How did the Siege of Leyden affect America?

Answer 1

The Siege of Leyden was a turning point in the occupation of the Netherlands by Spain. The Spanish army was routed and eventually William the Silent triumphed in freeing the Netherlands from Spanish domination. As a result of the end of the Spanish Inquisition, the Netherlanders passed legislation to assure that no one would ever again be tried and punished for following his or her conscience. So, when the Separatist Pilgrims from northern England first sought a place where they could worship without persecution by the king and his church, they went first to Amsterdam and then to Leyden. Altogether, they settled for eleven years in the Netherlands . However, when, among other problems, they saw their children becoming more like the Dutch, they decided that they needed to remove themselves to some more remote place and determined that they would start a colony in the new world. These were the people who finally made it to Cape Cod and what they named the Plimoth Plantation after Plymouth, England, from which they had sailed in the Mayflower. Unlike the Puritans, who remained part of the Church of England, the Separatist Pilgrims started churches with no hierarchy, each congregation being responsible for its own church governance. Hence, the Congregational Churches were born. Also, because they had been blown off course and actually settled land for which they had no royal charter, their existing charter being intended for Virginia, they entered into an agreement to guide them in self-government. Thus, the historic Mayflower Compact came to be. It was a covenant or agreement among them, recognizing their allegiance to God and king, and their obligations to each other. It is the first known example of a people specifically organizing themselves as a self-governing community.