Anne Hutchinson (baptized July 20, 1591 – August 20, 1643) was a pioneer settler in
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
,
Rhode IslandRhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
and New Netherlands, and the unauthorized minister of a
dissident churchEnglish Dissenters were English Christians who separated from the Church of England. They opposed State interference in religious matters, and founded their own communities in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries...
discussion group. Hutchinson held
Bible meetingsIn Christianity, Bible study is the study of the Bible by ordinary people as a personal religious or spiritual practice. Some denominations may call this devotion or devotional acts; however in other denominations devotion has other meanings...
for women that soon had great appeal to men as well. Eventually, she went beyond Bible study to proclaim her own theological interpretations of sermons, some of which offended the colony leadership. A major controversy ensued, and after a trial before a jury of officials and clergy, 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 is a town in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of about 3,500. Alford lies at the foot of the Lincolnshire Wolds, north-west of Skegness.-Shopping:...
,
LincolnshireLincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. It also borders Northamptonshire for just 19 metres, England's shortest county boundary...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and baptized there on July 20, 1591, the daughter of
Francis MarburyFrancis Marbury was an English clergyman, now remembered as a playwright and father of Anne Hutchinson.-Life:He matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge in 1571, but is not known to have graduated...
, a dissident
PuritanA Puritan of 16th and 17th-century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and group piety. Puritans felt that the English Reformation had not gone far enough, and that the Church of England was tolerant...
clergyman, and Bridget (Dryden) Marbury. Anne was educated at home and read from her father's library. At the age of 21, on August 9, 1612, Anne married William (Will) Hutchinson (d. Boston, Massachusetts, 1642) at St. Mary Woolnoth, London. She and her family followed the sermons of John Cotton, a Protestant minister whose teachings echoed those of her father's. Cotton left England because of his persecution by the bishops. Anne and her family likewise emigrated from
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
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 was an English theologian, a notable proponent of religious toleration and the separation of church and state and an advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans...
, who had been a Puritan church minister, had been exiled for 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 which that may have posed. The close relationship between church and state in Massachusetts Bay meant that challenge to the ministers was quickly interpreted as challenge to established authority of all kinds.
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, which 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 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 weak personal concern for women's lack of rights and the racial prejudice against Native Americans, she also applied her personal interpretation of the principles of the Bible to those social concerns. Furthermore, she openly challenged some of the moral and legal codes that the Puritans held, 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 VaneSir Henry Vane , son of Henry Vane the Elder, served as a statesman and Member of Parliament in a career spanning England and Massachusetts. A constant theme of his life was religious tolerance....
, who would become the governor of the
Massachusetts Bay ColonyThe Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, centered around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston...
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, Hutchinson interpreted the doctrine of the
Perseverance of the saintsPerseverance of the saints is a Christian teaching taught in some branches of Protestantism which teaches that none who are truly saved can be condemned for their sins or finally fall away from the faith...
according to the
Free GraceFree Grace theology is a soteriological view within Protestantism teaching that everyone receives eternal life the moment they believe in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. "Lord" refers to the belief that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore able to be their "Savior"...
model, which taught that the saved could sin freely without endangering their salvation, instead of the
Lordship salvationLordship salvation is a teaching in Christian theology which maintains that good works are a necessary consequence of being declared righteous before God...
model prevalent then and now, which noted that those who were truly saved would demonstrate by seeking to follow the ways of their
SaviourJesus of Nazareth —also known as Jesus Christ or occasionally Jesus the Christ—is the central figure of Christianity. Within most Christian denominations...
. She also claimed that she could identify "the elect" (see article on
PredestinationPredestination is a religious concept, which involves the relationship between God and his creation. The religious character of predestination distinguishes it from other ideas about determinism and free will...
) among the colonists. These positions caused
John CottonJohn Cotton was a highly regarded principal among the New England Puritan ministers, who also included Thomas Hooker, Increase Mather , John Davenport, and Thomas Shepard and John Norton, who wrote his first biography...
,
John WinthropJohn Winthrop led a group of English Puritans to the New World in 1630, and joined the Massachusetts Bay Company later that year, and then was elected their governor in October 1639. Between 1639 and 1648 he was voted out of governorship and re-elected a total of 12 times...
, and other former friends to view her as an
antinomianAntinomianism , or lawlessness , in theology, is the idea that members of a particular religious group are under no obligation to obey the laws of ethics or morality, and that "Salvation" is by predestination only...
heretic.
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 was a Puritan missionary born in Widford, Hertfordshire, England and lived at Nazeing as a boy.-English education and Massachusetts ministry:John Eliot attended Jesus College, Cambridge...
, 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 was an English theologian, a notable proponent of religious toleration and the separation of church and state and an advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans...
convinced them to settle in the area of
Rhode IslandRhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, near Williams'
Providence PlantationsProvidence Plantations was the first permanent European American settlement in present-day Rhode Island. It was established at Providence in 1636 by English clergyman Roger Williams and a small band of followers who had left the repressive atmosphere of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to seek freedom...
settlement. Coddington purchased Aquidneck island from the Indians and the settlement of Pocasset (now
PortsmouthPortsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,149 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 59.3 square miles , of which, 23.2 square miles of it is land and 36.1 square miles...
