Final answer:
The early Puritan colonists, including the Pilgrims, came to America to escape religious persecution and to create communities based on their Protestant faith, independent of the Church of England.
Step-by-step explanation:
The early Puritan colonists came to America primarily due to religious persecution they faced in England. They sought to create a new English Israel, a community based on reformed Protestantism that would serve both as a model for the Christian world and as a sanctuary against the Catholic influence that they opposed. The Pilgrims, a subset of the Puritans who believed in complete separation from the Church of England, were among the first to settle in what is now Massachusetts with the establishment of Plymouth Colony. Their migration was driven by the desire to practice their religion freely and to maintain their English cultural identity, which they felt was at risk of being lost in the Netherlands, where they had previously sought refuge.
Puritan economic ambitions were also tied to their ideological goals, as they hoped a prospering economy would reflect God's favor and help their community to thrive. However, this was secondary to their primary motivation of religious freedom.