When England became embroiled in a civil war in the 1640s, emigration to the New World dropped sharply. Some settlers actually returned to England to help overthrow King Charles. When King Charles was executed in 1649, England itself became a Puritan nation and with this change in England’s religious climate, many in the New World questioned whether they should continue trying to establish religious settlements in the New World. What they had always wanted, and what they thought God wanted them to find in the New World, was now readily accessible back home: religious freedom. Many in the New World also began to feel marginalized, as England and its new rules took center stage. The English civil war and resultant Puritan victory also affected the economy of the New World; prices dropped, and goods rotted as there was no longer a need back home for trade.

To Bradford’s surprise, Winslow decided to return to England. Winslow had been a beacon of the Plymouth colony for over twenty years, negotiating first with Native Americans and later with England. His negotiations often took him back and forth between England and Plymouth. He left Plymouth in 1646 for another diplomatic trip to England but never returned.