Winthrop’s Boston: A Portrait of a Puritan Town, 1630 - 1649 by Darret B. Rutman was published by Norton Library in 1965. This non-fiction novel tells the story of John Winthrop settling and setting up the colony of Boston. Rutman also shows what Winthrop had ideally thought of the task and the actuality of the situation.
Body
Rutman’s main purpose for writing this book was to show the differences between what Winthrop thought his American life would be, and what it turned out to be. Winthrop’s Boston: A Portrait of a Puritan Town, 1630 - 1649, portrays the story of John Winthrop setting up his dream. The novel starts with John “aboard the Arabella contemplating his ‘Citty upon a Hill,’” (135). His journey on the Arabella was not just a boat ride, it was where the planning began. Being a puritan and wanting religious freedom Winthrop had left behind his wife and life to start a new one in America. Although his initial thought was a “Citty upon a Hill”, Boston ends up being “The Citty by the Water”. This change in title is just one example that shows what he book reveals about Winthrop’s ideal community. In the end, he did set-up Boston but it wasn’t exactly how he pictured it. Along the way there were situations in which he did not predict.
In June 1630, John Winthrop and his fleet arrived in Salem, Massachusetts. This was not the ideal place for Winthrop’s ideal “citty”. So five days after land John and his men left Salem in search of better land. Charlestown was where the puritans set their roots. However, their start was not favorable due to disease, killing many of the settlers and making the survivors weak. They were unable to bring shipped goods to their encampment and the only resolution was to divide and conquer. Onc...
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...vement was also a trouble, Smith died when returning to Jamestown after an expedition. Both men had the goal and dream of setting up a new town in which they wanted as their own or as a place to start new. Smith and Winthrop achieved their ambition and are remembered in history for it.
Conclusion
Winthrop’s Boston: A Portrait of a Puritan Town, 1630 - 1649 by Darret B. Rutman seemed to be a long and excruciating read. The book had a great deal of information that the reader could learn from it, but most was lost when trying to stay awake to read it. On the other hand, Rutman had the concept down. The importance should be put on the idea behind the book because if you are interested in the idea you will gain knowledge. Nonetheless this book shows you the circumstances that Winthrop faced, what the founder of Boston fought through to create “The City on the Water”.
An anti-"city on a hill" with a maypole compensating for something? A pleasurable refuge for indentured servants freed from service and respected natives? A place where a man just wanted to annoy his uptight, religious neighbors? Those are the obvious conclusions, but with like most anything in history, there's meaning and significance that we don't catch at first glance. Thomas Morton had an agenda, puritan leader John Winthrop may have had a secret, and there are so many fictions surrounding their whole story, it's hard to tell what's reality and what's not. It's time to sift through the parts, and piece together a bigger picture, asking one, main question: Why were Morton and the Puritans engaged in a seemingly never-ending conflict with each other?
The setting is eighteenth century Boston, Massachusetts. The population in Boston between 1760’s and 1790’s ranged from sixteen thousand to eighteen thousand . Some of the major building that are well known for the time period are Old State House; originally called Town House, this building is very historic the Boston Massacre of 1770 took place in front of this building, also the Declaration of Independence was first read off the balcony. Also Boston has the Old South Meeting House; which in that time was the largest meeting space, this was where the “convocation met before the Boston Tea Party, and this is community commemorated the Boston Massacre” . Another building is the Old North Church, the first stone was laid in April of 1723 taking twenty-two years to complete, this is the oldest church is Boston today. This church’s steeple was immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem “The midnight ride of Paul Revere” . The geography in Boston is that it was a coastal region with poor soil, this was not a farming community, and most people that lived in Boston were people that practice a trade or a craft. The climate in Boston ca...
