NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Anne Hutchinson

Anne Hutchinson (July 1591 – August 1643) was the unauthorized Puritan minister of a dissident church discussion group and a pioneer settler in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Netherlands. Her brilliant mind and kindness won admiration and a following. Hutchinson held Bible study 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.^[1] Image File history File links Info_non-talk. ... File links The following pages link to this file: Anne Hutchinson Categories: U.S. history images ... File links The following pages link to this file: Anne Hutchinson Categories: U.S. history images ... Edwin Austin Abbey, drawn by John Singer Sargent in 1888 Edwin Austin Abbey (April 1, 1852 â€“ August 1, 1911) was an American artist, illustrator, and painter. ... For other uses, see August (disambiguation). ... // Events January 21 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga February 6 - Abel Tasman discovers the Fiji islands. ... For the record label, see Puritan Records. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... New Netherland (Dutch Nieuw-Nederland, Latin: Nova Belgica) was the territory claimed by the Netherlands on the eastern coast of North America in the 17th century. ...

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."^[2]

Early years

Anne Hutchinson was born Anne Marbury in in Alford, Lincolnshire, England, in July, 1591, the daughter of Bridget Dryden and Francis Marbury, a deacon at Christ Church, Cambridge. Anne's father believed that most of the ministers in the Church of England were incompetent and lacked proper training. He was jailed for a year because of his "subversive" words of dissent.

Anne was home-schooled and read from her father's library. She had grown to admire her father's ideals and assertiveness, and bold about questioning the principles of faith and the authority of the Church.

At the age of 21, Anne married Will Hutchinson. 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 Catholic Church and to a certain degree within the Protestant Church. A new reformist movement known as Puritanism evolved, thus named because its main objective was to "purify" the Church of England of all residual Catholic influence.

In the hope of finding religious freedom in America, she and her family emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1634, together with other colonists. Three of her fifteen children died during the oceanic crossing.^[3] She lost one more child in America. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Events Moses Amyrauts Traite de la predestination is published CuraÃ§ao captured by the Dutch Treaty of Polianovska First meeting of the AcadÃ©mie franÃ§aise The witchcraft affair at Loudun Jean Nicolet lands at Green Bay, Wisconsin Opening of Covent Garden Market in London English establish a settlement...

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.^[4] Her particular "heresy" was to maintain that it was a blessing and not a curse to be a woman.^[5]

Role of women in Puritan society

Hutchinson may have been brought down because of her gender. Other 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. In addition, she welcomed men into her home, performing an unusual act in a Puritan society

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 to be 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.^[5]

Home Bible study/discussion group

She began conducting informal Bible studies and discussion groups in her home, something that gave scope to Puritan intellects^[6] Hutchinson invited her friends and neighbors—women, at first. 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.^[5]

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,^[4] 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 Vane, who would become the governor of the colony in 1636. Attendance at her home study group grew to upwards of eighty people and had to be moved to the local church.^[5] Sir Henry Vane (1613 - June 14, 1662), son of Henry Vane the Elder, served as a statesman and Member of Parliament in a career spanning England and Massachusetts. ...

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. Hutchinson was a modern “Jezebel” who was infecting women with perverse and “abominable” ideas regarding their dignity and rights. 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.”^[5]

Heretic label

To the chagrin of clergy and colony officials, she began espousing the covenant of grace as opposed to the covenant of works, a theological position that during the later Protestant Reformation was also taught by John Calvin 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 Predestination) among the colonists. These positions caused John Cotton, John Winthrop, and other former friends to view her as an antinomian heretic.^[6] Reformation redirects here. ... John Calvin (July 10, 1509 â€“ May 27, 1564) was a French Protestant theologian during the Protestant Reformation and was a central developer of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism or Reformed theology. ... Predestination (also linked with foreknowledge) is a religious concept, which involves the relationship between the beginning of things and their destinies. ... John Cotton (1585â€“1652) The Reverend John Cotton (December 4, 1585 â€“ December 23, 1652) was a highly regarded principal among the New England Puritan ministers, who also included John Winthrop, Thomas Hooker, Increase Mather (who became his son-in-law), John Davenport, and Thomas Shepard. ... John Winthrop (12 January 1587/8â€“26 March 1649) led a group of English Puritans to the New World, joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 and was elected their first governor on April 8, 1630. ... Antinomianism (from the Greek Î±Î½Ï„Î¹, against + Î½Î¿Î¼Î¿Ï‚, law), or lawlessness (in the Greek Bible: Î±Î½Î¿Î¼Î¹Î±,[1] which is unlawful), in theology, is the idea that members of a particular religious group are under no obligation to obey the laws of ethics or morality as presented by religious authorities. ...

