Which statement best describes the Mayflower Compact?

• A. It established a representative assembly in Virginia.
• B. It was the first agreement for self-government in America.
• C. It declared independence from Britain.
• D. It created the English Bill of Rights.

Answer: (B)

The key idea is self-government formed through an agreement among settlers. The Mayflower Compact, signed in 1620 by the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, established a civil body politic and pledged to govern themselves under laws created for the common good. This represents an early step in the English colonies toward consent-based, participatory governance, before formal colonial legislatures were in place.

It isn’t about Virginia’s government, since the Pilgrims were in what would become Massachusetts, not Virginia. It also doesn’t declare independence, which would come centuries later, and it isn’t related to the English Bill of Rights, which is a different English constitutional document.