2nd Area of focus- Anne Hutchinson's trial.
Anne Hutchinson's beliefs were examined by the court and Reverend John Winthrop who was her strongest opponent and they wanted her tired as a heretic. Reverend John Winthrop, Govener and one of the founders of the Bay Colony charged Anne Hutchinson and her followers with antinomian heresy, which means her views were regarded as a direct threat to the political and clerical church leaders of the community. Along with Winthrop many other ministers had complained that Anne was to outspoken and opinionated regarding religious beliefs. A pregnant 46-year old Hutchinson was brought to trial in the fall of 1637 in Newtown. She was criticized with troubling the peace of the small settlement, speaking out against ministers and holding sermons in her home.
Anne stood alone in trial with no lawyer to defend her and faced a panel of forth-nine powerful and well-educated men. Hutchinson challenged the accusations against her, which only further angered Winthrop and the panel. She argued there was no law against private assembly, and she denied the accusation that the religious talks differed from the puritan beliefs. It only took the court two days to find sufficient proof of Anne's guilt. Anne disagreed and said she had received a revelation directly from God that what she was doing was not wrong. This statement was entirely against all puritan ways. The court declared her unfit for their society, banished her and imprisoned her until she was sent away in March of 1638.
In 1638 she was again brought before the court and excommunicated from the church and ordered to leave the Bay Colony. She moved to the new colony of Rhode Island, which was founded by other people that were exiled from Massachusetts. After her husbands death six years later, she moved her family to the Dutch colony that is now New York. She choose to live outside the city in a remote farming area on Long Island that was native Algonquians land. Anne was attacked in August of 1643 by the natives at her homestead and killed along with all her children expect one.
Anne stood alone in trial with no lawyer to defend her and faced a panel of forth-nine powerful and well-educated men. Hutchinson challenged the accusations against her, which only further angered Winthrop and the panel. She argued there was no law against private assembly, and she denied the accusation that the religious talks differed from the puritan beliefs. It only took the court two days to find sufficient proof of Anne's guilt. Anne disagreed and said she had received a revelation directly from God that what she was doing was not wrong. This statement was entirely against all puritan ways. The court declared her unfit for their society, banished her and imprisoned her until she was sent away in March of 1638.
In 1638 she was again brought before the court and excommunicated from the church and ordered to leave the Bay Colony. She moved to the new colony of Rhode Island, which was founded by other people that were exiled from Massachusetts. After her husbands death six years later, she moved her family to the Dutch colony that is now New York. She choose to live outside the city in a remote farming area on Long Island that was native Algonquians land. Anne was attacked in August of 1643 by the natives at her homestead and killed along with all her children expect one.
Quote 2
" I have been guilty of wrong thinking." -Anne Hutchinson