Dutch had discovered the Hudson, and had begun to settle Albany. To this
region (the Hudson and Mohawk valleys) the English had no just claim.]

As soon as the grant was obtained, John Endicott came out with a company
of sixty persons, and took up his abode at Naumkeag, which, being an
Indian and therefore a pagan name, he changed to Salem, the Hebrew word
for "peace."

%37. The Massachusetts Charter, 1629%.--The next step was to obtain
the right of self-government, which was secured by a royal charter
creating a corporation known as the Governor and Company of
Massachusetts Bay in New England. Over the affairs of the company were
to preside a governor, deputy governor, and a council of eighteen to be
elected annually by the members of the company.[2]

[Footnote 2: The charter is printed in Poore's _Charters and
Constitutions_, pp. 932-942, and in Preston's _Documents_, pp. 36-61.]

Six ships were now fitted out, and in them 406 men, women, and children,
with 140 head of cattle, set sail for Massachusetts. They reached Salem
in safety and made it the largest colony in New England.

%38. Why the Puritans came to New England.%--It was in 1625 that
Charles I. ascended the throne of England. Under him the quarrel with
the Puritans grew worse each year. He violated his promises, he
collected illegal taxes, he quartered troops on the people, he threw
those into prison who would not contribute to his forced loans, or
pressed them into the army or the navy. His Archbishop Laud persecuted
the Puritans with shameful cruelty.