All Topics  
Anne Hutchinson

 

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link

 

Anne Hutchinson


 
 


Anne Hutchinson was the unauthorized PuritanPuritan

The Puritans were originally members of a group of English Protestants seeking "purity" — further reforms from the est...
 minister of a dissident churchEnglish Dissenters

English Dissenters were religious dissenters from England....
 discussion group and a pioneer settler in MassachusettsMassachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States....
, Rhode IslandRhode Island

The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is the smallest state by land area in the United States, and the state...
 and New Netherlands. Her brilliant mind and kindness won admiration and a following. Hutchinson held Bible meetings for women that soon had great appeal to men as well. Eventually, she went beyond Bible study to proclaiming boldly facets of her own theological interpretations, some of which offended colony leadership. Great controversy ensued, and after an arduous trial before a jury of officials from both government and clergy, eventually she was banished from her colony.

She is a key figure in the study of the development of religious freedom in England's American colonies and the history of women in ministry.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Anne Hutchinson'
Start a new discussion about 'Anne Hutchinson'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum






Timeline

1591   Born

1643   Died






Quotations


I shall I not equivocate, there is a meeting of men and women and there is a meeting only for women.

One may preach a covenant of grace more clearly than another, so I said. . . But when they preach a covenant of works for salvation, that is not truth.






Encyclopedia




Anne Hutchinson was the unauthorized PuritanPuritan

The Puritans were originally members of a group of English Protestants seeking "purity" — further reforms from the est...
 minister of a dissident churchEnglish Dissenters

English Dissenters were religious dissenters from England....
 discussion group and a pioneer settler in MassachusettsMassachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States....
, Rhode IslandRhode Island

The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is the smallest state by land area in the United States, and the state...
 and New Netherlands. Her brilliant mind and kindness won admiration and a following. Hutchinson held Bible meetings for women that soon had great appeal to men as well. Eventually, she went beyond Bible study to proclaiming boldly facets of her own theological interpretations, some of which offended colony leadership. Great controversy ensued, and after an arduous trial before a jury of officials from both government and clergy, eventually she was banished from her colony.

She is a key figure in the study of the development of religious freedom in England's American colonies and the history of women in ministry. The state of Massachusetts honors her with a State House monument calling her a "courageous exponent of civil liberty and religious toleration."

Early years

Anne Hutchinson was born Anne Marbury in AlfordAlford

Alford may refer to;PlacesThere are several places named Alford; see:...
, LincolnshireFacts About Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England....
, EnglandEngland

England is the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom....
, on July 20, 1591, the daughter of Francis Marbury, a DeaconDeacon Overview

Deacon is a role in the Christian Church which is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among the...
 at Christ ChurchChrist Church

Christ Church may mean:In Australia:...
, Cambridge, and wife Bridget Dryden, and a descendant among others of Edward I of EnglandEdward I of England

Edward I , popularly known as "Longshanks" because of his 6 foot 2 inch frame and the "Hammer of the Scots" , a...
. Anne's father believed that most of the ministers in the Church of EnglandChurch of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, and acts as the 'mother' and senior branch ...
 were incompetent and lacked proper training. He was jailed for a year because of his words of dissent.

Anne was educated at home and read from her father's library. She had grown to admire her father's ideals and assertiveness, and she boldly questioned the principles of faith and the authority of the Church.

At the age of 21, Anne married William (Will) Hutchinson (d. Boston, MassachusettsBoston, Massachusetts

Boston is the capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States....
, 1642). She and her family followed the sermons of John Cotton, a Protestant minister whose teachings echoed those of her father's, but were now more commonly accepted under the increasingly popular banner of Puritanism.

Many Protestants had grown increasingly concerned with what they saw as corruption within the Church of England, which was the main Religion (and in most cases the only religion) of England since it was created by the royal house of Tudor by King Henry VIII. A new reformist movement known as Puritanism evolved, thus named because its main objective was to "purify" the Church of England.

The Reverend Cotton left England because of his persecution by the bishops. In the hope of finding religious freedom in America, she and her family likewise emigrated from EnglandEngland

England is the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom....
 to MassachusettsMassachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States....
 in 1634, together with other colonists.

Religious activities

The majority of colonial European settlers who came to America for religious reasons came for the freedom to practice their own religion, and in some cases to impose it on others. In their early years, most colonies enforced a uniformity at least as strict as had occurred in the country they had left. There was considerable Puritan intolerance in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Her particular "heresy" was to maintain that it was a blessing and not a curse to be a woman.

