Unfortunately, I am afraid those ideas are no longer relevant since more Americans today prefer an intrusive government, to oversee their every need, and think religious liberty provides too much freedom for mean people to harbor moral principles, which make other people feel badly about their sin. This is how far we have been removed from our founding.
The First Book
Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, which is the earliest published account of Puritans in America, is a compilation of journal entries about the "American experience" written by several Puritans in Massachusetts.
Their greatest purpose for settlement is reiterated again: they desired to "carry the Gospel of Christ into those foreign parts, amongst those people that as yet had no knowledge nor taste of God..." and that it may be for "the furtherace of the kingdom of Christ, the enlargement of the bounds of our sovereign lord King James, and for the good and profit of those who, either by purse or person of both, are agents in the same...."
Self-Government During Divine Right of Kings
When the Pilgrims recognized that they were outside of the law because they did not have a patent for New England, and since man is given to sin, an agreement was made to "combine together in one body, and to submit to such government and governors as we should by common consent agree to make and choose..;" and for this reason they wrote The Mayflower Compact, which was a stark contrast of self-government in a time of divine right of kings.
The Indians Like to Socialize, While the Pilgrims Need to Work
There were many meetings with Indians; and the Indians enjoyed entertaining and socializing for days with their new neighbors, while the Pilgrims were frustrated by this because they needed to work. They were under severe contract with the "merchant adventurers" for seven years, to produce goods (food, fish, lumber, furs, etc.) to pay for their voyage. But their goal was always to be at peace with the natives.
The entry of the first Thanksgiving includes: "We have found the Indians very faithful in their covenant of peace with us, very loving and ready to pleasure us. We often go to them, and they come to us..." and "Yea, it hath pleased God so to possess the Indians with a fear of us, and love unto us..."
Good Reasons to Come to America, Guilt Free
The final entry lists reasons why it was lawful to leave England and come into America, without all of the guilt: "Man must not respect only to live, and do good to himself, but he should see where he can live to do most good to others"; that is: the Puritans understood the native people did not know God, and they believed it their duty to bring the Gospel to them.
"But what right did the Puritans have to live in the "heathens' country?"
Well (the writer explains), because it is the King's country. In fact, Massasoit willingly and lovingly acknowledged the King's Majesty of England to be his master and commander, along with divers other native tribes.
And furthermore, the writer states that the Indians cannot go to England; hence, they (Pilgrims) must go to the Indians; and that England is full, but America is empty. The writer continues, "They (Indians) are not industrious, neither have art, science, skill or faculty to use either the land or the commodities of it, but all spoils, rots, and is marred for want of manuring, gathering, ordering, etc." The anonymous writer explains, "...so it is lawful now to take a land which none useth, and make use of it."
No one can argue: these Puritans were God-fearing and God-honoring, and everything they did was for the glory and obedience of Him, and to King James (so long as he left them alone to manage their own affairs).
Book Two: The Puritan Dilemma
Book Three: Visible Saints
This book count towards: