[1] Signing the covenant were 41 of the ship's 101 passengers;[2][3] the Mayflower was anchored in Provincetown Harbor within the hook at the northern tip of Cape Cod.

[4] The Pilgrims had originally hoped to reach America in early October using two ships, but delays and complications meant they could use only one, the Mayflower.

Storms forced them to anchor at the hook of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, however, as it was unwise to continue with provisions running short.

This inspired some of the non-Puritan passengers (whom the Puritans referred to as "Strangers") to proclaim that they "would use their own liberty; for none had power to command them" since they would not be settling in the agreed-upon Virginia territory.

It was in essence a social contract in which the settlers consented to follow the community's rules and regulations for the sake of order and survival.

[6] Similar arguments had been unsuccessfully made by the shipwrecked passengers of the Sea Venture, a similar, earlier group bound for the Colony of Virginia, and specifically by one Stephen Hopkins,[7] who had, as a result, been convicted of mutiny and sentenced to death, but pardoned,[8][self-published source]: 162–163  and is thought to be the Stephen Hopkins aboard the Mayflower[7] and among the Compact signatories.

"[9] The original document has been lost,[10] but three versions exist from the 17th century: printed in Mourt's Relation (1622),[11][12] which was reprinted in Purchas his Pilgrimes (1625);[13] hand-written by William Bradford in his journal Of Plimoth Plantation (1646);[14] and printed by Bradford's nephew Nathaniel Morton in New-Englands Memorial (1669).

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, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour 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 Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do 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 eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.

[1] A list of 41 male passengers who signed the document was supplied by Bradford's nephew Nathaniel Morton in his 1669 New England's Memorial.