Mon.+March+19

A group of pilgrims with Puritans and “strangers” left for North America, a wild and savage land, to seek religious freedom and economic prosperity with the ideal of establishing “God’s City upon the Hill.” The first challenge they faced was landing in a place without a government. Mankind’s original sin, or self-centered nature, would lead to chaos and mutual destruction if they could not find a solution. Learning lessons from the failure of earlier settlers to this new world due to lack of a government, the pilgrims in New Plymouth decided to establish a social covenant, which they entitled the Mayflower Compact. The purpose of this agreement was for the sake of collective survival and general good of the settlers. The Mayflower Compact is the first document in American history demonstrating an attempt to form a government based on the concept that government should derive its power from the “consent of the governed.” It not only led to survival, success and prosperity of this community, but it also turned out to be the foundation of the American constitution and cornerstone of the American government. This session will find out who these people were and why they broke the tradition of royal rule and set up a self-governed society. And in particular, what was the significance of the Mayflower Compact?
 * __Mon. March 19: Political Challenge in 1620s, the Mayflower Compact and Its Significance__**
 * Questions:**
 * Who were the Puritans? The Separatists? The “strangers?”
 * Why did all these people want to go to the New World and risk losing the life and comfort of living in England?
 * What kind of challenges did they meet on the voyage and in the new land?
 * Why did they decide to establish a social contract entitled Mayflower Compact?
 * What is the significance of Mayflower Compact?




 * Documentary movie: **

// Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower // http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv-_JxApHzo