Religion strongly influenced the development of colonial society in the Puritan New England regions and the Quaker Middle Atlantic regions. The Puritans, Pilgrims, who were extreme Separatists wanted to break away from the Anglican church of England. The Pilgrims decided to leave England because of religious conflict. In 1620 a group of the Separatist aboard the Mayflower, set out for Virginia. However, the ship was blown of course and it landed off the rocky coast of New England. They established Plymouth Bay as their site. The Pilgrims had landed outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company; consequently they drew up the Mayflower Compact, which became a precedent for later written constitutions. The Compact was a great step toward self-government.
This Quaker haven, as it was called, offered economic opportunity, civil liberty, and religious freedom. The proprietary was uncommonly liberal and included a representative assembly elected by the landowners. There was no tax- supported state church. Instead they built simple meetinghouses without a paid clergy. The Quakers produced and exported grain and other foods as a result of their clever business manners. By the 1700, the colony was only surpassed in wealth and population by the longtime established Virginia and Massachusetts.
During the Great Migration of 1630 only 14,000 came to Massachusetts. Among them was John Winthrop. He became the colony’s first governor. He believed that he had a “calling” from God to lead the new religious experiment. He helped Massac
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