Religious Settlements Readings and Pictures
Directions: Read each short narrative about each of the three settlements founded for religious
reasons. In the box, come up with a way to remember the most important information about the
settlement. You could draw a picture, come up with a mnemonic device, or write something in your
own words.
Plymouth
The Pilgrims were Separatists from the Church of England who left England in 1620 to establish a colony in what is now
Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Separatists were Puritans, but unlike the main body of Puritans who chose to remain
within the Church of England in order to enact reforms, the Pilgrims did not believe that the church could be purified of
its lingering Roman Catholic beliefs, and they separated to form their own church.
The Pilgrims were persecuted (bullied) by the English government as nonconformists (did not do what the government
wanted), and in 1608, some of them emigrated to Holland in search of religious freedom. After a few years in Holland,
however, many Pilgrims grew concerned about the cultural influence of the Dutch and the possibility of a war between
Holland and Spain. A movement began to establish a colony in the New World in order to have the freedom to worship
as they thought proper. By 1620, the Pilgrims had obtained financial backing for their venture, and on September 16
that year, 102 Pilgrims left Plymouth, England in their ship the Mayflower. After a sea voyage of 65 days, they sighted
North America on November 10. The night before they embarked in the New World, the groups' leaders drafted
the Mayflower Compact to provide some form of government for the settlement.
The Pilgrims originally landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts on November 11 but decided that the terrain was not suitable
for farming. Following explorations of the surrounding countryside, they chose a site on the western side of Cape Cod
Bay on which to establish their settlement, named Plymouth Plantation, on December 21. The Pilgrim settlement barely
survived its first winter in the New World, but over the course of the next 10 years, it stabilized and grew. The Pilgrims
were adamant about protecting their self-government once the Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in
Boston, just to the north of Plymouth Plantation. They remained separate from the Puritans and Massachusetts for the
rest of the century but eventually joined with the other settlers in New England.
Massachusetts Bay
In the years between the mid-16th century and the early 17th century, a group of reformers developed within
the Church of England who wanted to steer the church toward a more Protestant, Calvinistic theology and get rid of the
church of all signs of Catholicism. These reformers acquired the name "Puritans" because of their desire to purify the
Church of England. Unlike their more radical counterparts, the Separatists (Pilgrims), Puritans hoped to remain within
the Church of England to enact their reforms rather than leaving the church and beginning their own. Some Puritans saw
that the discovery of the New World presented them with an unique opportunity: they could create a model church in
America as an example, a "city on a hill" for all to follow. In the 1630s, the Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, which quickly grew to have a population of several thousand people, many of them centered in Boston but
others scattered throughout New England.
Pennsylvania
In 1681, the Duke (a man with power in England) handed over control of land in North America to William Penn in
payment of a royal debt, and the colony became known as Pennsylvania. As proprietor, Penn set about establishing a
haven for his often-persecuted fellow Quakers, as well as for other religious groups. His Pennsylvania Frame of
Government (1682) gave religious freedom to all who believed in God, established a humane legal code, and
encouraged the emancipation of slaves. Penn also signed a treaty in 1682 that promoted goodwill with Native
Americans in the region, and that same year established Philadelphia, the "City of Brotherly Love."
By the time of Penn's death in 1718, Pennsylvania had become home to a variety of peoples. Quakers, other English
residents, and Welsh lived in eastern Pennsylvania and dominated the colony's politics and increasingly thriving
commerce. German Mennonites, Moravians, Amish, Lutherans, and Reformed Church members farmed rural areas
nearby. By about 1730, and despite the efforts of Penn, around 4,000 African slaves lived in Pennsylvania. After Penn's
death, Scotch-Irish settlers moved into areas further west and increasingly pushed the bounds of the colony.