The Puritans and Massachusetts 1630 P4

Like the Pilgrims, the Puritans purchased the land on which they lived from the Indians, at a price mutually agreed upon.  They then began building a system of civil governance. Their legal code, known as the Massachusetts Body of Liberties, was written in 1641 by the Rev. Nathaniel Ward, using the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) as its foundation. In addition to listing specific Bible verses as the basis for many of its laws, their legal code further affirmed that “in case of the defect (or lack of) a law” the general standard was to be found in “the Word of God.”

Content Sourced From The American Story, The Beginnings.  By: David Barton and Tim Barton