Religious Beliefs In The American Colonies

Introduction. The new boundaries and opportunities in the seventeenth century grew and challenged an idea of religious liberty. The lifestyle of the first colonists in the New England was heavily influenced by religion and church. Settlers considered that success of social life depends on the obedience to God’s will. The governor John Winthrop maintained and developed this idea. With a help of his Speech to the Massachusetts General Court in 1645, he summed up and explained an important idea of liberty. Winthrop did not only define a blessed way for a better life of the community but also clarified the role of citizens through the analogy of women’s position in the society. His concept of natural and moral liberty turned up to be suitable and clear for the settlers. With a help of well-built speech, Winthrop emphasized and explained correlation among society, authority, and God in the New World.

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.The assertive Anne was now becoming a religious leader to many, and this worried John Winthrop, a long time opponent of Anne's views, and the newly appointed Governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Winthrop recognized her as a threat to the authority of the men in power, and the thought of women expressing their views on Church and communal matters

Anne Hutchinson was a remarkable colonial woman who first came to Massachusetts in the fall of 1634. She is less remembered for her contributions in the new world as a wife, mother of fourteen, and midwife to many than for her eventual trial and banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. I was interested in writing a paper on a colonial woman and chose Anne Hutchinson after a "Google" search turned up a very good review on a recent book about her life. I have been intrigued by the fact that the Puritans came to America to practice their religion freely, yet allowed no freedom to question their

In 1637, there was a religious dissenter who had led the way for religious independence in Puritan New England named Anne Hutchinson. Anne, was the fluent, strong-willed, quick-witted of a prominent merchant who had thirteen children, served as a healer, and midwife. On the other hand, Anne was deported from Boston in 1637 for her religious and women’s rights and escaped to Rhode Island. She had meetings at home about the sermons and the meetings turned into a famously forums for Hutchinson’s own narration on the religious matters. She also said to have some kind of experience with Holy Spirit that stated that Puritan ministers like two or three had preached the right “covenant of grace”. Not to mention she did disobey many laws and tried to be a leader but was going the wrong way of disobeying

In a sermon delivered aboard the ship Arbella, future-New England governor John Winthrop declared that the new colony "...shall be as a city upon a hill” with “the eyes of all people upon us” (1630) . Evidently, Winthrop’s sermon held great significance for the colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony as this sentiment – that is, to be an illuminated, moral example to the Old and New World – remained foundational to the development of their lives in the New World. Thus, it is clear that religion was tremendously significant in the lives of the northern colonists –known as ‘Puritans’ or ‘Separatists’ – particularly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries following colonial expansion into the New World. The colonies – Plymouth, Connecticut,

Anne Hutchinson was tried and banished from the colony by the Massachusetts Bay General Court in November of 1637 (35). Hutchinson had arrived in Massachusetts Bay after her minister and mentor John Cotton had fled there to avoid the summons to London he had received from the Archbishop Laud to answer for his behavior in continuing as a Puritan minister despite the reforms King Charles had placed banishing such practices (36-37). The Hutchinson family arrived in Massachusetts Bay on September 18, 1634 not knowing the trials to come, literally and figuratively (37). Anne Hutchinson would, within the years leading up to her trial, conduct weekly meetings in her home that attracted many influential people in attendance (36-37). Among these people were Francis Vane, an Antinomian who would replace Winthrop as colonial governor temporarily; John Wheelwright, another Antinomian that would be banished from the colony for his radical sermons; and Roger Williams, a friend of John Winthrop that was banished for his extreme religious beliefs (37-54). John Winthrop and other political leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony became increasingly distressed with Hutchinson’s meetings because of some of these associations, along with the association her meetings had with the increased threat of Antinomian beliefs to John Winthrop’s view of Massachusetts Bay as a “city upon a hill” and how believers of Antinomianism threatened that ideal view of the colony (40). All these factors lead up to Anne Hutchinson’s trial and although most say that religious quarrels are the only reason for the Hutchinson trial, there is more to Anne’s trial than just how her religious views differed from the norm of Puritan society, because other factors should be taken into consideration when analyzing the Hutchinson trial.

