Aboard one of the eleven ships was the Cambridge Agreement. The taking of the charter to the New World was illegal but the Puritans had previously agreed at Cambridge University that the charter was necessary to outline the government of the new colony.
John Winthrop, the leader of the Puritans, was disappointed with his arrival in Salem. The "city on a hill" that he dreamed of was nothing more than a collection of hovels. Winthrop and his group of settlers eventually settled in the area that would become known as Boston. The geography of Massachusetts was not tightly bound like her neighbors to the south, the Pilgrims. Land became valuable merchandise as more settlers poured in during "The Great Migration." This immigration was one of the chief factors in the early growth of New England's economy. These settlers would come to found new towns such as Cambridge, Newton, and Reading. .
As new towns sprung up all over the Massachusetts Bay Colony the question of order became apparent. Government had to be established in the colony, along with an economy. The Puritans brought political ideas with them that they soon began to put into use. The Puritans also established Congregationalism as the state-supported religion and barred members of other faiths from conducting services. According to Puritan beliefs every government rested upon a covenant between rulers and people. The people were free to choose their rulers but once the rulers had been established they were considered to be God's agents. The rulers, therefore, governed according to God's law and justice. .
After settling in Boston in 1630, Winthrop set up a church and by 1635 one-third of the population was a full member. The organization of churches was not enough to maintain secular order, as Winthrop soon discovered. In October of 1630, a general meeting of the Massachusetts Bay Company was held. The meeting produced crucial changes on the governing of Massachusetts.