Role of women in Puritan society

Hutchinson may have been brought down because of her gender. Many commentators have suggested that she fell victim to contemporary mores surrounding the role of women in Puritan society. Hutchinson spoke her mind freely within the context of a male hierarchy unaccustomed to outspoken women. Alternatively, she may have been persecuted mainly because she spoke up against the established church and state government, as even Roger WilliamsRoger Williams

Roger Williams may refer to:* Roger Williams University...
, who had been a Puritan church minister, had been exiled by the colony not long before. The extent to which she was persecuted was perhaps proportional to the threat the established rulers saw in her, considering the many people who were willing to listen to and follow her and the threat that posed.

Religious and social activist views

Against that background, Anne was extremely outspoken about some of her most controversial views. She was an avid student of the Bible which she freely interpreted in the light of what she termed her "divine inspiration." She generally adhered to the principles of Puritan orthodoxy. Notably, however, she held enormously progressive, ahead-of-her-times notions about the equality and rights of women, in contradiction of both Puritan and prevailing cultural attitudes.

She was forthright and compelling in proclaiming these beliefs. Doing so put her in considerable tension not only with the Massachusetts Bay Colony's government, who were accountable to the established Church of England (Anglican), but also with other Puritans, especially the clergy.

Home Bible study/discussion group

She began conducting informal Bible studies and discussion groups in her home, something that gave scope to Puritan intellects. Hutchinson invited her friends and neighbors, at first, all of them women. Participants felt free to question religious beliefs and to decry racial prejudice, including enslavement of Native Americans. Hutchinson explored Scripture much in the way of a minister. Rather than teach traditional Puritan interpretations of Scripture, she studied the Bible in great depth for herself. Often her spiritual interpretation differed widely from the learned but legalistic reading offered from the Puritan Sunday pulpit. In particular, Hutchinson constantly challenged the standard interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve. This was a vital text for the Puritans, key to the doctrine of original sin. But it was regularly cited to assign special blame to women as the source of sin and to justify the extremely patriarchal structure of Puritan society.

Since she had a strong personal concern for women's lack of rights and racial prejudice against the Native Americans, she also applied her personal interpretation of the principles of the Bible to those social concerns. Further, she openly challenged some of the moral and legal codes of the Puritans, as well as the authority of the clergy, something that would weigh against her later on.

As word of her teachings spread, she attracted new followers, including many men. Among them were men like Sir Henry VaneHenry Vane the Younger

Sir Henry Vane, son of Henry Vane the Elder, served as a statesman and Member of Parliament in a career spanning England and...
, who would become the governor of the Massachusetts Bay ColonyMassachusetts Bay Colony Summary

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New Englan...
 in 1636. Attendance at her home study group grew to upwards of eighty people and had to be moved to the local church.

Increasingly, the ministers opposed Hutchinson’s meetings, ostensibly on the grounds that such “unauthorized” religious gatherings might confuse the faithful. But gradually the opposition was expressed in openly misogynistic terms. Anne paid no attention to her critics. When they cited the biblical texts on the need for women to keep silent in church, she rejoined with a verse from Titus permitting that “the elder women should instruct the younger.”

Heretic label

To the chagrin of clergy and colony officials, she began espousing the "covenant by grace" instead of the "covenant by works," a theological position that during the later Protestant ReformationProtestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation, also referred to as the Protestant Revolution, was a movement in the 16th century to refor...
 was also taught by John CalvinJohn Calvin

John Calvin was a French Christian theologian during the Protestant Reformation and was the originator of the system of Chr...
 and others. She tended to believe that faith alone was necessary to salvation. She also claimed that she could identify "the elect" (see article on PredestinationPredestination

Predestination is a religious idea, under which the relationship between the beginning of things and the destiny of things i...
) among the colonists. These positions caused John CottonJohn Cotton Summary

The Reverend John Cotton assisted in the foundation of Boston, Massachusetts and was a highly regarded principal among the N...
, John WinthropJohn Winthrop

John Winthrop led a group of Puritans to the New World and joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629....
, and other former friends to view her as an antinomianAntinomianism

Antinomianism, or lawlessness, in theology is the idea that members of a particular religious group are under no obligation ...
 heretic
.

The charges

By 1637, Puritan ministers in the colony had labeled Hutchinson a modern "Jezebel" who was infecting women with perverse and "abominable" ideas regarding their dignity and rights. That year, Sir Henry Vane lost the governorship to John WinthropJohn Winthrop

John Winthrop led a group of Puritans to the New World and joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629....
, who did not share Vane's favorable opinion of Hutchinson. He instead "considered her a threat to his 'city set on a hill'City upon a Hill

City upon the hill is the phrase often used to refer to John Winthrop's famous sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity,", ...
" (a distinctive of Puritan theology) and criticized her meetings as being a "thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of God, nor fitting for [her] sex." Governor Winthrop and the established religious hierarchy considered many of her comments in her discussion groups to be hereticalFacts About Heresy

Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a "theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposit...
, in particular, specifically, her "unfounded criticism of the clergy from an unauthorized source".

