Francis Cooke was a Leiden Separatist, who went to America in 1620 on the Pilgrim ship Mayflower, which arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was a founding member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and a signer of the Mayflower Compact.
Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor; watercolor by William Halsall, 1882
Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris 1899
The Mayflower Compact, originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the men aboard the Mayflower, consisting of Separatist Puritans, adventurers, and tradesmen. Although the agreement contained a pledge of loyalty to the King, the Puritans and other Protestant Separatists were dissatisfied with the state of the Church of England, the limited extent of the English Reformation and reluctance of King James I of England to enforce further reform.
Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, an 1899 painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
Bradford's transcription of the Compact
1920 U.S. postage stamp depicting the signing of the compact
Signing of the Mayflower Compact Bas-relief by Cyrus Dallin at the Pilgrim Monument Provincetown, Massachusetts