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.^[5] That year, Sir Henry Vane lost the governorship to John Winthrop who did not share Vane's favorable opinion of Hutchinson. He instead "considered her a threat to his 'city set on a hill'" (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."^[2] Governor Winthrop and the established religious hierarchy considered many of her comments in her discussion groups to be heretical, specifically, her "unfounded criticism of the clergy from an unauthorized source." John Winthrop (12 January 1587/8â€“26 March 1649) led a group of English Puritans to the New World, joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 and was elected their first governor on April 8, 1630. ... City upon a hill is phrase often used to refer to John Winthrops famous sermon, A Model of Christian Charity,, of 1630, based on the one of the metaphors of Salt and Light in the Sermon on the Mount (You are the light of the world. ... For other uses, see Heresy (disambiguation). ...

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."^[7]

Trials

She was brought to civil trial on 1637 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.^[5]

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 of 1637 she was condemned by the Court that included John Eliot, famous missionary to Massachusetts Bay Colony Indians, and translator of the first complete Bible printed in America.^[8] They voted to banish her from the colony "as being a woman not fit for our society."^[7] She was put under house arrest to await her religious trial.^[5] John Eliot is the name of several notable individuals. ...

In March 1638, the First Church in Boston conducted a religious trial. They accused Hutchinson of blasphemy. They also accused her of "lewd and licivious 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.

Death

Hutchinson was excommunicated and banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638, so she relocated to Rhode Island with her husband, William Hutchinson (Rhode Island, a colony led by Roger Williams, a Baptist pastor who founded one of the two original Baptist churches in America). Later they relocated to Westchester, New York. Tragically, she and all of her children except one were killed there by a group of Indians who came calling in a friendly manner, and then suddenly turned on their unsuspecting victims. A map of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Capital Charlestown, Boston History - Established 1629 - New England Confederation 1643 - Dominion of New England 1686 - Province of Massachusetts Bay 1692 - Disestablished 1692 The Massachusetts Bay Colony (sometimes called the Massachusetts Bay Company, for the institution that founded it) was an English settlement on... Events March 29 - Swedish colonists establish first settlement in Delaware, called New Sweden. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... For other persons named Roger Williams, see Roger Williams (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Movements Â· Denominations Â· Other religions Ecumenism Â· Preaching Â· Prayer Music Â· Liturgy Â· Calendar Symbols Â· Art Â· Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul Â· Church Fathers Constantine Â· Athanasius Â· Augustine Anselm Â· Aquinas Â· Palamas Â· Luther Calvin Â· Wesley Arius Â· Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury Â· Catholic Pope Coptic Pope Â· Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box: Baptist is... Westchester County is a suburban county with about 940,000 residents located in the U.S. state of New York. ...

Modern interpretation of events

Upheld equally as a symbol of religious freedom, liberal thinking and Christian feminism, Anne Hutchinson is a contentious figure, too. She has been in turn 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. Christian feminism, a branch of feminist theology, seeks to interpret and understand Christianity in the scope of the equality of men and women morally, socially, spiritually and in leadership. ...

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 rather than 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."^[1] 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, Massachusetts, a statue stands of Anne Hutchinson with her daughter Susannah, sole survivor of the attack by Siwanoy Native Americans 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.^[9] ^[10] Boston redirects here. ... The Siwanoy are a Native American tribe in the New York area. ... This article is about the people indigenous to the United States. ...

The statue was erected in 1922. The inscription on the marble pediment of the statue reads: Image File history File linksMetadata Statue_of_Anne_Hutchinson. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Statue_of_Anne_Hutchinson. ...

Some literary critics trace the character of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter 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). Hester Prynne, the young protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthornes book The Scarlet Letter, is a woman condemned by her Puritan comrades. ... This article is about the 1850 book. ...

Anne Hutchinson and her political struggle with Governor Winthrop are depicted in the 1980 play "Goodly Creatures" by William Gibson. Other notable historical characters who appear in the play are Rev. John Cotton, Governor Harry Vane, and future Quaker martyr Mary Dyer. For other persons named William Gibson, see William Gibson (disambiguation). ... John Cotton (1585â€“1652) The Reverend John Cotton (December 4, 1585 â€“ December 23, 1652) was a highly regarded principal among the New England Puritan ministers, who also included John Winthrop, Thomas Hooker, Increase Mather (who became his son-in-law), John Davenport, and Thomas Shepard. ... Mary Dyer is led to the gallows Mary Barrett Dyer (1611? - June 1, 1660) was an English Quaker who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts for repeatedly defying a law banning Quakers from the colony. ...