She told the governor that the Lord had revealed himself to her: "…upon a Throne of Justice, and all the world appearing before him, and though I must come to New England, yet I must not fear nor be dismayed." Governor Winthrop's retort came swiftly: "I am persuaded that the revelation she brings forth is delusion."

Trials

She was brought to civil trial in 1638 by the General Court of Massachusetts, presided over by Winthrop, on the charge of “traducing the ministers.” The Court included both government officials and Puritan clergy. She was forty-six at the time and advanced in her fifteenth pregnancy. Nevertheless, she was forced to stand for several days before a board of male interrogators as they tried desperately to get her to admit her secret blasphemies. They accused her of violating the fifth commandment – to “honor the father and mother” – accusing her of encouraging dissent against the fathers of the commonwealth. It was charged that by attending her gatherings women were being tempted to neglect the care of their own families.

Anne skillfully defended herself until it was clear that there was no escape from the court’s predetermined judgment. Cornered, she addressed the court with her own judgment:

This outburst brought forth angry jeers. She was called a heretic and an instrument of the devil. In the words of one minister, “You have stepped out of your place, you have rather been a husband than a wife, a preacher than a hearer, and a magistrate than a subject.” In August 1637 she was condemned by the Court that included John EliotJohn Eliot (missionary)

John Eliot was a Puritan missionary born in Widford, Hertfordshire, England....
, famous missionary to Massachusetts Bay Colony Indians, and translator of the first complete Bible printed in America. They voted to banish her from the colony "as being a woman not fit for our society." She was put under house arrest to await her religious trial.

In March 1638, the First Church in Boston conducted a religious trial. They accused Hutchinson of blasphemy. They also accused her of "lewd and lascivious conduct" for having men and women in her house at the same time during her Sunday meetings. This religious court found her guilty and voted to excommunicate her from the Puritan Church for dissenting from Puritan orthodoxy.

Portsmouth

During her imprisonment, some of the leaders of the Hutchinsonian movement prepared to leave the colony and settle elsewhere. Nineteen men, including William Hutchinson, met on March 7, 1638 at the home of the wealthy Boston merchant William Coddington. The men formed themselves into a "Bodie Politick" and elected Coddington their judge. They initially planned to move to Jersey or Long Island, but Roger WilliamsRoger Williams

Roger Williams may refer to:* Roger Williams University...
 convinced them to settle in the area of Rhode IslandRhode Island

The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is the smallest state by land area in the United States, and the state...
, near Williams' Providence PlantationsProvidence Plantations

Rhode Island's first permanent settlement, Providence Plantations, was established at Providence in 1636 by English clergyma...
 settlement. Coddington purchased Aquidneck island from the Indians and the settlement of Pocasset (now PortsmouthPortsmouth, Rhode Island

Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States....
) was founded. Anne Hutchinson followed in April, after the conclusion of her trial.

After enduring months of persecution and suffering while pregnant, Mrs. Hutchinson suffered a miscarriage. The Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay ColonyMassachusetts Bay Colony Summary

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New Englan...
 gloated in her suffering and that of Mary Dyer, one of her followers who also suffered a miscarriage, labelling their misfortunes as the judgment of God. Massachusetts Bay continued to persecute Hutchinson's followers in who had not followed her, and sent church leaders from Boston to Aquidneck in an attempt to persuade her of the correctness of their doctrine. Anne expelled the delegates from her home, denouncing the Boston church as a "whore and a strumpet".

Meanwhile, judge Coddington began to instigate theocratic policies in the government of the Pocasset colony. Coddington declared that he was permitted to exercise his interpretations of the "word of God" on the settlers and to see himself as a feudal lord ruling the island, with the settlers as his tenants. Anne successfully led a movement to amend the Pocasset constitution to allow the freemen the power to veto the governor's actions and established the positions of three "elders" to be elected by the freemen to share the powers of the governor and thus check his power. Hutchinson and the freemen demanded an election for a government to replace Coddington, who was forced to concede. William Hutchinson was elected governor and Coddington left the colony along with some of his followers, who established the settlement of NewportFacts About Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city in Newport County, Rhode Island, about 30 miles south of Providence....
 at the south end of the island. The freemen of Pocasset changed the name of their town to Portsmouth and adopted a new government which provided for trial by jury and separation of church and state. William Hutchinson was chosen as governor.

