Term Paper on "Anne Hutchinson"

Term Paper 5 pages (1970 words) Sources: 6 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Anne Hutchinson

Fear of the Unknown: The Hutchinson/Winthrop Conflict

John Winthrop's reasons for wanting to rid Boston of Anne Hutchison were more than political. Winthrop felt his power being challenged by Anne Hutchinson, and feared losing control, personally and communally.

Originally the most prosperous landowner of the group, Winthrop's idealistic "city on a hill" was changing rapidly, as settlers began to expand and gain more land for themselves, shifting the long-assumed balance among the rich and poor.

People who had once turned to him for absolute leadership were beginning to define their own lives, questioning the strict authority of ministers, magistrates and city fathers. At the root of Winthrop's rage against Hutchinson, however, was simply a case of cold fear - the fear of anarchy, the fear of change, and probably an element of misogyny, as well.

To Puritans, who believed that God could only be revealed through scripture, Anne Hutchinson's claim that she communicated directly with God seemed like a threat to the very structure of the society that they had worked so hard to build.

Ironically, the Puritans had fled to the new world to live in a place where they could be free to practice the religion for which they were being punished in England. However, freedom to worship as a reformed Protestant, at least in Winthrop's mind, did not equal freedom to worship however one chose.

The idea of freedom and independence as we know it did not blossom fully until many years later. This new freedom was quite limited, as Anne Hutchinson learned. Anne did discuss her beliefs briefly with Winthrop very early on, but he was satisfied that she "held nothing different from us" at that time. As her beliefs developed and she began to tell others of her experiences, the division between Anne and the colony's leadership grew wider.

During a time when law had its basis in the Bible, it could prove dangerous to think for oneself, especially since the threat of corporal punishment was always looming. "The close relationship between church and state in Massachusetts Bay meant that challenge to the ministers was quickly interpreted as a challenge to established authority of all kinds" (Kerber, 47).

Whether or not Winthrop personally believed his dogma, he preached fire and brimstone warnings to the settlers from the early stages of their journey to the new world, and continued even more vehemently when they arrived.

He believed in the reality of Satan, and in salvation based on a person's good earthly works.

Instituting and enforcing an informal spying system among the settlers, Winthrop encouraged the colonists to watch for sinful behavior on the part of their neighbor s

He was certain that his religious practices and ideas must be followed by everyone in order for the colonies to survive.

His dogma did not include any personal experience of or forgiveness by God, but simply involved sin, punishment and atonement.

Anne Hutchison, an intelligent healer, simply believed in the personal experience of God, and she had the bad judgment, perhaps, to discuss it openly.

She believed in a merciful and forgiving God whose essence resides within each of us. To assume that humans could be so connected with God that they could talk to Him personally and experience confession and atonement seemed blasphemous to the elderly authorities.

Some of the settlers, however, were fascinated by this idea, and sought Anne's wisdom, applying it to their own lives.

Anne held gatherings of people who liked her message, and the groups were growing.

The perceived effect on people who believe in an experiential, personal God was that they would no longer need to answer to a higher human authority. John Winthrop's authority had already been usurped more than once, and his leadership and ownership over the minds of the colonists was deeply threatened by Anne. Openly "reproaching most of the ministers...for not preaching a covenant of free grace," represented a fierce denial of the entire system Winthrop had worked so hard to create. Hutchinson's ideas struck at the core of Winthrop's belief system, and the core of his power when she suggested that every person - not just a minister - has God indwelling. Moreover, as Carol Karlsen notes, the Puritan community was unforgiving to women who failed to serve the needs of godly men in their strictly hierarchical community. Lurking in their imagination - as it lurked throughout the Judeo-Christian tradition - was the cautionary biblical story of Eve, who, by her disobedience brought evil into the world.

More importantly, Anne was leading others astray. She dared to say that she had been guided by God to come to New England. Apparently God also told her she would be persecuted, and "God would ruin us and our posterity, and the whole state, for the same" (Winthrop

John Winthrop notes the relief the colony experienced when Anne was sentenced, saying that many poor souls "seduced" by Anne were "brought off quite from her errors and settled again in the truth" (Winthrop

John Winthrop spent his entire adult life working to enforce a system in the colonies that would set an example for the entire world.

That example would be one of pious, obedient citizens working together for the right to be free. However, Winthrop's idea of freedom in the new world did not reach this far.

There was no question in the minds of Winthrop and his peers that he was right about Anne's "gross errors," and he was looking for, at least, some kind of repentance on her part. At one point it appeared that Anne might repent, since she "confessed that what she had spoken against the magistrates at the court (by way of revelation) was rash and ungrounded." However, she could not in good faith pretend "see her sins," and was excommunicated from the church (Winthrop, pg. ____).

An even more interesting document is the actual transcript of the trial of Anne Hutchinson. Winthrop's account was somewhat vague in comparison, and the transcript reveals more clearly how beautifully Anne was able to respond and stand up to the city fathers, and how abusive they really were toward her during this mockery of a trial.

For instance, Hutchinson was never told what law she broke or what crime she committed (Young, pg. 13). In fact, Governor Winthrop went so far as to say that, because of the following she had drawn, Anne had a "potent party" in the country. Her ministries were repeatedly referred to as seductions, and the fact that she held meetings for both sexes, as well as meetings just for women, was enough to damn her. She quoted from scripture to suggest that perhaps John Winthrop and the ministers were the anti-Christ, based on the idea that even papists acknowledge the power of Christ to come into the body (Young pg 17). Anne's belief in free grace from God, as opposed to the "covenant of works" that the city fathers held to, meant that one only has to have the faith to talk with God, and feel God to receive grace, and that the deeds a person does in his or her life does not buy grace.

This was interpreted by Winthrop and his men as the beginning of the end of lawfulness, since one would not have to account for anything they did, so long as they personally felt God's forgiveness and compassion.

Winthrop felt if they took "away the foundation, the building will fall" (Young pg. 17).

When the Hutchinson matter was echoed later in Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter," America was no stranger to witch hunts. Hester Pryne's character may have been a result of the fact that Hawthorne's own grandfather participated in expelling accused witches from the colony, a regrettable fact that wove itself into the young Hawthorne's conscience. Although a compelling story, the Scarlet Letter may have been intended to remind us how easily things can get out of control when we judge one another based on religious doctrine. As Hawthorne knew, the community's response to alleged witchcraft in Winthrop's day was swift, mortal punishment requiring very little real evidence to support it. The word witch, in fact, was derived from the word "wizard."

The implication was that witches were possessed of super-natural powers and were able to control events around them, including the actions of others. The fear that a woman could control anything and wield power over anything - themselves, their children and their men - was deeply frightening. Men, in particular, whose role in the family and the community was the final word, had a difficult time dealing with the possibility that women might have powers that could usurp their authority.

The severe punishment for suspicion of witchcraft revealed the depth of fear that witches generated.

It was commonly understood that one could simply not take a chance that a woman had powers, so she was put to death just in case. Again, the fear that fed the resistance to witchcraft was that, if women could… READ MORE

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