In southern New York State, the Hutchinson River, one of the very few rivers named after a woman, and the Hutchinson River Parkway are her most prominent namesakes. Elementary schools, such as in the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and in the Westchester County towns of Pelham and Eastchester are other examples. The Hutchinson River is a small freshwater stream in New York. ... The Hutchinson River Parkway, colloquially called The Hutch by many Westchester and Bronx residents, is a parkway that runs through Westchester County, New York and the Bronx in New York City. ... Primary or elementary education is the first years of formal, structured education that occurs during childhood. ... Westchester County is a primarily suburban county with about 940,000 residents located in the U.S. state of New York. ... A combonation residency and retail building on 5th Avenue in Pelham Pelham is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Descendants

Among her notable descendants are Presidents of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, First Lady Lucretia Garfield, actors Chevy Chase and Ted Danson, actresses Marilyn Monroe (possibly) and Jane Wyatt, writers Louis Stanton Auchincloss, Dubose Heyward, Eve LaPlante, Robert Lowell and John P. Marquand, Attorney General Elliot Richardson, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller, commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, Senator Stephen Arnold Douglas, Ambassador Pamela Harriman, and former Massachusetts governor and 2008 U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney.^[12]^[13], and Dylan Avery (director of Loose Change) Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas US Government Portal For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882–April 12, 1945), 32nd President of the United States, the longest-serving holder of the office and the only man to be elected President more than twice, was one of the central figures of 20th century history. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States of America, originally inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... First Lady Laura Bush and former first ladies (from left to right) Rosalynn Carter, Sen. ... White House portrait Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (1832 - 1918), wife of James A. Garfield, was First Lady of the United States in 1881. ... For other uses, see Chevy Chase (disambiguation). ... Ted Danson (born Edward Bridge Danson III on December 29, 1947) is an American actor most notable for his television work, and specifically, for his role as central character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. ... Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 â€“ August 5, 1962), was a Golden Globe award winning American actress, model and sex symbol. ... Jane Waddington Wyatt (August 12, 1910 â€“ October 20, 2006) was an American actress in films and television. ... Louis Auchincloss, born September 27, 1917, in New York City, is a prolific novelist, historian and essayist. ... DuBose Heyward (August 31, 1885 â€“ June 16, 1940) was an American author best known for his 1924 novel Porgy. ... Robert Lowell (March 1, 1917â€“September 12, 1977), born Robert Traill Spence Lowell, IV, was a highly regarded mid-twentieth-century American poet. ... John Phillips Marquand (November 10, 1893 - July 16, 1960 ) was a 20th-century American novelist. ... The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ... Elliot Lee Richardson (July 20, 1920 â€“ December 31, 1999) was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinet of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. ... Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. ... Melville Weston Fuller (February 11, 1833–July 4, 1910) was the Chief Justice of the United States between 1888 and 1910. ... Oliver Hazard Perry Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 â€“ August 23, 1819) was an officer in the United States Navy. ... Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 - June 3, 1861), American politician from Illinois, was one of the Democratic Party nominees for President in 1860 (the other being John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky). ... Pamela Churchill Harriman (20 March 1920 â€“ 5 February 1997) was an English-born socialite who was married and linked to important and powerful men. ... Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) was the 70th Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. ... Dylan Avery Dylan Avery is the director and narrator of the documentary Loose Change, a film that questions the official explanation of the September 11, 2001 attacks. ...

Pardon

In 1987, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis pardoned Anne Hutchinson, revoking the order of banishment by Governor Winthrop 350 years earlier. Michael Stanley Dukakis (born November 3, 1933) is an American Democratic politician, former Governor of Massachusetts, and the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. ...

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b http://forerunner.com/forerunner/X0193_Anne_Hutchinson.html
^ ^a ^b ^c Anne Hutchinson by Peter Gomes. Harvard Magazine November 2002. Accessed February 13, 2007.
^ Cite error 8; No text given.
^ ^a ^b Fraser, James W. Between Church and State. Palgrave Macmillan, 2000. ISBN 0312233396
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Ellsberg, Robert. All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses From Our Time. ‘’Crossroad Classic,’’ 1997. ISBN 0824516796
^ ^a ^b Hutchinson, Anne. (n.d.). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 23, 2007, from Reference.com website: http://www.reference.com/browse/columbia/Hutchinson.
^ ^a ^b Crawford, Deborah. Four Women in a Violent Time. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1970, pp. 144-146
^ The Trial of Anne Hutchinson Accessed February 13, 2007.
^ Dunlea, William. Anne Hutchinson and the Puritans: An Early American Tragedy. Dorrance, 1993
^ Pritchard, Evan T. Native New Yorkers, Council Oak, 2002.
^ Anne Hutchinson Notable Women Ancestors at Rootsweb.Com, a genealogy site. Accessed February 13, 2007.
^ Eve LaPLante, "American Jezebel", San Francisco, 2004;
^ Gary Boyd Roberts, "The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants, etc." Baltimore, 2006, pp. 278-281.

Bibliography

Primary sources

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