Origins on the Rule of Law
by Jim Sharrock
As we approach Thanksgiving, I am reflecting back to July 1 this year. When others were thinking about the upcoming celebration of our nation’s birth, I was thinking about an earlier time that put us on the path towards independence.
Nancy and I were driving to the Providence airport, returning from the wedding of a friend held on Cape Cod. We took a detour to follow up on a suggestion made by my sister Jane, an amateur genealogist.
We drove to Burial Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where we visited the Cushman Monument, a large obelisk, dedicated by the descendants of Robert Cushman in 1855.
The monument also has plaques for Robert’s son Thomas and Thomas’s wife, Mary Allerton. Mary was a passenger on the Mayflower. She was four at the time of the crossing, and when she died at the age of 83, she was the last surviving passenger. Thomas and Mary are my 9th generation grandparents.
Robert was on the Mayflower when it sailed to meet its sister ship, the Speedwell. The Speedwell turned out not to be seaworthy, so the Mayflower passenger group was reorganized. Robert stayed in London to serve as the colony’s principal agent. He came to Plymouth in 1621, bringing his son Thomas with him.
When Robert sailed back to London, Thomas stayed as a ward of William Bradford, Governor of the colony. About 15 years later after Thomas came to Plymouth, he and Mary were married. They had eight children and fifty grandchildren, making the odds much higher that they would still have descendants today. Thomas succeeded William Brewster as Ruling Elder of the church and held that position over 40 years.
I was generally familiar with all of this history, but I had never focused on Issac Allerton, Mary’s father. Issac not only helped organize the passage, he was on the ship. Of most significance in the history of the United States, he was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.
The Mayflower Compact created the concept of self-rule and brought English concepts of law and liberty to the New World. It gave each person the right to participate in government and bound the signers to obey the government and legal system established in Plymouth Colony. The signers acknowledged their loyalty to the King, but they left England due to their dissatisfaction with the Church of England and the limited extent of the English Reformation. Their concern with religious freedom was a major factor both in the establishment of colonies in America and in the US Constitution.
This week, I am thankful for the Ellertons and the Cushmans, who made possible not only my particular existence, but that of the United States and our rule of law, which I believe to be the single most important element of our system of government.