– 1634
A couple of days ago, we celebrated a Puritan woman–and today we celebrate another!
Like
Sunday's Bradstreet, Anne Hutchinson was born (in 1591) in England
and became well educated (“for a woman”), and also like
Bradstreet, she moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Boston.
(She arrived in North America on this date in 1634.) Like Bradstreet,
Hutchinson had a lot of kids—she had 11 children!
However,
Hutchinson didn't totally fit in with the other Puritans. She and her
husband had different Puritan-Christian beliefs than the
Puritan-Christians ministers who gave sermons at church. And she
shared her opinions: a group of women came to her house each week to
hear her ideas. The weekly meetings became so popular, Hutchinson
offered meetings for men, too.
The
ministers who disagreed with Hutchinson's religious ideas complained,
and soon the Hutchinsons faced a trial over their religious ideas.
They were convicted of wrongdoing and banished from the colony.
This
wasn't as shocking back then as it would be today. Throughout history
and all over the world, there was commonly a religion of
power—different religions in different places, of course, and at
different times. The religion of the king or state was often
established, and the populace was expected to follow. People who
believed any other way (and were bold enough to say so) sometimes
faced imprisonment, banishment, or death.
The
Hutchinson family was welcomed by Roger Williams in what was to
become the colony of Rhode Island. Although Hutchinson's life ended
badly (she and all but one of the 16 members of her household were
killed during an attack by native Siwanoy Indians), Anne Huchinson is
an important part of the development of religious freedom in the
North American colonies, and she is now honored by the state of
Massachusetts as a “courageous exponent of civil liberty and
religious toleration.”
Also
on this date:
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