The Pilgrim Fathers

The Pilgrims were English Calvinists who, unlike the Puritans did not try to transform the Church of England, but actually left the Church to form an independent sect. This group appeared at the end of Elizabeth I's reign and in the early period of James I's reign.

Since they were not in the king's Church (i.e. the Church of England), the Pilgrims were effectively outlaws in the early 17th century. Their pastors were fined, put in the stocks and whipped. Some of them who published pamphlets criticizing the king and his Church had their ears sliced off, their noses split and their foreheads branded with the letters 'SS' (stirrer of sedition).

In 1607 a group of Pilgrims managed to escape to Holland which, at that time, was the only country with complete freedom of religion. Here they could worship as they pleased.

• European Settlement in North America : Introduction
• The First Colony : Virginia
• The Mayflower and the Mayflower Compact
• Plymouth Settlement
• The First Thanksgiving
• Massachusetts
• Other Colonies
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