Allison Sholar writes in Monkeyshines on America that in 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh obtained permission from Queen Elizabeth I of England to establish colonies in America. The Queen gave the name Virginia to a large area that covered what is now the Eastern United States. They sent expeditions to Virginia that failed due to lack of supplies. However, in 1606, King James I established the London Company. The Company sent colonists to what is now Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Despite many hardships, the settlement survived to become the first permanent English settlement in America (Scholar, 7).
The American colonies were settled by men and women with deep religious convictions who refused to compromise their beliefs and chose instead to leave England and other parts of Europe for the New World. Religious persecution resulted from the belief by European governments that there could be only one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it on every citizen. Citizens who did not conform would be punished, persecuted, and occasionally even prosecuted and imprisoned or executed. Meg Chorlian writing in Cobblestone asks readers to remember that not all colonists were religious zealots. Some were adventurous risk takers and inclined to independent mindedness. Others were entrepreneurs hoping to find riches in America (Chorlian, 3).
Puritans were English Protestants who wished to reform and purify the Church of England of what they considered to be unacceptable residue of Roman Catholicism. Beginning in 1630 as many as 20,000 Puritans emigrated to America from England to gain the liberty to worship God as they chose. The New England colonies have often been called "Bible Commonwealths" because they sought the guidance of the scriptures in regulating the lives of their citizens.
John Winthrop was a Puritan. He delivered his sermon: "A Model of Christian Charity" in the Atlantic Ocean on board the Arbe...