The Mayflower Compact is often cited as one of the foundations of the US Constitution. The story of its creation begins with the Pilgrims in England.
Pilgrims were separatists from the Anglican Church in England. They were protestants who did not recognize the authority of the Anglican Church and formed their own Puritan church. To escape persecution and possible imprisonment, they actually fled England for Holland in 1607. They lived in Holland for awhile before deciding to create their own colony in the New World. They received a land patent from the Virginia Company and created their own joint-stock company for the enterprise.
Aboard the Mayflower
The Pilgrims left aboard the Mayflower in 1620. There were 102 men, women, and children aboard including some non-puritan settlers including John Alden and Miles Standish. They were headed for Virginia but got blown off course and instead decided to found their colony in Cape Cod in what would later become the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They called the colony Plymouth after the harbor in England from which they departed for the New World.