Puritan Migration

It is a well known fact that many of the United States' first English colonies were founded by Englishmen searching for religious freedom, to escape from the persecution they were being forced to endure in their home country. For instance, New England was made up of Pilgrims and Puritans, while Maryland consisted of devout Catholics.

In the case of the Puritans, their migration from England to the New World was primarily the result of James VI of Scotland becoming the King of England (hereafter referred to as King James I of England) after the death of Elizabeth I, who left behind no heir to the throne. The Puritans were initially pleased with King James' taking of the throne, because his country of Scotland practiced Presbyterianism, which
Within this sermon, the religious motivation behind their leaving their country is further revealed. Winthrop states within his sermon three intentions of the Puritan settlement in the New World, those being:

1) "First to hold conformity with the rest of his [God's] world, being delighted to show forth the glory of his wisdom in the variety and difference of the creatures, and the glory of his power in ordering all these differences for the preservation and good of the whole..." (Winthrop)

2) "Secondly that he might haue the more occasion to manifest the work of his Spirit..."
These settlers were the well-known Pilgrims, the settlers who sailed on the Mayflower. This group was led by a William Bradford, who assisted in the development of the Mayflower Compact and also wrote a detailed journal now titled "History of Plymouth Plantation," which offers a first-person account of the Pilgrims' journey to the New World and the early years of their colony. The Pilgrims were considered to be Separatists, which was a sect of Puritanism. The difference between them and John Winthrop's Puritans was that the Puritans believed that the Church of England was true to the Bible, while the Pilgrims thought that being a member of the Church of England was a violation of the Bible. However, there were also some differences between the Puritans' and the Pilgrims' religious motivation behind journeying to the New World. While the Puritan motives are stated above, the Pilgrims' intentions were to create a new society with a church that was free of corruption (unlike the Church of England) and appealed to their religious beliefs. They wanted to create their own utopia, starting with religious freedom. Therefore, the main difference between the Puritans' motivation and the Pilgrims' motivation for traveling to the New World is that the Pilgrims were determined to create their own church, free of flaws, while the Puritans