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The most extreme English Protestants wanted to separate from the Church of England..The Pilgrims feared that their children would forget their English traditions.The Pilgrims decided to leave Europe altogether.They formed a joint-stock company with some merchants and then received permission from England to settle in Virginia. On September 16, 1620, a ship called the Mayflower left England with more than 100 men, women, and children aboard. Not all of these colonists were Pilgrims. However, Pilgrim leaders such as William Bradford sailed with the group.The Pilgrims knew that they would thus be outside the authority of Virginia’s colonial government when they landed.So, they decided to establish their own basic laws and social rules to govern the colony they would found.On November 21, 1620, 41 of the male passengers on the ship signed the Mayflower Compact.The Compact represents one of the first attempts at self-government in the English colonies.In late 1620 the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in present-day Massachusetts.In March 1621 a Native American named Samoset walked boldly into the colonists’ settlement.He gave the Pilgrims useful information about the peoples and places of the area. He also introduced them to a Patuxet Indian named Squanto. Squanto had at one time lived in Europe and spoke English as well.Squanto also helped the Pilgrims establish relations with the local Wampanoag Indians. Conditions in the Plymouth colony began to improve.The Pilgrims invited Wampanoag chief Massasoit and 90 other guests to celebrate their harvest. This feast became known as the first Thanksgiving. For the event, the Pilgrims killed wild turkeys. This event marked the survival of the Pilgrims in the new colony.Most Pilgrims became farmers, but the farmland around their settlement was poor.Some colonists traded corn with American Indians for beaver furs.The colony began to grow stronger in the mid-1620s after new settlers arrived and, as in Jamestown, colonists began to have more rights to farm their own land.The Pilgrims’ settlement was different from Virginia’s in that it had many families.The Pilgrims taught their children to read and offered some education to their indentured servants.Families served as centers of religious life, health care, and community well-being. All family members worked together to survive during the early years of the colony.In Plymouth, women had more legal rights than they did in England. In England women were not allowed to make contracts, to sue, or to own property.In America, Pilgrim women had the right to sign contracts and to bring some cases before local courts. The family, including women, accounted for much of the authority in the colonies.Widow Naomi Silvester received a large share of her husband’s estate.During the 1620s England’s economy suffered. Many people lost their jobs. The English king, Charles I, made the situation worse by raising taxes.At the same time, the Church of England began to punish Puritans because they were dissenters, or people who disagree with official opinions. King Charles refused to allow Puritans to criticize church actions.These economic, political, and religious problems in England led to the Great Migration.Between 1629 and 1640 many thousands of English men, women, and children left England. More than 40,000 of these people moved to English colonies in New England and the Caribbean. In 1629, Charles granted a group of Puritans and merchants a charter to settle in New England. They formed the Massachusetts Bay Company. In 1630 a fleet of ships carrying Puritan colonists left England for Massachusetts to seek religious freedom. They were led by John Winthrop. The Puritans believed that they had made a covenant, or promise, with God to build an ideal Christian community.They brought large amounts of tools and livestock with them. Like the Pilgrims, the Puritans faced little resistance from local American Indians.In addition, the region around Boston had a fairly healthful climate. Thus, few Puritans died from sickness. All of these things helped the Massachusetts Bay Colony do well.By 1691, the Massachusetts Bay Colony had expanded to include the Pilgrims’ Plymouth Colony.
The New English Colonies..
