In the New World Bradford and Morton were both important men in our history. The stories of both great men give us insight into the way religion and influence affected Puritan life. William Bradford said he believed that "the people of Plymouth were the chosen people to live out their last days in the earthly church" (Daly pg 560). Puritan settlers came to the new world seeking a better life and to get away from the rule of the Catholic Church they wanted to become a primitive Baptist church like in the Old Testament. The Puritans wanted to live their lives according to the biblical lifestyle of the Old Testament; when the settlers arrived in “New England they thought they had landed in God's country” (Callicott). They thought they were the chosen ones, the new Israelites. William Bradford was a well educated man, the son of a preacher and was governor of Plymouth. William Bradford arrived in New England in 1620. He felt that the Puritans were God's chosen people. They believed that God had given them signs and that things happened to people that were against God's will. Thomas Morton arrived in New England in year 1622. Morton studied law at Oxford. Upon his arrival in Plymouth people had already heard that he had a dark past. It came from his inheritance from which he was “plaintiff, advocate and beneficiary” (McWilliams pg 5). Bradford detested Morton from the beginning, believing that he was not there for the good of the Puritan people. Morton “offered the servants their freedom and equal partners in the fur trade if they would kick Wollaston's lieutenant” (McWilliams pg 5). This was one of the many things that Morton did that led to the great rivalry or dislike of Bradford and Morton. “He was considered, by Bradford, a partier and... a piece of paper......o?&id=GALE%7CH1420039799&v=2.1&u=tel_a_lmu&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w>Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. "Thomas Morton, historian". The New England Quarterly, Vol. 50, no. 4 (December 1977), pp. 660-664. The New England Quarterly, Inc..McWilliams, Jr., John P. "Fictions of Merry Mount." American Quarterly, Vol. 29, no. 1 (1977), pp. 3-30. JSTOR. Network. February 23, 2011. "Morton, Thomas - Introduction." Literary criticism (1400-1800). Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg. vol. 72. Gale Cengage, 2002. eNotes.com. 2006. February 21, 2011Zuckerman, Michael “Pilgrims in the Wilderness: Community, Modernity, and the Maypole at Merry Mount,” The New England Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 2 (June 1977), pp. 255-277. The New England Quarterly, Inc.