The 1620s were a time of political and religious turmoil in England. The protracted struggle for supremacy between monarch and Parliament reached new heights in 1629, when Charles I disbanded the rival body and ruled alone for 11 years. Official pressure was also applied on religious dissenters, notably the Pilgrims and the Puritans. Some were imprisoned for their nonconformist views and others lost lucrative official positions. In 1628, a group of distinguished Puritan businessmen formed a venture named the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, which was initially conceived as a profit-making endeavor in the New World. A land grant was received from the Council of New England, the successor to the ineffective Virginia Company of Plymouth, providing rights to the area between the Charles and Merrimack rivers and westward to the Pacific Ocean. Preliminary voyages were made in 1628 and 1629, and resulted in the establishment of a small colony on Cape Ann and later at Salem. The careful Puritan businessmen sought additional protection for their scheme by requesting and receiving a charter from the king, who had apparently been misinformed about their religious views. The charter took a generous view of the geography involved:
... all that part of America lying and being in breadth from 40 degrees north latitude ... to 48 degrees of the said north latitude inclusive and in length of and within all the breadth aforesaid throughout the mainlands from sea to sea.in other words, Oregon along with Massachusetts. The charter also expressed an optimistic view of the prospects for finding precious metals:
... yielding and paying unto Us, Our Heirs, and Successors the fiftieth part of the ore of gold and silver which shall, from time to time and at all times hereafter, happen to be found, gotten, had, and obtained in any of the said lands.
Concerning the Controversy about Dancing, the Question is not, whether all Dancing be in itself sinful. It is granted, that Pyrrhical or Polemical Saltation: i.e. where men vault in their Armour, to shew their strength and activity, may be of use. Nor is the question, whether a sober and grave Dancing of Men with Men, or of Women with Women, be not allowable; we make no doubt of that, where it may be done without offence, in due season, and with moderation. The Prince of Philosophers has observed truly, that Dancing or Leaping, is a natural expression of joy: So that there is no more Sin in it, than in laughter, or any outward expression of inward Rejoycing. But our question is concerning Gynecandrical Dancing, or that which is commonly called Mixt or Promiscuous Dancing, viz. of Men and Women (be they elder or younger persons) together: Now this we affirm to be utterly unlawful, and that it cannot be tollerated in such a place as New-England, without great Sin.The Massachusetts Bay Company and the colony were one and the same until 1684, when the charter was taken away. Later, in 1691, a new royal charter was granted to Massachusetts; the Plymouth Colony and Maine were absorbed. Still referring to itself as the "Colony of Massachusetts Bay," the General Court declared on January 23, 1776, that the royal governor Gage was no longer in charge and that the colony would be responsible for its own management until the King appointed an acceptable governor. Near the end of the war, Massachusetts produced a constitution for the "Commonwealth of Massachusetts," which is the name it has retained to the present time. That constitution, ratified on June 15, 1780, remains the oldest written constitution in continuous use in the world. The word Massachusetts is taken from a Native American word for "great hills," referring to the Blue Hills near Boston.