Last Sunday I heard a sermon that reminded me of something I had almost entirely forgotten. It was in a small and picturesque church set in open country. It’s hard to believe this serene place is only a few miles from the conflagration of construction and growth known as Dripping Springs. Let alone that it is in one of the fastest-growing counties in all of Texas.
I could tell you more about its location, but that’s another story. Just know that I expect it will someday be identified as the hidden center of the Dallas/Austin/San Antonio megopolis. Today is about the document that set the principles of our country long before the Constitution was written.
What could that have been?
Titled “Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth” when it was written in 1620, it was renamed the Mayflower Compact in 1793, six years after our Constitution was written in 1787.
Bad weather caused the Mayflower to miss its intended destination up the Hudson River. The boat was forced to anchor off what is now Provincetown. And it was short of supplies. The Pilgrims recognized their predicament. Forty-one men signed a pledge to provide mutual support for the safety and sustenance of the group. Specifically, they promised:
“…by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together in a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.” (bold type added)
Scholars can, will and have devoted countless hours to the limits and nuances here. Such as only men having the right to sign, the status of some individuals, etc. But whatever those limits, it clearly ends the idea of “every man for himself” and unlimited personal freedom.
Instead, it creates a commitment to foster the good of all. Alexandre Dumas said it more clearly two centuries later with the publication of “The Three Musketeers” in 1844. Their pledge, “All for one and one for all, United we stand divided we fall.”
Dumas captured the spirit of the civil freedom and common good that was foundational to the colonies that became a country.
Today, 250 years after we became a nation, we live with the long swings of political power. We have excessive private power and unlimited personal freedom at one political pole. And excess government power as the “good of all” slips into the ever-increasing rules, regulations and central power that stifles personal freedom.
A proper balance wasn’t achieved over the last 250 years. I don’t expect a proper balance to be achieved in my lifetime. If ever. The pendulum swings of power is a theme well explored in multiple books by the late political writer Kevin Phillips. Worth reading.
Today the pendulum we’re witnessing has morphed into an odd combination of centralized power and unlimited personal freedom — for some. We have a president who has pushed executive power beyond any previous bounds as he augments unlimited personal freedom for the very rich for a fee/donation. It’s a corrupt and ugly combination, entirely outside the bounds of anything I’ve personally witnessed since coming of age in the early 1960s.
The chaos, corruption, self-dealing and colossal mismanagement we are witnessing goes far beyond party politics. It doesn’t matter whether we vote for Democrats or Republicans. Whatever our political beliefs, the 47th president of the United States needs to be removed by impeachment or by Article 25.
The reasons are repeated day after day after day. In 1954 the political tyranny of Sen. Joe McCarthy was ended by a few sentences from a Boston attorney named Joseph Welch.
Where is the Joseph Welch of 2026?
Related columns:
Scott Burns, “Wings and Prayers,” 7/5/2026: https://scottburns.com/wings-and-prayers/
Scott Burns, “Representation Without Taxation,” 8/7/2009: https://scottburns.com/representation-without-taxation/
Scott Burns, “Dare We Use the “B” Word?”, 6/4/1996: https://scottburns.com/dare-we-use-the-b-word-boom-for-texas-and-its-low-cost-of-living/
Sources and References:
The Mayflower Society website with text of the compact: https://themayflowersociety.org/history/the-mayflower-compact/
The Declaration of Independence: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
The Constitution of the United States : https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
The Bill of Rights: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript
Thecommongoodus.org website on Kevin Phillips: https://www.thecommongoodus.org/past-speakers/kevin-phillips
Senate.gov “Have you no decency?”: https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/mccarthy-hearings/have-you-no-sense-of-decency.htm#:~:text=As%20an%20amazed%20television%20audience,Let%20us%20not%20assassinate%20this
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Photo by Scott Burns, October 2021, Flying the flag on Wind Song while cruising the Maryland Eastern shore from Annapolis.
(c) Scott Burns, 2026