The Puritans arrived in New England from England with aspirations to live a life free from religious persecution, strictly lead pious lives, and to keep a well-knit family relationship; they accomplished all these goals with the exception of being abided by the strict guidelines of the church and government. Religion to the Puritans came before anything else in life. Their troubles began when King James I appointed himself the head of the Church of England in 1603; they fled out of England for their lives and for their religious freedom. They did not want to practice religion in a corrupted church. New England Puritans did not want to separate from the church; they wanted to "purify it." With their charter, the they set up the Massachusetts Bay Company and used it to establish a colony that would be a commonwealth based on the Bible. After many generations of living in New England, the ideal Puritan life became less focused around religion and focused more on making money through trade. They even lessened the requirements for membership in the General Court; instead of allowing only "freemen," they later allowed any Puritan in good standing. These colonists were successful at fulfilling their aspirations to a certain extent, but they also received many set-backs. They were sort of successful in establishing a pious society and were very successful in establishing a new church, keeping their families together, and in commerce. They all shared a common sense of purpose in religion and later "became a city upon a hill."- John Winthrop.
             By learning from their previous mistakes in England, these colonists were able to disregard their setbacks from the Church of England and create a new and reformed church. They came into this new country seeking reform and accomplished it when they set up a church that was governed by themselves; they were no longer at the mercy of the clergymen or the king. They set up...