Massachusetts Bay & the Puritans

FACTS AT A GLANCE

• Founded by: the Puritans

• Reasons for Founding: Religious freedom

• Successes: Established a strong colony and influenced culture in New England

THE PURITANS AND THEIR DESIRE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

The Puritans felt that the Church of England needed to be reformed or "purified" by making its religious observances simpler. They didn't want to leave the church. Instead, they wanted to make it more pure. The King of England did not appreciate their views and began to punish them economically and socially. Some Puritans were also jailed.

COMING TO AMERICA

The Puritans were an influential group in England. They received permission to form a colony in America. Over 1,000 settles arrived in the same general area where the Pilgrims had settled ten years earlier. The Puritans wanted to have strong control over the way the Massachusetts Bay colony was governed. To do this, they only gave male Puritans the right to vote and to choose their representatives in the colony's government. Over the next ten years, 15,000 Puritans moved from England to America.

NEW ENGLAND

Starting from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, settlers expanded throughout the area we know as New England. Colonies were soon established in Connecticut and Rhode Island. These new colonies provided more freedom to religions other than Puritans and made a greater separation between the government and religion. As these colonists expanded throughout New England they took over more and more Native American land. This led to fighting between the colonists and Native Americans.