Anne Hutchinson (1591?-1643) was born in England to a religious family. While in England her father educated her in their home, she had no formal education but people knew of her intelligence. While young, her minister father spent time imprisoned for speaking against the training of the bishops in England. During the seventeenth century there was extreme religious turmoil in England, there was little tolerance. Because of the intolerance, Anne’s preacher Reverend Cotton fled to the New World to further the Puritan religion. As a woman in her early forties, her and her family traveled to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The people accepted the Hutchinson family quickly.

Leaders of the Puritan religion encouraged members to meet outside of church services in order to discuss the sermons. Because Anne was a midwife, she made connections with many of the local women. When she began holding meetings in her home, it started with the local women. After some time their meetings shifted into them being critical of the Puritan religion and dissecting what was wrong with it. They deemed the ministers of Boston were unfit to preach. Eventually her meetings grew over time to include many of the prominent men of the colony. One of the major issues regarding Anne was that she did not adhere to the gender roles of seventeenth century New England. She asserted herself and her right to preach to men.

Government officials saw the danger in her meetings. The Puritans started the Massachusetts Bay Colony in order to govern through Puritanism. They did not promote complete religious freedom. Originally, John Winthrop charged Anne with “troubling the peace of the commonwealth and the churches.” During her trial, she made the mistake of explaining she had the ability to interpret scripture herself. They then charged her with heresy, banishing her from the colony and excommunicating her from the church.

When leaving Boston, many of her followers left with her.  First, they went to Rhode Island where Roger Williams started a colony on the principles of religious freedom. Anne and her family did not stay long in Rhode Island. Once resettled, she found herself caught in the middle of the Indian wars. Sadly, her and her children died in an Indian attack. 

By: Jessica McKenzie 

Credits and Sources:

Bremer, Francis J. “The Puritans and Dissent: The Cases of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson.” History Now: The Journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute. Accessed September 14, 2016. http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/religion-and-eighteenth-century-revivalism/essays/puritans-and-dissent-cases-roger-wi

Huber, Elaine C. “Hutchinson, Anne.” American National Biography Online. Last modified Feb. 2000. Accessed September 14,2016. http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-00437.html?from=../01/01-00995.html&from_nm=Winthrop%2C%20John

Michals, Debra ed. “Anne Marbury Hutchinson (1591?-1643).” National Women’s History Museum. Last modified 2015. Accessed September 14, 2016. https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/anne-marbury-hutchinson/

O’Connor, Thomas H. Boston: A to Z. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.

The Examination of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson at the Court at Newton, 1637. Accessed September 14, 2016. http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/hutchinson.html 

USHistory.org. “Dissent in Massachusetts Bay.” Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia. Accessed September 14, 2016. http://www.ushistory.org/us/3e.asp