) 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 ColonyThe Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, centered around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston...
gloated in her suffering and that of
Mary DyerMary Barrett Dyer was an English Puritan turned Quaker who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts for repeatedly defying a law banning Quakers from the colony...
, 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 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
NewportNewport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States...
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 disenfranchisement. 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 refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his/her will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but...
.
Death
William Hutchinson died in 1642, 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 is a small bay, between City Island and Orchard Beach in the Bronx, New York.Technically, it is a sound, not a bay, since it is open to larger bodies of water at both ends. It connects to Eastchester Bay at the south, and opens onto Long Island Sound and City Island Harbor at the...
, then part of
New NetherlandNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
, the Dutch possession which now is the Bronx in New York City. 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 rampaged the
New NetherlandNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
colony in a series of incidents known as
Kieft's WarKieft's War, also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between Dutch settlers and Indians in the colony of New Netherland from 1643 to 1645...
. 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 descendants.
Modern interpretation
Upheld equally as a symbol of religious freedom, liberal thinking and
Christian feminismChristian feminism is an aspect of feminist theology which seeks to advance and understand the equality of men and women morally, socially, spiritually, and in leadership from a Christian perspective. Christian feminists argue that contributions by women in that direction are necessary for a...
, 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.
Memorials
In front of the State House in Boston, Massachusetts, a statue stands of Anne Hutchinson with her daughter Susanna, sole survivor of the attack by
SiwanoyThe Native American Siwanoy or Sinanoy were a band of Algonquian-speaking people, the Wappinger, in what is now the New York City area. By the mid-17th century, when their territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, the Siwanoy were settled along the East River...
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
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:
IN MEMORY OF
ANNE MARBURY HUTCHINSON
BAPTIZED AT ALFORD
LINCOLNSHIRE ENGLAND
20 JULY 1595 (sic)
KILLED BY THE INDIANS
AT EAST CHESTER NEW YORK 1643
COURAGEOUS EXPONENT
OF CIVIL LIBERTY
AND RELIGIOUS TOLERATION
South of Boston in
Quincy, MassachusettsQuincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...
, stands another memorial to Hutchinson at the corner of Beale Street and Grandview Avenue. This marks the place where Hutchinson remained for a while en route from Boston to Rhode Island.
Some literary critics trace the character of Hester Prynne in
The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, considered to be his "magnum opus". Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who gives birth after committing adultery and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity...
to Hutchinson's persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Anne Hutchinson and her political struggle with Governor Winthrop are depicted in the 1980 play "Goodly Creatures" by
William GibsonWilliam Gibson was a Tony Award-winning American playwright and novelist. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1938....
. Other notable historical characters who appear in the play are Rev.
John CottonJohn Cotton was a highly regarded principal among the New England Puritan ministers, who also included Thomas Hooker, Increase Mather , John Davenport, and Thomas Shepard and John Norton, who wrote his first biography...
, Governor
Harry VaneSir Henry Vane , son of Henry Vane the Elder, served as a statesman and Member of Parliament in a career spanning England and Massachusetts. A constant theme of his life was religious tolerance....
, and future Quaker martyr
Mary DyerMary Barrett Dyer was an English Puritan turned Quaker who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts for repeatedly defying a law banning Quakers from the colony...
.
In southern
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the Hutchinson River, one of the very few rivers named after a woman, and the
Hutchinson River ParkwayThe Hutchinson River Parkway is an long parkway in southern New York. The southern terminus is at the massive Bruckner Interchange in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx, where the roadway continues south as the Whitestone Expressway...
are her most prominent namesakes. Co-incidentally, another female river namesake,
SacagaweaSacagawea was a Shoshone woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, in their exploration of the Western United States...
, is her neighbor at table in
Judy ChicagoJudy Chicago is a feminist artist, author, and educator.Judy Chicago is a feminist artist who has been making work since the mid 1960s. Her earliest forays into art-making coincided with the rise of Minimalism, which she eventually abandoned in favor of art she believed to have greater content...
's art installation
The Dinner PartyFor other works with this title, see Dinner PartyThe Dinner Party is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago depicting place settings for 39 mythical and historical famous women. It was produced from 1974 to 1979 as a collaboration and was first exhibited in 1979...
in the
Brooklyn MuseumThe Brooklyn Museum, located at 200 Eastern Parkway, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, is the second-largest art museum in New York City, and one of the largest in the United States. Arnold L...
. Elementary schools, such as in the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and in the
Westchester CountyWestchester County is a primarily suburban county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of 450 square miles and has a diverse population of approximately 950,000, residing in 45 municipalities...
towns of
PelhamPelham is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 11,866 at the 2000 census. Pelham contains two villages: Pelham and Pelham Manor.-Geography:...
and Eastchester are other examples.
Pardon
In 1987, Massachusetts Governor
Michael DukakisMichael Stanley Dukakis served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants of partly Vlach origin in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest...
pardoned Anne Hutchinson, revoking the order of banishment by Governor Winthrop 350 years earlier.
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.
External links