Anne Hutchinson held meetings at her house on Sundays to recall what had been said during the church sermon as well as to add her own ideas and thoughts on the topics that were being discussed. At first this seemed very normal but when her teachings began influencing people to pull away from the other Puritans, Winthrop recognized this as a problem. Anne Hutchinson taught others of her numerous propositions, which opposed the purpose of this excursion to New England. Morgan states that, Mrs. Hutchinson’s beliefs, “…threatened the fundamental conviction on which the Puritans built their state, their churches, and their daily lives, namely that God’s will could be discovered only through the bible” (Morgan). Anne Hutchinson was in fact an Antinomian, she opposed the fixed meaning of God’s moral law that Winthrop had worked so hard to teach these people. As a result, Mrs. Hutchinson was causing a huge threat to the settlers. She was trying to manipulate others to share her religious beliefs. Winthrop would not tolerate such behavior, as she was behaving sinfully, she must be punished accordingly or else as Winthrop believed, they would all suffer from God’s wrath. Winthrop took Mrs. Hutchinson to a court hearing and after a long, battle it was decided by the court that Mrs. Hutchinson was to be banished from Massachusetts. Mrs. Hutchinson was set as an example for the others who may

Anne Hutchinson was a strong willed and intelligent woman that lived in 1637 in the Massachusetts Bay colony. She opposed both John Winthrop, governor of the colony, as well as the Puritan church leaders who had a different set of beliefs from her, and made up the court of elected officials that assisted the governor. She was banished from the colony in 1638 on charges of blasphemy, because she claimed to have direct and divine inspiration from the Holy Spirit, in a Puritan community it was thought that only preachers and other church leaders could see God, this idea was known as the covenant of works. Anne Hutchinson was a believer in the covenant of grace where God could show himself to anyone at

Compare the ways in which religion shaped the development of colonial society (to 1740) in TWO of the following regions: New England

In the trial of Anne Hutchinson, we meet a well intentioned yet lost people described and labelled as the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Company. These self governing Puritans, once a people who sought God to set them on their way, settled only to be found as a people who simply lost their way. This journey to lost began when first motivated by a desire for religious reform and separation from the liturgy, ceremonies and practices of the Church of England. Once they banned together, they set on their way and traveled in groups to the New World. With the Word of God as their ultimate authority and the desire for a personal relationship with God, these people landed in Boston in 1630 united to self govern the newly founded Massachussets Bay Colony. Unfortunatly, this self rule resulted in a government of intolerance, fear and a liturgy not much different from what was once found in the Church of England. A system designed to set apart outward morality, or sanctification, to strengthen the authority of the Church only worked to neglect the place of true piety purposed to strengthen the spiritual lives of the people it served.

concept of freedom which consisted of natural liberty (doing whatever you want) and moral liberty (doing what is good). In the Massachusetts Bay colony, the Puritans wanted to have the right to worship and govern themselves but had to exercise good moral conduct by obeying religious and government authority. Winthrop explains the idea of freedom with an example of the status of women in society. He states that a woman has the liberty to choose her husband and thus is subject to his authority. So, a woman gets the liberty to choose who rules over her but then must obey everything her husband says. This shows that in the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, individuals needed to conform to the colony and practice what the authority wanted them to practice; they had low individuality and women had low status and rights under her husband. The trial of Anne Hutchinson also supports this idea as she was prosecuted for having views that differed and “endangered” society by holding meetings to discuss religious issues. Hutchinson was brought before the court led by John Winthrop because she “seduced honest people” in her meetings (Foner 36) thereby dishonoring the commonwealth and disrupting society. Winthrop stated that Hutchinson holding meetings and talking about churches is not fitting of her sex, showing that women were not supposed to discuss

Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of

Anne Hutchinson was a bold person who spoke her mind even if it was against man. Anna spoke of many things, including the role of women in puritan society, which scared some of the men in a leadership position. In 16 century’s, freedom of speech and freedom of religions were not there yet. In the puritanical times, in the Massachusetts Bay colony, it was risky for a woman to talk or have an opinion about religion or have an open debate on religion. Hutchinson spoke her mind and argued about the beliefs of the puritan of Massachusetts. Hutchinson believed that the grace of god came from faith and not doing good deeds. However, the puritan ministers of Massachusetts believed in external actions, not an internal relationship. In my opinion, the

     Religion was a very important part of everyday life in colonial America. Sometimes people were not allowed to question what they were taught, and if they did so they were punished accordingly. Before 1700 some colonies had more religious freedom then others. While others colonies only allowed religious freedom to a select group, others allowed religious freedom to all different kinds of religions. In the overall there was quite a bit of religious freedom in colonial America

Every culture has its own religion; and people of those cultures take their religion very seriously. Early Americans used their religion to get through some tough times. Each situation showed that as long as they had faith they could make it through any kind of trouble. However, they also misused their religion or took it out of context. Some even changed their perceptive on religion as if they were trying to find themselves. Religion kept them going strong and allowed them to overcome many dangers. Religion has an important role to those who are religious; which is the case for the early American society.