

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Anno Domini 1620 the big finale here's the declaration that everyone is [Group of John's signing the document]

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agreeing to sign their names to the compact along with one final shout out

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to the King James dude, they want to have nothing else to do with they finish with

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the date and year and the thing is dunzo the Mayflower

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Compact didn't look too much like a Declaration of Independence which would

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be written almost 200 years later but it did sort of pave the way back then [Mayflower Compact riding a roller]

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people didn't think to govern themselves nobody knew what the heck checks and

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balances were and these people and the silly costumes were determined to raise

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the bar they envisioned a world of fairness justice and equality well okay

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maybe not equality so one thing the Mayflower Compact was written by males

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only so yeah there wasn't a big focus on women's issue when when was there

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really the natives were foolishly unchristian they didn't think too much [Natives playing instrument]

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of that God character for some reason they didn't feel like junking centuries

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of their own traditions to follow a bunch of random rules set up by folks

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who had just moved into town but the Puritans job was made way easier by the

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fact that they didn't look at these natives people as people different skin

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color dressed a little differently didn't totally love the taste of sweet

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grapes and oysters didn't like wearing buckles on their shoes yeah definitely

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not people....The whole thing got totally smoothed out over the next couple hundred years [Man riding a steam roller]

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though at every turn the Native Americans were either disregarded or

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eliminated which is what you do with unwanted animals but on the upside the

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Puritans whole self-governing thing went off like gangbusters thanks to the

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guidelines set forth in the Mayflower Compact

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so they had that going for them.... positive note

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