The chief disputes were among the Protestants themselves, and mainly concerned the extent to which the changes should go. The people abandoned themselves to the consideration of questions of civil and religious liberty. Dissenters returning from the Continent threw their advanced ideas into the arena of public discussion. During the Commonwealth the spirit of controversy seemed to possess all classes. Questions of religion divided the time with state affairs in the discussions of Parliament. This spirit separated the English people into hostile camps and produced a numerous brood of religious sects.

One of the most important results of all this turmoil was the banishment from England, in the early part of the seventeenth century, of a ship-load of yeomen.

Among the Dissenters, those taking the most extreme positions were called Puritans, because of their efforts to purify the Protestant Church. Compelled to leave their homes, a little company of these sought refuge in Holland. There they remained for twelve years, secure in religious liberty, but dissatisfied with their situation. At one time they looked toward emigrating to New Netherland, and at another to Virginia, but, finally, arrangements were completed for a more northern location, and, in 1620, they crossed the Atlantic and commenced the Massachusetts settlement. Their trials and sufferings in the new home were varied and severe. The settlement grew, however, and it was not long before the spirit of adventure and the desire for better lands led some of them to look for homes in other sections. The Indians had told them of the fertile soil along the Connecticut River, and, in 1633, a few of their number