Massachusetts Bay Company

…by English Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Company, who, for religious and political reasons, put the Atlantic Ocean between themselves and the Church of England. Ostensibly founded as a commercial venture, the Massachusetts Bay Company, under its governor, John Winthrop, brought its charter—which it regarded as authorization to set up…

…the royal charter establishing the Massachusetts Bay Company to create a government in which “freemen”—white males who owned property and paid taxes and thus could take on the responsibility of governing—elected a governor and a single legislative body called the Great and General Court, made up of assistants and deputies.…

…neighbor to the north, the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

In 1629 the Massachusetts Bay Company had obtained from King Charles I a charter empowering the company to trade and colonize in New England between the Charles and Merrimack rivers. The grant was similar to that of the Virginia Company in 1609, the patentees being joint proprietors with…

…enterprises—the Pilgrims (1620) and the Massachusetts Bay Company (1629). To untangle confused land titles under the council and to resolve conflicting lines of political authority, the Massachusetts Bay Company took possession of its charter directly from the king, thus eliminating the Council for New England as an intermediary.

When, in 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Company obtained a royal charter to plant a colony in New England, Winthrop joined the company, pledging to sell his English estate and take his family to Massachusetts if the company government and charter were also transferred to America. The other members agreed…