Puritans were a group of English Protestants who sought to reform the Church of England. They believed that the Church was too corrupt and that it needed to be purified. In 1630, a group of Puritans led by John Winthrop sailed to America and founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritans were a very religious people and they believed that they had a special mission to establish a "city on a hill" that would be a model of Christian virtue for the rest of the world. Connecticut was founded in 1636 by a group of Puritans who were led by Thomas Hooker. Hooker and his followers disagreed with some of the religious beliefs of the Puritans in Massachusetts and they wanted to establish a colony where they could worship freely. The Connecticut Colony was a very successful colony and it quickly became one of the most important colonies in New England.