Portsmouth Compact
The Portsmouth Compact was a document signed on March 7, 1638 that established the settlement of Portsmouth, which is now a town in the state of Rhode Island. It was the first document in American history that severed both political and religious ties with England.
History
The document was written and signed in Boston by a group of men who followed Anne Hutchinson, a banished Christian dissident from Massachusetts, seeking religious freedom apart from the governmental oversight of the Massachusetts Bay Colony by moving to Aquidneck Island to set up a new colony.
The purpose of the Portsmouth Compact was to set up a new, independent colony that was Christian in character but non-sectarian in governance. It has been called "the first instrument for governing as a true democracy."
Text
The text [2] of the Portsmouth Compact:
- The 7th Day of the First Month, 1638.
- We whose names are underwritten do hereby solemnly in the presence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves into a Bodie Politick and as He shall help, will submit our persons, lives and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of His given in His Holy Word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby.
In the margin are the following Bible citations:
It was signed by 23 men:
- William Coddington
- John Clarke
- William Hutchinson (husband of Anne Hutchinson)
- John Coggeshall
- William Aspinwall
- Samuel Wilbore
- John Porter
- John Sanford
- Edward Hutchinson, Jr.
- Thomas Savage
- William Dyre (husband of Mary Dyer)
- William Freeborn
- Phillip Shearman
- John Walker
- Richard Carder
- William Baulston
- Edward Hutchinson, Sr.
- Henry Bull X his marke
- Randall Holden
- Thomas Clarke (brother of John)
- John Johnson
- William Hall
- John Brightman
The last four names, for unknown reasons, show erasure marks and/or strikethroughs. Of those four—Thomas Clarke, John Johnson, William Hall and John Brightman—the first three are known to have been among the first settlers of Newport, Rhode Island, arriving in 1638, and the same may be true of John Brightman.
A second Compact of Loyalty [4]was written and signed April 30, 1639, and included the following names: The names below are those of the signers (copied verbatim) of the Compact of Loyalty, Apr. 30, 1639, which was as follows:
"We whose names are underwritten do acknowledge ourselves the legal subjects of His Majesty King Charles, and in his name do hereby bind ourselves into a civil body politic, unto his laws according to matters of justice."
Signers William Hutchinson Samuell Gorton Samuel Hutchinson John Wickes Richard Maggson Thomas Spiser John Roome (his mark) John Sloffe (his mark) Thomas Beddar (his mark) Erasmus Bullock Sampson Shotten Ralph Earle Robert Potter Nathanyell Potter Wm Heausens George Cleare George Lawton Anthony Payne (his mark) Jobe Haukins Richard Awards John More Nicholas Browne William Richardson John Trippe Thomas Layton Robert Stainton (his mark) John Briggs (his mark) James Davice
Sources
- [1] The Portsmouth Compact at Roots Web
- [2] Image of the Original Portsmouth Compact
- [3] Company of Loyalty
- [4] A Brief History of Portsmouth RI 1638-2013
