 At the time of 
Aspinwall was involved in the Antinomian Controversy which severely divided the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638.He joined himself with the adherents of Anne Hutchinson and John Wheelwright, aided in drafting their famous petition, and departed with them to Rhode Island.He was at Portsmouth in 1638, where he signed the covenant of formation, but he moved to the New Haven Colony in 1641.