John Winthrop was born in 1588 in England. He was the only son in the family and grew up in the comfortable setting of Groton. At the age of 15 he journeyed to Cambridge for the traditional two years of polishing in that university's Trinity College. In 1605 Winthrop Left Cambridge and married Mary Forth at the age of 17, a bride carefully selected by his father for her economic assets and social connections. Growing up in a puritan family John Winthrop's goal was to spread Puritanism throughout England and to make the country of England more religious and godly. .
Puritanism touched John Winthrop's life in 1606 at the age of 18. His wife became ill and that was when john Winthrop assumed that that was a warning from god. And later he himself fell ill. Finally on April 20 John Winthrop made an agreement with god which the puritans called a covenant. John Winthrop helped Puritanism grow bigger throughout England and he believed that original sin damned all men and destined them to hell's fiery pit.
Puritanism took root rapidly. Even as Winthrop became absorbed in a career of law and the management of Groton, his concern for religion increased. His central problem was how to live in the real world without loving wordly pleasures too much. And the most important part was to love god above everything else. Winthrop and his fellows believed that it was their duty to make the world as godly as possible. .
In 1603 James I succeeded Queen Elizabeth, and religious dissenters hoped the change meant greater sympathy for their cause. However in January 1604 at Hampton court, made his position clear about the puritans "I shall make them conform themselves, or I will harry them out of this land, or else do worse." Which in other words meant that the puritans were either going to get kicked out of the country or get killed if they didn't change their religious beliefs. King James" statements scared john Winthrop and he was not sure what to do.