Which historic agreement is honored by one of the five 2026 Semiquincentennial quarter designs?

The Mayflower Compact is honored by one of the five 2026 Semiquincentennial quarter designs.

The Mayflower Compact was an agreement made in 1620 by English settlers traveling aboard the Mayflower before establishing Plymouth Colony. Its signers pledged to form a civil body politic and create laws for the general good of the settlement. It is often remembered as an early example of self-government among English colonists in North America.

The 2026 quarter program places this early colonial agreement alongside later milestones: the American Revolutionary War, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address. Together, the themes create a chronological story stretching from colonial self-government to the Civil War era.

The Mayflower Compact is not the same document as the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. It predates both by more than a century and was created as a governing agreement for a particular settlement, rather than as a declaration of independence or a national constitution.