where did the mayflower land in the united states
Mayflower On November 9, 1620, they sighted present-day Cape Cod. They spent several days trying to sail south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, where they had obtained permission to settle from the Company of Merchant Adventurers. However, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, well north of the intended area, where they anchored on November 11. The settlers wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact after the ship dropped anchor at Cape Cod, in what is now Provincetown Harbor, in order to establish legal order and to quell increasing strife within the ranks.[21][22][23][24]
Plymouth Colony The Mayflower anchored at Provincetown Harbor on November 11, 1620. The Pilgrims did not have a patent to settle this area; thus, some passengers began to question their right to land, complaining that there was no legal authority to establish a colony. In response to this, a group of colonists drafted and ratified the first governing document of the colony, the Mayflower Compact, while still aboard the ship as it lay off-shore. The intent of the compact was to establish a means of governing the colony, though it did little more than confirm that the colony would be governed like any English town. It did, however, serve the purpose of relieving the concerns of many of the settlers.[26] This social contract was written and signed by 41 Separatist men. It was modeled on the church covenants that Congregationalists used to form new congregations. It made clear that the colony should be governed by "just and equal laws," and those who signed it promised to keep these laws.[27]