Why did the Pilgrims move to Plymouth in the 1600's.?

Answer 1

When the pilgrams left PlymouthAnd landed in the new world they named thier place of arrival Plymouth.They were not persecuted in England.In fact they swore alliegance to the british crown.Thier first winter was disasterous.Many of the colony did'nt survive,Two years after thier arrival the british sent over 1000 Quakers to the colony
Unfortuntely the puritans never practised what they preached,because they most certainly persecuted the Quakers.The first heresy trials were held by the puritans.So too were witch trials,The punishment was death.You could spend 3days in the stocks for blasphemy.It was the same as always.The Puritans said The king gave us this land,this is our religion.If you don't like it get out.Or stay and obey

Answer 2

The Pilgrims were religious dissenters from the Church of England. While they shared many religious beliefs with the Puritans, there was a difference: the Pilgrims were "Separatists," who wanted the English church to break completely from practices (ritual, vestments, hierarchy, etc.) that had ties to Roman Catholicism. The Puritans, on the other had, merely wanted to "purify" the English church of these influences (yeah, you could call it hair splitting of a fine sort).

The Pilgrims initially left England (many of them were from the area around Plymouth) and moved to The Netherlands. After some years living among the Dutch, they grew fearful of their children becoming "contaminated" by the worldliness of the citizens of their host country (the Dutch at this time were mostly interested in trade and--horrors!--tended to be pretty liberal in religious matters), as well as being concerned that the young people were assimilating too well into the Dutch mainstream, forgetting their native language and customs.

So, they decided to set out for Virginia, where they could be as homogeneous as they liked. Even though they headed for a more southerly location (Virginia was a pretty loosely defined area in 1620, including most of the eastern seaboard of what is now the US), they were blown off course and landed in what we now think of as "New England."

Of course, almost any American schoolchild knows of the hardships they faced (a large proportion of these colonists died that first winter) and how they probably would not have survived but for the humaneness of the Native Americans (who taught them invaluable survival skills such as how to cultivate corn), but your question was why they left, not how they survived.

So, to sum up, the Pilgrims came to America for religious liberty (for themselves, at any rate) and also to preserve their "Englishness" (is there such a word? If not, consider it now coined!), which identity they feared would be lost if they remained in Holland.

Answer 3

The pilgrims were known as Puritans and wanted to find a place to practice what they considered a purer form of Christianity than the Church of England offered. Even though they were rarely actually persecuted, they were extremely unhappy with the religious practices and morals of Charles II's England. They wanted a place to create their own religious community, with a govenment that reflected their moral code.
That's why they left England to found a colony in the New World.

Answer 4

Chrispy's answer is excellent.
To add to it...there's a rumor that the Pilgrims' ship wasn't exactly blown off course, but that instead the captain was bribed by the people in Virginia (Anglicans predominantly) to set the Pilgrims ashore far away from Virginia.

Answer 5

Short answer: Relgious persecution (not freedom, since the Puritans were essentially a theocratic dictatorship and cracked down hard on dissent).

But of course not everyone on the Mayflower or among those who came in the 1600s were Puritans - and the Puritans won in the end in England, getting rid of a hated King and eliminating Catholics from power and influence (and the throne).

Answer 6

The Pilgrims left Europe because of religous persercution.

Answer 7

Religious persecution. They were fleeing the Cromwellian witch hunt.

Answer 8

because they where able to defend themselves from the Indians, after robbing their grave and steeling the springs ration.

Answer 9

to be able to practice their religion freely