Pilgrims &Puritans:
Coming to America
Seeking Religious
Freedom
The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony
Pilgrims aka “The Saints” were Religious Separatists seeking a new land to establish themselves and
practice their faith on their terms
• The Pilgrims sought to leave behind (literally) the corruption of the Church of England and the authority of the King
• America was seen as a place where they could practice their faith
freely -- without fear of prejudice or bias
John Cotton’s Sermon, as the Pilgrims leave for America, encapsulates their hopes
“that they may dwell in a
place of their own, and
move no more…
neither shall the children
of wickedness afflict them
any more, as beforetime.”
Plymouth
The Pilgrims Landing at Plymouth
The Plymouth Colony
The Root of Self-Government in America: The Mayflower Compact
November 1, 1620
Modern version of the Mayflower Compact
In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc. Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.
Life at Plymouth
• Brutal 1st winter
• Common House
• Indian help – Squanto (planting and fishing)
• 1621 1st Thanksgiving Peace Treaty with Indians
• Growth to 2000 people by 1630
• Merged with Mass Bay Colony in 1691
The Puritans and Mass Bay Colony
The Seal of the Royal Charter that established the Massachusetts Bay Company
Puritans: a whole other kind of Protestant
• Unlike the Pilgrims, the Puritans choose to stay in the Church of England and reform it (purify) it from the inside.
• Like the Pilgrims, the Puritans left England to seek religious freedom and to create a community where their “pure” form of Christianity was the foundation for ALL aspects of communal life .
• Biblically Fundamental, Strict, Rigid, Serious, Uncompromising, Rules-oriented, Punitive and Intolerant of Dissent
• Strict Gender roles and Class Structure
17 ships with 1000 settlers, livestock, and provisions left England in 1630 to settle in America.
John Winthrop – 1st Governor of Massachusetts Bay
The Puritans desired to establish a “Shining
City on a Hill” or a “Beacon” – drawing
all men closer to God through the Colony and its community
rules.
Boston – the Center of the Colony
Life in Massachusetts Bay Colony Work Hard Pray Hard
Preach Hard Punish Hard and Publically