Coddington returned with an armed force, which was initially repelled, but soon he arrested William Hutchinson and ordered his disenfrancisement. On March 12, 1640, a year after the attack, the towns of Portsmouth and Newport agreed to re-unite peacefully. Coddington was to be governor and William Hutchinson was chosen as one of his assistants. The towns were to remain autonomous with laws made by the citizens.

Soon after, Anne Hutchinson realized a result of her philosophy which she had until then overlooked. Deciding that the office of magistracy was unlawful, she persuaded her husband to resign from his position, as Roger Williams put it, "because of the opinion, which she had newly taken up, of the unlawfulness of magistry." Anne Hutchinson had been led by her conscience and by meditation on the Scripture and logic to the conclusion of individualist anarchismIndividualist anarchism

Individualist anarchism is an anarchist philosophical tradition that has a strong emphasis on equality of liberty and indiv...
.

Death

William Hutchinson died in 1643, soon after his resignation, and the widow Anne decided to leave Portsmouth, along with some of her family and some followers. The group went to Pelham BayPelham Bay

Pelham Bay is a small bay, between City Island and Orchard Beach in the Bronx, New York....
, then part of New NetherlandNew Netherland

New Netherland , 16141674, was the territory on the eastern coast of North America in the 17th century which stretched from ...
, the Dutch possession which now is the New York City area. During this time the local Indians were fighting with the Dutch, and in 1643 she and all of her family who followed her except her youngest daughter were killed there by a group of Indians who came calling in a friendly manner, and then suddenly turned on their unsuspecting victims. The Hutchinsons had been friendly to them but the native Americans had been subject to much mistreatment by the ruling Dutch and had begun a war against settlers. They killed the Hutchinson residents, put all their possessions in the house including animals and set the house afire. The youngest Hutchinson, Susanna, was taken captive and lived with the Indians until ransomed by her family members who stayed in The Bay Colony. It is said that she did not want to leave her captors. In 1651 she married John Cole and they started a farm in Rhode Island beginning a long line of descendents.

Modern interpretation of events

Upheld equally as a symbol of religious freedom, liberal thinking and Christian feminismChristian feminism

Christian feminism is a branch of feminist theology that seeks to interpret and understand Christianity in the scope of the ...
, Anne Hutchinson is a contentious figure, having been lionized, mythologized and demonized by various writers. In particular, historians and other observers have interpreted and re-interpreted her life within the following frameworks: the status of women, power struggles within the church, and a similar struggle within the secular political structure. She is the only woman to have co-founded an American colony, Rhode Island, together with Roger Williams.

Church and secular politics

Historians who interpret Hutchinson's life events through the lens of the power politic have drawn the conclusion that Hutchinson suffered more because of her growing influence among local believers than because of her radical teachings.

In his article on Hutchinson in Forerunner magazine, Rogers articulates this view, writing that her interpretations were not "antithetical to what the Puritans believed at all. What began as the quibbling over fine points of Christian doctrine ended as a confrontation over the role of authority in the colony." Hutchinson may have criticized the established religious authorities, as did others, but she did so while cultivating an energetic following. That religious following was large enough to be a significant force in secular politics. Hutchinson may have doomed herself by her strong support of Vane, who was replaced by Winthrop who presided at her civil trial—as much as for the specific content of her religious views.

Hutchinson's memorials

In front of the State House in Boston, MassachusettsBoston, Massachusetts

Boston is the capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States....
, a statue stands of Anne Hutchinson with her daughter Susanna, sole survivor of the attack by SiwanoySiwanoy

The Siwanoy or Sinanoy were a Native American people of what is now the New York City area....
 Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States

American Indian and Alaskan NativesU.S....
 who killed her mother and siblings in 1643. Susannah Hutchinson was spared because of her red hair, which the Siwanoy had never seen; she was taken hostage, named "Autumn Leaf" and raised among them until ransomed back years later.

The statue was erected in 1922. The inscription on the marble pediment of the statue reads:

Some literary critics trace the character of Hester PrynneHester Prynne

Hester Prynne, the young protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, is a woman condemned by her Puri...
 in The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, is an American romance novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne; it is generally cons...
to Hutchinson's persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Hawthorne linked his heroine to Anne Hutchinson in his novel, according to Hutchinson's recent biographer Eve LaPlante, in "American Jezebel" (Harper, 2004).

