Portsmouth_Compact_Original_Document_Image

The Portsmouth Compact was a document signed on March 7, 1638 that established the settlement of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

, 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 by a group of Christian dissidents who were seeking religious freedom from the governmental oversight of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

by moving to

Aquidneck Island Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...

to set up a new colony. Among this group was

Anne Hutchinson Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury; July 1591 – August 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her ...

, who had been banished from Massachusetts Bay following the

Antinomian Controversy The Antinomian Controversy, also known as the Free Grace Controversy, was a religious and political conflict in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. It pitted most of the colony's ministers and magistrates against some adherents of ...

there. 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 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 William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport, governor of Portsmouth ...

* John Clarke *

William Hutchinson William, Willie, Willy, Billy or Bill Hutchinson may refer to: Politics and law * Asa Hutchinson (born 1950), full name William Asa Hutchinson, 46th governor of Arkansas * William Hutchinson (Rhode Island judge) (1586–1641), merchant, judge, ...

(husband of Anne Hutchinson) * John Coggeshall * William Aspinwall *

Samuel Wilbore Samuel Wilbore (c. 1595–1656) was one of the founding settlers of Portsmouth in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He emigrated from Essex, England to Boston with his wife and three sons in 1633. He and his wife both ...

* John Porter * John Sanford * Edward Hutchinson, Jr. * Thomas Savage * William Dyre (husband of

Mary Dyer Mary Dyer (born Marie Barrett; c. 1611 – 1 June 1660) was an English and colonial American Puritan turned Quaker who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. ...

) *

William Freeborn William Freeborn (December 13, 1816 – June 3, 1900) was a pioneer in Minnesota, Montana, and California. Freeborn County, Minnesota is named in his honor. Pioneer Born in Richland County, Ohio, in 1816, Freeborn moved to Saint Paul, Minnes ...

* 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 show erasure marks or strikethroughs for unknown reasons: Thomas Clarke, John Johnson, William Hall, and John Brightman. The first three of those four were among the first settlers of Newport, arriving in 1638, and the same may be true of John Brightman.

Compact of Loyalty

The Compact of Loyalty was written and signed April 30, 1639. "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." Signatories *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 {{Div col end The names of the signatories above were copied verbatim from the Compact of Loyalty. Note that the only name in common with the signatories of the Portsmouth compact is that of William Hutchinson.

Sources

* The_Portsmouth_Compact_at_Roots_Web
*[2
Image_of_the_Original_Portsmouth_Compact
*[3
Company_of_Loyalty
*_A_Brief_History_of_Portsmouth_RI_1638-2013

_External_links

Facsimile_at_Roots_WebCommemorative_Plaque
Pre-statehood_history_of_Rhode_Island.html" ;"title="
The Portsmouth Compact at Roots Web
* Image_of_the_Original_Portsmouth_Compact
*[3
Company_of_Loyalty
*_A_Brief_History_of_Portsmouth_RI_1638-2013

_External_links

Facsimile_at_Roots_WebCommemorative_Plaque
Pre-statehood_history_of_Rhode_Island">P History_of_the_Thirteen_Colonies.html" ;"title="
Image of the Original Portsmouth Compact
* Company_of_Loyalty
*_A_Brief_History_of_Portsmouth_RI_1638-2013

_External_links

Facsimile_at_Roots_WebCommemorative_Plaque
Pre-statehood_history_of_Rhode_Island">P History_of_the_Thirteen_Colonies">P United_States_documents.html" ;"title="
Company of Loyalty
* A Brief History of Portsmouth RI 1638-2013

External links

Facsimile at Roots WebCommemorative Plaque
Pre-statehood history of Rhode Island">P History of the Thirteen Colonies">P United States documents">P 1638 in the Thirteen Colonies