In the early 1600's people were searching, searching for freedom from
the tyrannical kings of Europe and searching for new lives. Many
people found this freedom and the new life they were looking for by
moving to the new world. The land was first settled by Christopher
Columbus and his trio of ships. After word got back to England of
the settlements, more and more people started to migrate to the new
world. Some of these people who moved to the new world were
called puritans.
Around 1629, the King of England, Charles I granted a charter to the
'Governor and company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.'
These were a group of rich investors which included influential
puritans. This charter authorized trade in the colony and gave them
the right to settle in the area between the Merrimack and Charles
rivers. This charter which gave only basic rules and rights served as
the basic government for the Massachusetts Bay Colony for a while,
until a better form of government could be developed.
Abduction of Europe
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English: Massachusetts_Bay_Colony_1930_Issue-2c.jp...In 1630, the puritan leaders, John Winthrop, Thomas Dudley and Sir
Richard Sultanstalle along with about 1000 men arrived in Salem,
Massachusetts (Encyclopedia Americana, 1995). These prosperous
farmers were said to be socially, economically and intellectually
above the earlier settlers (Tunis, Edwin Colonial Living 1957). This
helped the settlers to become better equipped and better organized
than either the Virginians or the Pilgrims had been. When the
puritans landed in Salem, Winthrop brought the Massachusetts Bay
charter and the governmental administration for the colony with him.
He was said to be carrying a bible under one arm and the royal
charter under the other arm (Tunis, Edwin Colonial Living 1957).
The English authorities did not expect the puritans to bring the
charter to the...