by Ramona Taylor

Created on: November 01, 2009   Last Updated: November 02, 2009

In the fall of 1620, a lone wooden cargo ship anchored in the Cape Cod Bay. Winter was approaching and aboard the Mayflower, 102 Pilgrims- English Separatists, sailors, women and children- had crossed the ocean in search of new lives. Hardship and loss were already realities for all of them, but upon arriving in this strange New World, they were hopeful. The journey, part haste and part neccessity, was fueled by two ideals- freedom of religion and identity.

The Church and the Sovereign

Early in the sixteenth century many countries and their leaders began to challenge the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Even, King Henry VIII, with his own personal and political agendas, tested the authority of the Vatican. By 1536, King Henry was the proclaimed Head of the Church of England (also known as the Anglican Church) and had dissolved all monasteries and abbeys. Afterwards, the Crown controlled every aspect of daily life. The faith of the sovereign was the mandated faith of his or her people. This proposition did not set well with many of the days' Protestant reformers.

The Church of England, under penalty of law, required all their people to attend church on Sunday and have no other religious leaders that were not ordained by the Crown. However, during this period in history, many English Christians had turned their back on the more rituals and sacraments of the Anglican Church. They argued thw Church's practices were close to that of the Roman Catholics and was not consistent with the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. These Christians were Puritans and they desired a change in the religious practices of England and a change in the Crown's authority over them.

Puritans and the Separatists

The Puritans continued to challenge the political and religious policies of the Crown- namely the Stuart rulers King James I and his son, King Charles I. However, the Puritan Party was experiencing internal conflict. One particular, minority faction sought simply to leave England and start afresh in another country. This faction felt that reformation of the Anglican Church was impossible. In either case, Church of England became less tolerate of the Puritans and they were harassed, imprisoned and even executed for what tthe Crown and other citizens considered as challenges to the Divine Right of the King.

In spite of these dangers, the Puritan Separatists continued to worship under the leadership of their pastors and found common purpose in the Scrooby Manor home of William

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