This effort resulted in the founding of Plymouth Colony.
In 1620, they set out for a more remote location that would allow them to protect their community. Dutch society was so welcoming that the Pilgrims, as they had come to be known, eventually feared that they were losing control over their children. In 1608, a community of English separatists decided to escape persecution by moving to Holland, an area long known for its toleration. Their leadership came from the religious congregations of Brownists, or Separatist Puritans, who had fled religious persecution in England for the tolerance of 17th-century Holland in the Netherlands. Referring to themselves as the Saints, the Separatists believed that they had been elected by God for salvation (see Calvinism) and feared spiritual contamination if they worshiped with those outside of their congregations, often referred to as the Strangers. Who were the Separatists How do they relate to the Pilgrims Four centuries ago, the Church of England was the established Christian church of the. The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who came to North America on the Mayflower and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymouth, Devon. The Separatists were also critical of the lax standards of public behavior, citing widespread drunkenness and the failure of many to keep the Sabbath properly. Their chief complaint was that too many elements of The Roman Catholic Church had been retained, such as the ecclesiastical courts, clerical vestments, altars and the practice of kneeling. The Separatists were severely critical of the Church of England and wanted to either destroy it or separate from it. The Separatists, or Independents, were English Protestants who occupied the extreme wing of Puritanism.