Because of the destroying angel overlooking the city, a day of prayer is needed so that we may prepare to meet our God.'' – Cotton Mather, 1721April 22, 1721 : Boston is one of the largest cities in colonial America with a population of 12,000 Puritans. The Puritans, who made up the entire population, were strict and took their beliefs very seriously, and unless you wanted to be hanged, whipped, or exiled, your best bet was to conform and keep any different beliefs to yourself. Of course there were some heretics who did not follow this principle: in 1651 in Boston, Obadiah Holmes was imprisoned and publicly whipped for being a Baptist, Anne Hutchison and John Wheelwright were banished from Boston for expressing dissenting beliefs, and Mary Dyer was hanged for being a believer . Quaker and continued to enter Boston repeatedly to express discontent with the anti-Quaker law. For the people of Boston, this treatment of those who were different was normal; religion was an important part of their daily lives, a reason for living, an idea that seeped into different aspects of behavior: hard work, strict morals and education, which helped them build a stable society upon which to expand and grow. try to please the Lord; and anyone who threatened him deserved to be punished. The people of Boston liked to believe that they had a special connection with God unlike anyone else, and they bragged about it. God was the ultimate answer in both times of struggle and times of prosperity; to the people of Boston, God mattered more than anything else. During this time, Boston was still taking shape. It had more intellectuals than most other colonies; there were philosophers, inventors, eleven doctors, and one doctor with a real, certified degree. These people were working hard to improve Boston, coming up with new remedies, inventions, and ideas that would help expand people's ways of thinking (while staying within Puritan guidelines of course). On this particular day in April, the HMS Seahorse, a British naval vessel returning from the Caribbean, waited in Boston Harbor. The ship was inspected, given the green light to dock in Boston, and the sailors entered the city, passing printing shops, houses and various shops. While the men invariably looked for a place to rest, eat and drink, a sailor among them began to scratch the sores that appeared in his mouth. December 13, 1706: This is very cold in Boston