In 1628, Thomas Dudley and John Winthrop persuaded the current King of England to allow Dudley’s and Winthrop’s Puritan followers to settle on a piece of land between the Charles River and Massachusetts Bay. This chunk of land would soon become known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony, one of the largest Puritan settlements of the 1600’s. The first few years of life at this new settlement were very difficult. Nearly two hundred Puritan settlers died, and an identical number returned to England. However, John Winthrop soon became governor of this settlement and during the mid 1630’s nearly twenty thousand Puritans settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Many of these settlers were Puritans, but several of them were not, thus causing the “Puritan stamp” to be put on nearly everything in the colony. The “Puritan stamp” refers to Puritans being the only ones who could be considered “freemen,” or those who were able to own land, buy stock, and be free to go where they pleased. This meant that non-Puritans could not go to certain churches, be involved in government, own their own homes, etcetera. Once John Winthrop was governor, the colony became almost completely independent from Britain and formed a representative government. This government allowed non-Puritan people to live in Massachusetts Bay Colony amongst the Puritans, but they could not take part in the government in any way. As this colony began to get on its feet, a small group of Puritans were sent out to form a plantation in Salem, which would later become another major Puritan settlement.