What were the grievances of the Puritans with England?

Like the Pilgrims, the Puritans were English Protestants who believed that the reforms of the Church of England did not go far enough. In their view, the liturgy was still too Catholic. Bishops lived like princes. Ecclesiastical courts were corrupt. Because the king of England was head of both church and state, the Puritans' opposition to religious authority meant they also defied the civil authority of the state.

Additional information below.

http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/people/puritans.ht...

You're confusing the Mayflower Pilgrims who landed in Plymouth in 1620 with the Puritans in the Boston area who started arriving in 1630. They are two different groups.

The Mayflower Pilgrims were Separatists who wanted to separate from the Church of England. The Puritans wanted to purify the church.

Look up Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower and John Winthrop (The Winthrop Fleet) of the Great Migration. You'll see that they were here for different reasons.

The battle between the Pope and King Henry VIII over who controlled the Church of England had more to do with who had the power to appoint bishops and such than any difference of doctrine. So after it separated from Rome, the Church of England was in effect a "Protestant" church whose doctrines, practices etc. were basically still Catholic. The Puritans wanted "pure" Protestantism for England, not a semi-Catholic version.

What Were Puritans

The Puritans weren't satisfied with the limited Protestant "reforms" ... They were seeking a more "pure" form of Christianity, i.e. one devoid of any icons, imagery, sacraments or any need for an intermediary between God and man.

They left because they felt that The Church of England (episcopal, not Catholic) was not strict enough and wouldn't allow them to be strict enough. For instance, they couldn't burn suspected witches on crosses. So that's why they created America, where they could burn, lynch, and pray all they wanted to.

When Elizabeth I came to the throne she was determined to make her subjects think of themselves as "English" first, and Catholic or Protestant second. She therefore ( NOT Henry VIII !) established the "Church of England" ("Anglican"), Protestant, but with a form of Service quite similar to the Catholic Mass, and using Cranmer's Prayer Book, but with all offensive references to the Pope removed. Church attendance was compulsory, but Catholics who could not accept the "compromise" could stay away on payment of a small weekly "Recusancy Fine".

This worked very well, and by the end of her reign most people attended their local church quite happily. There was, however, a minority of Protestants who wanted to have the Church of England "purified" of all traces of Catholicism - hence "Puritans". The Queen strongly disapproved of them, since their ideas would disrupt her "compromise", and they were persecuted when they attempted to form their own Churches. There were a number of different sects, and some of these small groups fled to the Netherlands, where they could practice their particular forms of Protestism - but their children would marry into Dutch families, and their "Englishness" would be lost

So, when James VI & I came to the throne, the "Browinists" asked for permission to return to England to settle their affairs, and then to go to the Virginia Company's colony in North America. This was granted, and they eventually set sail from Plymouth in the "Mayflower", but they were the victims of a "scam" to "dump" them in an area much further North, where the Plymouth Company had permission to found a colony, but had had "no takers" . They were therefore landed in New England, where, after many hardships, they did survive. Other groups followed (causing considerable trouble, since the various Puritan sects hated each other as much as they hated Catholics !), and further colonies were established.

Back in England, Puritans became a significant group in Parliament, where they opposed the Stuart principle that Kings ruled by "Divine Right", and whose actions therefore could not be challenged. This issue became combined with a religious one when Charles I and Archbisop Laud attempted to enforce an even more unacceptable form of Anglicansism, leading to the English Civil War, the execution of both Laud and the King himself, and the establishment of a Parliamenary "Commonwealth".

Within this, however, a serious dispute arose between Parliament, which was determined to enforce Presbyterianism on all, and the "Lord Protector", Oliver Cromwell. He, though strongly religious, stood for "liberty for tender consciences" in the matter of Religious Faith, with no persecutions, even of Catholics who were otherwise law-abiding, but, under the "Instrumnt of Government", his powers were severely limited,and he was forced to give assent to legislation of which he strongly disapproved - and consequently has been most unjustly blamed for it ever since !

When Charles II was "restored" to the throne he set about destroying all Puritan influence, mainly by ridicule - with the consequence that, when, in 1688, England was faced with an imminent threat of the return of enforced Catholicism, there was no-one strongly-principled enough to resist, and they had to beg the Dutch Prince William of Orange to become King, and do it for them.

(Cromwell's dream of "liberty for tender consciences in matters of religion" was not fully realized until the 20th.Century.)

English people like to get drunk and have fun, puritans when in power banned Christmas so you can see why no one likes them

The grievances were that they couldnt stablish their strict beliefs because the catholic church were in control.... That's enough, do your research and figure it out more