Minnesota Law Library exhibit to connect Mayflower Compact to modern law
The Minnesota Law Library’s upcoming exhibit and Continuing Legal Education program will transport visitors to the development of the first framework of government in a future United States — one that still has influence today.
Four hundred years after the Mayflower Compact was signed aboard the Mayflower ship to Plymouth Colony, “Join In! The Rise of Self-Governance and American Organizing from the Mayflower Compact to the Modern Day,” from the U.S. Library of Congress is coming to the State Law Library to guide visitors to explore the impacts of the framework on civic life.
The Minnesota Law Library, near the Capitol on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, will host the exhibit from March 20 to March 31.
From noon to 1 p.m., on March 23, attorneys will have the opportunity to gain one CLE credit for attending a presentation on the Mayflower Compact by Julia Ernst, associate dean for Teaching & Engagement and professor at the University of North Dakota School of Law.
Ernst will discuss the how Mayflower Compact served as historical precedent for future documents integral to the formation of American governmental and legal systems, such as the Articles of Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance and the U.S. Constitution. While the presentation will help attorneys fulfill a professional requirement, Reppe said the session is valuable for anyone to attend.
“I think it benefits everybody just to have that kind of basic knowledge of the documents that our current laws kind of rest upon,” said State Law Librarian Liz Reppe. “It’s useful just from a general kind of civics, historical background to have some greater knowledge of the Mayflower Compact.”
The Library of Congress is providing seven original scrolls that will be on display, which will be complemented by the State Law Library’s own cases of the oldest information available on the settlers’ early days in the future United States.
“The State Law Library, the oldest library in the state, was created by the same act of Congress that created the territory of Minnesota,” said Reppe. “Back in the day, we had kind of trading privileges with the other states, so we have really early materials from other states.”
The CLE program, “The Mayflower Compact and Its Impact on U.S. Law,” will be presented in person and on Zoom. Registration is not required to attend in person, but a webinar registration form should be submitted to watch via Zoom.
The Minnesota Law Library is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and is located on the ground floor of the Minnesota Judicial Center.
