Although the search for a better life was a significant reason for immigrating to the New World during the sixteen and seventeen hundreds, many early English Pilgrims also came to the settlements seeking freedom of religion. Being a Pilgrim meant that you were a person who would travel extensive distances for a religious purpose, such as achieving spiritual liberty. Considering the fact that so many immigrants who had come to the colonies came seeking freedom of religion, everyone who traveled to the New World was eventually referred to as “Pilgrims.”

Settlers and Englishmen alike believed that the Church of England was becoming too closely associated to that of the Roman Catholic Church and as a result they wished to separate from it. This resulted in hundreds upon hundreds of people immigrating to the New World to escape the Church of England and to accomplish their religious goals. Although numerous colonists felt that The Church of England was beyond repair, several of the Pilgrims thought that a few slight changes and separation from the Church of England were all that were needed to suffice what they believed was the “correct” way to worship.