Why the Pilgrims and Puritans Came to America
This Grade 5 history skill in IMPACT California Social Studies explains why the Pilgrims and Puritans left England for America in the 1600s to escape religious persecution. Students learn that the king of England required everyone to follow the official church, and those who dissented faced punishment. The Pilgrims sailed to North America in September 1620 aboard the Mayflower. The Puritans followed a decade later. Both groups sought to build new communities in America where they could worship freely according to their own beliefs and create societies based entirely on their religious values.
Key Concepts
In the 1600s, the king of England required everyone to follow the rules of the official church. Some groups disagreed with these rules and faced punishment, or religious persecution , for their beliefs.
Two of these groups were the Pilgrims and the Puritans .
Common Questions
Who were the Pilgrims and why did they leave England?
The Pilgrims were a group of English Separatists who wanted to completely separate from the Church of England. They faced persecution in England for their religious beliefs. In September 1620, they sailed on the Mayflower to North America to establish a community where they could worship freely.
Who were the Puritans and how were they different from the Pilgrims?
The Puritans were English Protestants who wanted to purify the Church of England from within rather than completely separate from it. They came to America in 1630 in larger numbers, founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Like the Pilgrims, they sought religious freedom, but they envisioned their colony as a model Christian society.
What was religious persecution and how did it affect these groups?
Religious persecution meant that the government punished people for practicing their religion differently from the official state church. In England, dissenters faced fines, imprisonment, and other punishments. For both the Pilgrims and Puritans, the threat of persecution was serious enough to motivate a dangerous ocean voyage to an unknown land.
What did the Pilgrims create before landing at Plymouth?
Before landing, the Pilgrim men aboard the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement to create and follow fair laws for the good of the colony. This was one of the first examples of self-government in colonial America, establishing the principle that government derives authority from the consent of the governed.
Where did the Pilgrims land and what challenges did they face?
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts in November 1620. Their first winter was devastating, with nearly half the colonists dying from disease, cold, and starvation. The Wampanoag people, especially Squanto, helped teach them to farm the local land, which helped the survivors stabilize.
How did the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony differ from Plymouth?
The Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded in 1630, was much larger and better funded than Plymouth. Led by John Winthrop, it grew quickly into a network of towns. The Puritans had a clear religious vision of creating a model Christian society and were more organizationally sophisticated than the smaller Plymouth community.