Who Were the Pilgrims?The King of England at that time was King James. As King, he was also head of the Church of England. Small groups of English people criticized his church for being too much like a Catholic church, and not true to what the Bible says a church should be.
One group of people wanted to make the King's Church more “pure,” and they came to be called “Puritans.” There were also “Separatists,” who believed that the English church was so bad it was beyond repair.
They wanted to separate and form their own church. Such a thing was not allowed in England at that time; it was illegal and punishable by law.
To escape persecution, some Separatists from the northern part of England went to Holland and built a church they believed was a proper one. Although the Dutch allowed them to practice their religion as they wished, the members of this reformed English church experienced other problems.
Holland did not feel like home and it was a hard place to live. They could not get good, well-paying jobs.
After about 10 years of such worries, these Englishmen started looking for a new place to live. When the opportunity came to join a new fishing company, many of them took it, even though they knew it would be difficult in the “New World.” They looked forward to living in a place where they could practice their religion as they wished, save their families from such desperate poverty.