Why did the Pilgrims leave their home and sail on the Mayflower?
Imagine packing your whole life into a few wooden trunks and stepping onto a ship the size of a small house, ready to cross an entire ocean. That's exactly what a group of English families did in the autumn of 1620. We call them the Pilgrims. But why would anyone leave home for something so risky? The answer starts with a very stubborn disagreement.
Back then, in England, the king didn't just rule the country — he also ran the church. Everyone was expected to worship in exactly the same way, using the same prayers, whether they liked it or not. A handful of people quietly disagreed. They wanted to worship in their own simpler way. People who broke away like this were called Separatists, because they wanted to separate from the official church.
