In the mid to late 1620s, the religious atmosphere in England began to look bleak for Puritans and other groups whose adherents believed the English Reformation was in danger. King Charles I had ascended the throne in 1624, and he had married a Roman Catholic. Charles was opposed to all manner of recusants, and supported the Church of England in its efforts against religious groups like the Puritans that did not adhere fully to its teachings and practices.[38] This atmosphere of intolerance to their views led Puritan religious and business leaders to consider emigration to the New World as a viable means to escape persecution.[39]

John Endecott preceded Winthrop as governor in Massachusetts
The first successful religious colonization of the New World occurred in 1620 with the establishment of the Plymouth Colony on the shores of Cape Cod Bay.[40] An effort in 1624 orchestrated by pastor John White led to a short-lived colony at Cape Ann, also on the Massachusetts coast.[41] In 1628 some of the investors in that effort joined with new investors to acquire a land grant for the territory roughly between the Charles and Merrimack Rivers. First styled the New England Company, it was renamed the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629 after it acquired a royal charter, granting it permission to govern the territory.[42] Shortly after acquiring the land grant in 1628, it sent a small group of settlers led by John Endecott to prepare the way for further migration.[43] John