This Day in American History for Kids — Nov 11: The Mayflower Compact and Veterans Day

Host 1: Welcome to this day in American history for kids. On this day November 11th imagine being trapped on a freezing leaky wooden ship.

Host 2: Oh that sounds awful.

Host 1: Right you are completely lost just staring at this harsh unknown coastline and you suddenly realize the only thing standing between your group and total anarchy is well a single piece of paper

Host 2: That is a lot of pressure for one piece of paper.

Host 1: It really is. So today we are setting out on a brand new deep dive into how people in America historically came together to agree on rules.

Host 2: Yeah and centuries later how we honor the brave folks who step up to protect those rules.

So let's

Host 1: So let's start with that freezing ship back in the year 1620.

Host 2: Right the Mayflower.

Host 1: Exactly. The Mayflower sailed from England with 102 passengers they were aiming for a very specific authorized settlement but you know powerful storms had other plans.

Host 2: Yeah they were blown totally off course they ended up hundreds of miles north anchored at Cape Cod.

Host 1: down in what we now call Provincetown Harbor, right?

Host 2: Exactly. And being in the wrong spot created this instant crisis. Because they were outside the territory controlled by their English charter, some passengers essentially said, said, well, the old rules don't apply here anymore.

Host 1: Oh, wow.

Host 2: yeah

Host 2: they were basically like we're going to just split up and do our own thing

Host 1: wait let me make sure I have this straight they were still legally subjects of the English king right? English king right

Host 2: they were yeah

Host 1: so how could they just decide the rules didn't apply like why not just wait for the official government to tell them what to do

Host 2: well because the official government was 3,000 miles away across an ocean

Host 1: ah right

Host 2: they needed an immediate survival plan you know if they scattered into the freezing wilderness on their own they just wouldn't survive the winter

Host 1: that makes sense

Host 2: so to prevent everyone from splintering apart 41 men signed an agreement

Host 1: and that was nearly every adult man on the ship

Host 2: it was and they called this agreement the Mayflower Compact

Host 1: right where they agreed to combine themselves into a civil body politic which sounds incredibly dry

Host 2: it really does

Host 1: but it's really an emergency social contract I mean they weren't just forming a neighborhood club they were basically crowdsourcing their own survival manual

Host 2: that is a great way to put it

Host 1: they promised to create and obey fair laws for the general good

Host 2: exactly and if we look at why this matters so much it's the earliest written plan for self-government in what is now the United States

Host 1: it's a huge deal

Host 2: it was a revolutionary shift from top down rule where a distant king gives orders to bottom up rule where people actually choose their own laws to protect their community

Host 1: right

Host 2: though I do have to gently point out a funny historical calendar dispute here

Host 1: oh really

Host 2: so on the pilgrim's own calendar back then they signed this document on November 11th but the way we calculate leap years changed centuries later

Host 1: wait so the date shifted

Host 2: yeah on our modern calendar that signing actually happened on November 21st

Host 1: okay that is a wild technicality but we still honor the spirit of the 11th

Host 2: definitely

Host 1: now the Mayflower Compact proved that Americans could build their own rules from scratch but centuries later the question became how to globally defend a nation built on those rules which brings us to the year 1918

Host 1: 1918

Host 2: right that year brought an end to the fighting of World War One which was just a massive devastating global conflict

Host 1: it really was

Host 2: early in the morning leaders met inside a railway car in France and signed an armistice which is essentially a massive binding ceasefire to stop the fighting

Host 1: and here's where it gets incredibly poetic I think the sheer numerical pattern of this ceasefire is unforgettable

oh for

Host 2: oh for sure

Host 1: that armistice went into effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month

Host 2: such a powerful pattern and it became a lasting tradition President Woodrow Wilson originally named this date Armistice Day

Host 1: And the plan was to pause and reflect, right?

Host 2: Exactly. People hold parades and businesses would literally stop what they were doing at exactly 11 am to remember the peace.

Host 1: But stopping a war is one thing, recognizing the human beings who actually put on a uniform is another. That's why we don't call it Armistice Day anymore.

Host 2: right yeah by 1954 America had been through other conflicts so the holiday was officially renamed Veterans Day

Host 1: to include everyone

Host 2: exactly the focus shifted from celebrating the end of one specific war to thanking and honoring all veterans

Host 1: And just to clarify that means anyone who has served in the Army Navy Air Force or Marines

Host 2: yep anyone who served it changed the whole cultural psychology from just marking a date on the calendar to you know honoring the people themselves

Host 1: it is such a vital day to recognize that sacrifice now just to quickly round out our historical map also on this day in 1889 Washington officially became our 42nd state

Host 2: oh cool

Host 1: yeah and in 1926 highway officials approved the famous Route 66 that legendary path from Chicago to Los Angeles that became known as the mother road

Host 2: wow a big day in history and here is a fun did you know fact to wrap us up

Host 1: let's hear it

Host 2: Veterans Day didn't always stay on November 11th

Host 1: wait really

Host 2: yeah in 1971 the government actually moved it to October just to create a long weekend

Host 1: oh I bet people didn't like that

Host 2: they didn't people felt so strongly about the historical weight of that 11 date that it was officially moved back to November 11th starting in 1978

Host 1: wow it shows you just how much a specific day can mean to our shared history which brings me to a question for you listening right now if you could invent a brand new holiday to bring people together what would you name it and how would you celebrate

Host 2: thanks for tuning in see you back here tomorrow