Final answer:
Migration to New England was chiefly important according to John Winthrop for the establishment of a society rooted in Puritan Protestant ideals, aiming to set a religious example, rather than economic or cultural reasons.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to John Winthrop, migration to New England was important primarily for religious reasons. The Puritans, including Winthrop who was the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, migrated to create a society that reflected their Protestant religious ideals. Their objective was not economic gain or cultural exchange but to practice their religion freely without persecution, to create a model of reformed Protestantism, a new English Israel, which they saw as a "city upon a hill" intended to serve as a spiritual example for others.