American History Series: How a Desire for Religious Freedom or Land, or Both, Led to Colonies

VOA Special English

07 November 2007

Puritans

The Puritans were one of the largest groups from England to settle in the northeastern area called Massachusetts. They began arriving in sixteen thirty. The Puritans had formed the Massachusetts Bay Company in England. The king had given the company an area of land between the Charles and Merrimack rivers.

The Puritans were Protestants who did not agree with the Anglican Church. The Puritans wanted to change the church to make it more holy. They were able to live as they wanted in Massachusetts. Soon they became the largest religious group. By sixteen ninety, fifty thousand people were living in Massachusetts.

Puritans thought their religion was the only true religion and everyone should believe in it. They also believed that church leaders should lead the local government, and all people in the colony should pay to support the Puritan church. The Puritans thought it was the job of government leaders to tell people what to believe.

Some people did not agree with the Puritans who had become leaders of the colony. One of those who disagreed was a Puritan minister named Roger Williams.

Roger Williams believed as all Puritans did that other European religions were wrong. He thought the Native Indian religions were wrong too. But he did not believe in trying to force others to agree with him. He thought that it was a sin to punish or kill anyone in the name of Christianity. And he thought that only church members should pay to support their church.

Roger Williams began speaking and writing about his ideas. He wrote a book saying it was wrong to punish people for having different beliefs. Then he said that the European settlers were stealing the Indians' land. He said the king of England had no right to permit people to settle on land that was not his, but belonged to the Indians.

The Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony forced Roger Williams to leave the colony in sixteen thirty-six. He traveled south. He bought land from local Indians and started a city, Providence. The Parliament in England gave him permission to establish a new colony, Rhode Island, with Providence as its capital. As a colony, Rhode Island accepted people of all religious beliefs, including Catholics, Quakers, Jews and even people who denied the existence of God.

Roger Williams also believed that governments should have no connection to a church. This idea of separating church and state was very new. Later it became one of the most important of all America's governing ideas.

Other colonies were started by people who left Massachusetts to seek land. One was Connecticut. A group led by Puritan minister Thomas Hooker left Boston in sixteen thirty-six and went west. They settled near the Connecticut River. Others soon joined them.

Other groups from Massachusetts traveled north to find new homes. The king of England had given two friends a large piece of land in the north. The friends divided it. John Mason took what later became the colony of New Hampshire. Ferdinando Gorges took the area that later became the state of Maine. It never became a colony, however. It remained a part of Massachusetts until after the United States was created.

This copy of the VOA Special English text is used only for educational purposes.