If it were not for the Puritans and all of the different religious beliefs of others we might not have the United States nor the secular Government that we have today.
The colonization of New England started with the Puritan movement. The Puritans were a group of Protestants who were part of the Church of England,They had many criticism of the church and believed that it needed to be reformed. This all began in England when King Henry VIII had disputes with the Catholic Church. In 1603 King James I became the head of the Church of England causing the Puritans dislike for him as a spiritual leader. They were then persecuted by King James, and this started the Puritans move to America in 1620. The Puritans also known as the Seperatists, sailed to America and founded the Plymouth colonies. Before even stepping off the ship the people agreed upon some laws, which became known as the Mayflower Compact.
The Mayflower compact was written because, the Mayflower was originally bound for the Colony of Virginia, financed by the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London. Storms forced them to anchor at the hook of Cape Cod in what is now Massachusetts. This inspired some of the passengers to proclaim that since the settlement would not be made in the agreed upon Virginia territory, they "would use their own liberty; for none had power to command them...."[4] To prevent this, many of the other colonists chose to establish a government. The Mayflower Compact was based simultaneously upon a majoritarian model (taking into account that women could not vote) and the settlers' allegiance to the king. It was in essence a contract in which the settlers consented to follow the compact's rules and regulations for the sake of order and survival ( Wikipedia)
There were many key people who lead to the survival and expansion of the Americas.
John Winthrop was an English Puritan who became one of the founders of Massachusetts Bay Colony because Charles I took a hostile...