Of
course no one in those days realised what a huge tract that would
be. For no man yet guessed how great a continent America was,
or by what thousands of miles the Pacific was separated from the
Atlantic. This charter was not unlike that given to Virginia. But
there was one important difference. Nowhere in the charter did it
say that the seat of government must be in England.
So when Charles dismissed his Parliament, vowing that if the members
would not do as he wished he would rule without them, a great many
Puritans decided to leave the country. They decided also to take
their charter with them and remove the Company of Massachusetts
Bay, bag and baggage, to New England.
Charles did nothing to stop them. Perhaps at the time he was pleased
to see so many powerful Puritans leave the country, for without
them he was all the freer to go his own way. So in the spring of
1630 more than a thousand set sail, taking with them their cattle
and household goods.
Many of these were cultured gentlemen who were thus giving up money,
ease and position in order to gain freedom of religion. They were
not poor labourers or artisans, not even for the most part traders
and merchants. They chose as Governor for the first year a Suffolk
gentleman named John Winthrop. A new Governor was chosen every year,
but John Winthrop held the post many times, twice being elected
three years in succession.
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