Anne Hutchinson and her political struggle with Governor Winthrop are depicted in the 1980 play "Goodly Creatures" by William GibsonWilliam Gibson (playwright)

William Gibson is an American playwright....
. Other notable historical characters who appear in the play are Rev. John CottonJohn Cotton

The Reverend John Cotton assisted in the foundation of Boston, Massachusetts and was a highly regarded principal among the N...
, Governor Harry Vane, and future Quaker martyr Mary DyerMary Dyer

Mary Barrett Dyer was an English Quaker who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts for repeatedly defying a law banning Quakers...
.

In southern New YorkNew York

New York is a state in the northeastern United States....
, the Hutchinson River, one of the very few rivers named after a woman, and the Hutchinson River ParkwayHutchinson River Parkway Overview

The Hutchinson River Parkway, colloquially called "The Hutch" by many New York Metro residents, is a parkway that runs throu...
 are her most prominent namesakes. Co-incidentally, another female river namesake, Sacagawea, is her neighbor at table in Judy Chicago's art installation The Dinner Party in the Brooklyn Museum. Elementary schools, such as in the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and in the Westchester CountyWestchester County, New York

Westchester County is a suburban county with about 940,000 residents located in the U.S....
 towns of PelhamPelham (town), New York

* Pelham Manor ...
 and Eastchester are other examples.

Descendants

Among her notable descendants are Presidents of the United StatesPresident of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state of the United States....
 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States of America ....
 and George W. BushGeorge W. Bush Overview

This page is monitored by many people and bots, and joke edits are removed quickly....
, First LadyFirst Lady of the United States Summary

First Lady of the United States is the unofficial title of the hostess of the White House....
 Lucretia GarfieldLucretia Garfield

Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, wife of James A....
, actors Chevy ChaseChevy Chase

Cornelius Crane Chase, also known as Chevy Chase, is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor....
 and Ted DansonTed Danson

Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III is an American actor, most notable for his television work....
, actresses Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an iconic American actress, singer and model....
 (possibly) and Jane WyattFacts About Jane Wyatt

Jane Waddington Wyatt is an American actress....
, writers Louis Stanton Auchincloss, Dubose HeywardDuBose Heyward

DuBose Heyward was an American author best known for his 1924 novel Porgy....
,
Eve LaPlante, Robert LowellRobert Lowell

Robert Lowell, born Robert Traill Spence Lowell, Jr., was an American poet whose works, confessional in nature, engag...
 and John P. MarquandJohn P. Marquand

John Phillips Marquand was a 20th-century American novelist....
, Attorney General Elliot RichardsonElliot Richardson

Elliot Lee Richardson was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinet of Presidents Richard Nixon and ...
, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was an American jurist who served on the United States Supreme Court from 1902-1932....
 and Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller, commodore Oliver Hazard PerryOliver Hazard Perry

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was an officer in the United States Navy....
, Senator Stephen Arnold Douglas, Ambassador Pamela HarrimanPamela Harriman

The Honorable Pamela Harriman was a Washington, D.C....
, Numismatist Q. David BowersQ. David Bowers

Quentin David Bowers is considered the best-known and most noteworthy numismatist of the last 50 years....
, Mormon Evangelists Parley P. PrattParley P. Pratt

Parley Parker Pratt was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of The Quorum of Twelve Apostles fr...
 and Helaman PrattHelaman Pratt

Helaman Pratt was an early leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico. ...
, former MichiganMichigan Summary

Michigan is a Midwestern state of the United States, located in the east north central portion of the country....
 governor George W. RomneyGeorge W. Romney

George Wilcken Romney was chairman of the American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962 and was elected three times as the R...
 and former Massachusetts governor and 2008 U.S. presidential candidate Mitt RomneyMitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney is the 70th Governor of Massachusetts....
.

Pardon

In 1987, Massachusetts Governor Michael DukakisMichael Dukakis

Michael Stanley Dukakis is an American Democratic politician, former Governor of Massachusetts, and the Democratic president...
 pardoned Anne Hutchinson, revoking the order of banishment by Governor Winthrop 350 years earlier.

See also

  • Christian egalitarianismChristian Egalitarianism Summary

    Christian Egalitarianism also known as biblical equality, is a recent adaptation of the moral doctrine of Egalitarian...
  • Christian views about womenChristian views about women

    Christian views about women vary considerably today as they have throughout the last two millennia, evolving along with or ...


Main sources

  • Hall, David D., ed. The Antinomian Controversy, 1636–1638: A Documentary History. Second Edition. Duke University Press, 1990
  • Bremer, Francis J., ed. Anne Hutchinson, Troubler of the Puritan Zion. 1980. 152 pp.

Sources online