The Puritans who settled in Massachusetts were a religious sect of the Church of England. When Henry VIII died his young son Edward took over the crown and ruled as a Protestant. After his young death, his older sister Mary (Bloody Mary) took over and switched England back to Catholicism. When she died after a short reign, her sister Elizabeth took over. She was Protestant but tried to keep her people happy and did not strip away all the Catholic elements as much as some of her subjects wanted. The largest group upset with the way she was running the Church of England were the Puritans, who wanted to purify the C of E of everything Catholic. They saw their best chance of reforming the Church was to go to the colonies and set up a City on the Hill, where they could enlighten the world.
Historically Speaking 