<P> The Puritans in England first sent smaller groups in the mid-1620s to establish colonies, buildings, and food supplies, learning from the Pilgrims' harsh experiences of winter in the Plymouth Colony . In 1623, the Plymouth Council for New England (successor to the Plymouth Company) established a small fishing village at Cape Ann under the supervision of the Dorchester Company . The first group of Puritans moved to a new town at nearby Naumkeag after the Dorchester Company dropped support, and fresh financial support was found by Rev. John White . Other settlements were started in nearby areas; however, the overall Puritan population remained small through the 1620s . </P> <P> A larger group of Puritans arrived in 1630, leaving England because they desired to worship in a manner that differed from the Church of England . Their views were in accord with those of the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower, except that the Pilgrims were "separatists" who felt that they needed to separate themselves from the Church of England, whereas the later Puritans were content to remain under the umbrella of the Church of England . The separate colonies were governed independently of one other until 1691, when Plymouth Colony was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay . </P> <P> Early dissenters of the Puritan laws were often banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony . The Connecticut Colony was started after Puritan minister Thomas Hooker left Massachusetts Bay with about 100 followers in search of greater religious and political freedom . John Wheelwright left with his followers to a colony in New Hampshire and then on to Maine . The Puritans also established the American public school system for the express purpose of ensuring that future generations would be able to read the Bible for themselves, which was a central tenet of Puritan worship . </P> <P> It was the dead of winter in January 1636 when minister Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of theological differences . One source of contention was his view that government and religion should be separate; he also believed that the colonies should purchase land at fair prices from the Wampanoag and Narragansett tribes . He escaped being deported to England by the Massachusetts officials and walked from Salem, Massachusetts to Raynham, Massachusetts, a distance of 55 miles through the deep snow . The Indian tribes helped him to survive and sold him land for a new colony which he named Providence Plantations in recognition of the intervention of Divine Providence in establishing the new colony . It was unique in its day in expressly providing for religious freedom and a separation of church from state . Other dissenters established two settlements on Rhode Island (now called Aquidneck Island) and another settlement in Warwick; these four settlements eventually united to form the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . </P>

New england eventually expanded to include what separate colonies