But that was not till
1692. Meanwhile, because it was the first of the New England colonies
to be founded, it was often called the Old Colony.
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Chapter 23 - The Founding of Massachusetts
For ten years after the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers charters were
constantly granted to "adventurers" of one kind or another for the
founding of colonies in New England. And, driven by the tyranny of
King James and of his son Charles I, small companies of Puritans
began to follow the example of the Pilgrim Fathers and go out to
New England, there to seek freedom to worship God. For King James,
although brought up as a Presbyterian himself, was bitter against
the Puritans. "I shall make them conform themselves," he had said,
"or I will harry them out of the land."
And as he could not make them conform he "harried" them so that
many were glad to leave the land to escape tyranny. King James has
been called the British Solomon, but he did some amazingly foolish
things. This narrow-minded persecution of the Puritans was one.
Yet by it he helped to form a great nation. So perhaps he was not
so foolish after all.
As has been said many companies were formed, many land charters
granted for Northern Virginia, or New England, as it was now called.
At length a company of Puritans under the name of the Massachusetts
Bay Company got a charter from Charles I, granting them a large
tract of land from three miles south of the Charles River to three
miles north of the Merrimac, and as far west as the Pacific.
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