The Mayflower Compact was the first written framework of government established in America. It was signed in 1620 by the male Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower to unite the colony under a single government and allow them to establish just laws for the general good of the colony. The Pilgrims lived according to the principles of the Mayflower Compact from 1620 until they became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.