Puritan America:"The City on a Hill"
During the early 1600s, groups of citizens flocked to the "New World" from England, many in search of religious freedom. A majority of these new settlers were Puritan. They believed that the Church had become corrupt in England and that it was their duty to restore or "purify" their Church to its original greatness. During this time, there was nearly no Separation of Church and State, as the main purpose of settlement for these people was to establish a utopia based on religious perfection.