What were the pilgrim fathers reasons for leaving Europe?

Answer 1

The Puritans wanted to be free from religious prosecution in England.

During the 1620s England's economy suffered. Many people lost their jobs. The English king, Charles I, made the situation worse by raising taxes. This unpopular act led to a political crisis. At the same time, the Church of England began to punish Puritans because they were dissenters, or people who disagree with official opinions. King Charles refused to allow Puritans to criticize church actions.

Answer 2

The Puritans wanted to be free from religious prosecution in England.

During the 1620s England's economy suffered. Many people lost their jobs. The English king, Charles I, made the situation worse by raising taxes. This unpopular act led to a political crisis. At the same time, the Church of England began to punish Puritans because they were dissenters, or people who disagree with official opinions. King Charles refused to allow Puritans to criticize church actions.

Answer 3

The Pilgrims felt that they weren't allowed to worship the way they wanted. In England in 1620 the law was very strict on everyone attending the Church of England. People were arrested for being Catholic, Purtian, and Quaker. This was a hold over from the Reformation, so the Pilgrims looked for places that would allow them to live the way they wanted. They tried the Netherlands and it didn't work and finally in 1620 they took the Mayflower to the America's. They were heading for VA and to colonize an area near Jamestown, but got blown off course and ended up in Mass.

Answer 4

The pilgrims wanted to leave Europe because they wanted freedom.[different reasons:like religious reasons,tax reasons and some just wanted to leave europe for no reason]
Some pilgrims left Europe for religious freedom. Others left for adventure and to explore other lands. William Bradford and John Smith are two famous pioneers.

Answer 5

Because the 2 religious groups are alike running by away from King James's bad treatment, but the reason what they are different is because the pilgrim established the idea of self governor

Answer 6

Freedom of religion. But you must separate one from the other. During the latter half of the 16th Century and the beginning of the 17th there were several movements in England to reform the Church of England. But Queen Elizabeth I, King James I and King Charles I, as head of the church, would have none of it. And as time wore on, the Kings moved to prosecute and jail those who disagreed with the dictates of the Church of England.

Both the Puritan group and what we know as the "Pilgrims" believed the Church of England to be too "Roman Catholic." They felt the Church of Rome was still extending its influence. And this is where the Puritans take their name, the desired to "purify" the church from any and all of its Roman Catholic tendencies. They desired to do this from within the Church, meaning, they would do their best to remain in good standing while trying to effect changes.

The "Pilgrims" are more correctly called "separatists." It was their belief that the Church was incapable of change and it was their desire to separate into an entirely new religion. But such a move, in those days, was not legal according to the reigning monarch. Their leader, the outspoken John Brewster, had a price on his head and all his followers were subject to being jailed.

The separatists quickly moved out of England to Holland where they were, for a short while, taken in as guests of the state. But they did not desire to stay in Holland, where Lutheranism was practiced. They could not go back to England but by 1619 the Virginia Colony was well-known in England and Europe.

The Pilgrims paid off a few government officials and hired two ships, the Mayflower and Speedwell to take them to Virginia. It is suspected that the King knew full well of the Pilgrim's plans but because they were leaving his country forever, he declined to interfere. There were roughly 200 of them about the ships when the Speedwell's main beam fractured at sea and could not make the voyage.

The exact reason the Pilgrims did not make it to Virginia is unknown but it is suspected the Mayflower's captain was paid to deliver them to the Plymouth colony.

In each case, the Pilgrims first, 1620, and the Puritans later, 1630, the small group set up their own church to their own liking. The Puritans morphed into the Congregationalists and the Unitarians while the Pilgrims became the American Friends (Quakers).