In 1620 a group of Congregationalists built their first settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Ten years later a second settlement started on Massachusetts Bay around Boston Harbor. The settlers were Puritans who were out of sympathy with the Church and State at home and who saw an opportunity for better fortunes in America. They were conformists in England, but the first church at Salem adopted the Congregational principle of limiting church membership to persons of spiritual qualification. The group affiliated itself with the Congregational Church at Plymouth. Other churches of the Massachusetts Colony followed the example of Salem with the result that two Congregational colonies were planted on the Massachusetts shore. Soon thousands more found their way to New England and settled in New Haven and at points along the Connecticut River. These were all outposts of Congregationalism, but Boston was its center. The Puritans wished only for the freedom to establish the kind of a church that had been unlawful at home. They were quick to take precautionary measures against the admission of any fanatical sects. In 1650 a colonial law was passed requiring the specific consent of the Government to the introduction of any other group than the adopted Congregational faith.
Impact: The English Government compelled the colonial Government to be more hospitable to persons who did not conform to colonial Congregationalism. In 1691 the original charter of the colony was taken away and a substitute provided. By that time Baptist and Episcopal churches had been founded in Boston.