The Society of Mayflower Descendents in the State of North Carolina, a group of people who can trace their ancestry back to the colonists who arrived here on the famous Mayflower, states their purpose on their website as follows:

Purpose – The purposes of our Society are:

1. To perpetuate to a remote posterity the memory of our Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers. To maintain and defend the principle of civil and religious liberty as set forth in the Mayflower Compact.

2. To cherish and maintain the ideals and institutions of American freedom, and to oppose any theories or actions that threaten their continuity. To transmit the spirit, the purity of purpose, and steadfastness of will of the Pilgrims to those who shall come after us, an undiminished heritage of liberty and law.

3. To promote the interests that are common to all the State Societies of Mayflower Descendants which can only be served by a state body.

4. To promote the interest that are common to all of the State Societies, and thus the General Society.

I am particularly interested in the first two points, which focus on the legacy of the Mayflower Compact and the Pilgrims themselves.

Read over the Mayflower Compact, do you see examples of the “the principle of civil and religious liberty” that the Society is committed to defending? How do you think this principle might translate into our day to day lives? What do you think the society means by “the ideals and institutions of American freedom”? Have these ideals and institutions changes since the Pilgrim’s time?

Also as food for thought, do you know how far back you can trace your own family’s ancestry? Do you think about the experiences, values or ideals of your own ancestors? Why or why not?