Colonial and Revolutionary America.
In October of 1629, a group of almost 1,000 men, women and children set sail for New England in search of religious freedom and hopes of a prosperous new life. Men like John Winthrop believed that, "A man's duty to God was to work at his calling and to improve his talents like a good and faithful servant." Not only was the government in England keeping him from practicing his religion as believed he should, they were also keeping him from advancing in his work. Winthrop's friends in the Bay Company persuaded him and others to join the expedition by presenting the argument that men like Winthrop with jobs of lesser importance would be few in New England and therefore would more easily be in a position of power. They argued that in England men like Winthrop with jobs of less importance would soon be out of jobs because of the turmoil in the country. Winthrop did not aim at power for the sake of power, but he knew it was a way to use his talents to further his convictions to God.
Many Puritan's argued that they were not deserting there church in England, but that it may be better to build a new church in a new world rather than to labor at trying to save a failing church I their old land. Winthrop argued, "it might be a greater service to the churches of England to preserve a remnant pure in the wilderness than to strive in vain for purity at home. In better times the remnant could expand and extend itself back to the mother country." Winthrop was arguing that if they could go to the new land and develop their church I a true Puritan manner without government control than maybe they could come back to England in the future and reestablish there churches. They could develop these churches without government control in the new land because of a royal charter Parliament managed to get just prior to King Charles dissolving them. The charter was known as the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.
