Separatists had done. The quarrel between the king and the Puritans was
then becoming serious, and the time seemed at hand when men who wished to
worship God according to their conscience would have to seek a home in
America. White accordingly began to urge the planting of a Puritan colony
in New England. So well did he succeed that an association was formed, a
great tract of land was obtained from the Council for New England, and in
1628 sixty men, led by John Endicott, settled at Naumkeag and changed its
name to Salem, which means "peace."

THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY.--The members of the association next secured
from King Charles I a charter which made them a corporation, called this
corporation The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England,
and gave it the right to govern colonies planted on its lands. More
settlers with a great herd of cattle were now hurried to Salem, which thus
became the largest colony in New England.

[Illustration: THE EARLY NEW ENGLAND COLONIES.]

THE GREAT PURITAN MIGRATION.--The same year (1629) that the charter was
obtained, twelve leading Puritans signed an agreement to head an
emigration to Massachusetts, provided the charter and government of the
company were removed to New England. One of the signers was John Winthrop,
and by him in 1630 nearly a thousand Puritans were led to Salem. Thence
they soon removed to a little three-hilled peninsula where they founded
the town of Boston. More emigrants followed, and before the end of 1630
seventeen ships with nearly fifteen hundred Puritans reached
Massachusetts. They settled at Boston, Charlestown, Roxbury, Dorchester,
Watertown, and Cambridge.

The charter was brought with them, the meetings of the company were now