Today - Sunny with a high of 91 Â°F (32.8 Â°C). Winds NE at 9 to 11 mph (14.5 to 17.7 kph). Tonight - Clear. Winds from NE to NNE at 4 to 11 mph (6.4 to 17.7 kph). The overnight low will be 63 Â°F (17.2 Â°C).
Plymouth Colony did not have a royal charter authorizing it to form a government, yet some means of governance was needed. The Mayflower Compact was the colony's first governing document, signed by the 41 able-bodied Separatists aboard the Mayflower upon their arrival in Provincetown Harbor on November 21, 1620.
They also elected their own ministers and other church officers. This pattern of church self-government served as a model for political self-government in the Mayflower Compact. The colonists had no intention of declaring their independence from England when they signed the Mayflower Compact. In the opening line of the Compact, both Pilgrims and Strangers refer to themselves as loyal subjects of King James. The rest of the Mayflower Compact is very short.