John Winthrop was born on the 12th January 1588 in Suffolk, England and died in Massachusetts on the 26th March 1649. He was most known for the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England. He was an active leader during the first few years, and his ideas and actions gave the colony it's character. Winthorp's governorship was intermittent. He served 1630-33, 1637-39, 1642 and 1642-48.
John Winthrop and other Puritans wanted to establish a pure church in New England, and believed this safety would be achievable in the New World. By wanting to establish this 'pure church', they were very intolerant to other views, which is shown of the banishing of Anne Hutchinson, to which he disagreed with her weekly teaching and led to the banning of her and others from Boston.
In 1629, Winthrop went to America with the Massachusetts Bay Company and in the October he was elected governor. In the April of 1630 he sailed to America along with 400 Puritan men, women and children. once arriving they settled around the Charles River. However, despite his great leadership, around 200 died during the first winter and a further 80 returned to England in the spring. Due to being unsuccessful at first, he was forced to invest great amounts of money to provide supplies and to firmly establish the colony. The rest of his family did not arrive until 1631.
Winthrop was part of the development of the Cambridge Agreement which allowed the Puritan immigrants to control the government and the charter of the Massachusetts Bay company and it's trading potential. He secretly planned to develop a religion based government. The Cambridge agreement was signed on the 26th august 1629.
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