Americans were a Christian people, from the
Mayflower Compact to the Founding and beyond.
Perhaps because they were all men, just like all 41 signers of the
Mayflower Compact, these philosophers failed to empower women in their social, political and economic constructs.
We forget that the fundamental concept of "the consent of the governed" came from the
Mayflower Compact.
American Dreams from MultiEducator is an iPhone (and iPod touch) app that offers a wealth of historical documents from each period of our nation's history from the
Mayflower Compact to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address earlier this year.
Listed in chronological order from 1606 through 2002, documents range from the
Mayflower Compact to the Joint Resolution to Authorize the use of United States Armed Forces in Iraq.
We chose a mix of items that students might be asked to research for a test or paper, from the
Mayflower Compact to the War Powers Act, from the Protestant Reformation to Anwar Sadat.
From the Charter of Virginia (1606) and the
Mayflower Compact (1620) to speeches by Ronald Reagan (Tear Down This Wall, 1987) and Bill Clinton (Religious Liberty in America, 1995), students can explore through these primary sources how Americans' ideas about freedom, liberty, and justice have changed through the course of four centuries.
The author also highlights such events as the signing of the
Mayflower Compact, penned during the crossing of the Atlantic; a document that would later provide the underpinning for America's democratic system.
(play), My8-16 Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1806, Mr27-18 Legacy of Rosa Parks (play), N28-6 Lewis and Clark Reach the Pacific, N14-16 Man of Many Talents (poster), 031 Marian Anderson: A Voice for Freedom, Mr6-18
Mayflower Compact (play), S5-16 Memories of the Dust Bowl, Ap10-12 Miles to Freedom (slavery), D12-14 Muckrakers, F20-10 New Amsterdam: New World Company Town (play), S19-16 The Other Pioneers: African-Americans on the Frontier, Ja23-18 Our Founding Fathers (play), 031-16 Pennies and a Crust of Bread: Child Labor in America (play), F6-18 Should We Go To War?
The readings span chronologically from the 1620
Mayflower Compact to excerpts of Theodore Roosevelt's 1910 speech on "The New Nationalism." Other writings include Thomas Paine's Common Sense, some of the Federalist Papers, the Seneca Falls Declaration, Frederick Douglass' An Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage, Henry George's Progress and Poverty, and Eugene Debs' Unionism and Socialism.
The more famous
Mayflower Compact has fewer words devoted to religion, more to the civil government, and should be viewed as a means of reconciling strangers and Pilgrims.
For upper elementary children, Linda Williams and her colleagues developed the concept of "The Respectful Classroom," where they discussed such questions as: "How would you like to be treated in our classroom?" and "How would students treat one another in a respectful classroom?" Students first worked cooperatively to create a Classroom Compact (similar to the
Mayflower Compact from the Plymouth, Massachusetts, colony in 1620).