In 1629, a royal charter was granted to a group of wealthy Puritans. Their enterprise was the Massachusetts Bay Company. “Future governor John Winthrop stated their purpose quite clearly: "We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people
Edmund S. Morgan's book, "The Puritan Dilemma", is an account of the events encountered by John Winthrop's mission of creating a city on a hill. Winthrop leads and directs the Massachusetts Bay Company, to the new world, while trying to find a solution to the Puritan dilemma, which was how they were going to live in the world while trying to live up to the ideals in the Bible. These ideals lead John Winthrop to propose the creation of a “city on a hill”. His proposition involves reforming the Church of England, in the new world, by purifying the church of all its flaws. It would create a citadel of God’s chosen people, the kind of society that God demanded of all His servants. According to Winthrop, "They should be purified of their unregenerate members, their heretical clergymen, their unwarranted ceremonies, their bishops, and archbishops, but they were nevertheless churches and must be embraced as churches". (Morgan, 27) Winthrop continues to emphasize that they have been selected by God, like Israel of old, to serve as a model society to others; they would be a “city on a hill” for everyone to see and observe.
...ve Indians. From the copious use of examples in Winthrop's work, and the concise detail in Rowlandson's narrative, one can imbibe such Puritans values as the mercy of God, place in society, and community. Together, these three elements create a foundation for Puritan thought and lifestyle in the New World. Though A Model of Christian Charity is rather prescriptive in its discussion of these values, Rowlandson's captivity narrative can certainly be categorized as descriptive; this pious young woman serves as a living example of Winthrop's "laws," in that she lives the life of a true Puritan. Therefore, both 17th century works are extremely interrelated; in order to create Winthrop's model community, one must have faith and closely follow Puritan ideals, as Rowlandson has effectively done in her A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.
During this time, Boston was still taking shape. It had more intellectuals than most other colonies; there were philosophers, inventors, eleven doctors, and one doctor with an actual, certified degree. These people were working hard to improve Boston, coming up with new remedies, inventions, and ideas that helped expand people’s way of thinking (while of course staying within Puritan guidelines).
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 Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.
In Massachusetts Bay colony, there were social stresses and there was a quarrel over land ownership in the Putnam family, twelve others from Gloucester; thirteen from the port of Salem; and fifty-five from Andover women. Rebellious acts started going on and the desire of power became outrageous as they physically started attacking ...
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. Hope Leslie; or, Early Times in the Massachusetts. Ed. Mary Kelley. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987.
On his way to the New World, aboard the Arabella in 1630, John Winthrop, Puritan leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, spoke of the plan that he had in store for the colony. He preached that there would be equality in the new colony and that they " must be knit together in this work as one man." He spoke about the importance of community in the colony that was vital for the survival of the colony. His statements made on the Arabella are to the ideas in the Articles of Agreement, which compiled in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1636. In the Articles of Agreement, the community was to contain forty familiesrich and poor. In the Articles of Agreement, the concern for comfort and quality of life (for families) is outlined. They again put emphasis on the importance of unity in the colony and they also express that social classes do not determine what a person is. In Connecticut, the colonists set up regulations for wages and price; these rules were made to include poor settlers in trading and the economy by keeping the prices in the colony "fair." Since the colonists in the New England region was untied "as one" in each colony, this was one way that caused them to become a different society from the Che...
As the regions began to expand and develop, their motivations for settlement helped to mold their societies. New England was a place where men sought refuge from religious persecution and was established as a haven for religious refugees. Despite this reason for settling, the New Englanders still attempted to spread their own beliefs of religion. As illustrated by John Winthrop in his Model of a Christian Charity, he preached to his fellow colonists that “we shall be a city upon a hill” (Doc A) exemplifying the Puritans’ aspirations of a Holy Utopia. He and countless other New Englanders practiced the belief that they must all work together. They were determined to “mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work.” The Articles of Agreement plainly laid out the basis for the New England region. These articles made New England a cosmopolitan mix of rich and poor families, all being in possession of land and resolute in doing God’s work (Doc D). However, while the New Englanders settled to create a Holy Utopia, the people of the Chesapeake were concerned not only with their religious freedom, but also ...
John Winthrop was given the role of Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was the first major settlement, and his original aim as governor of this land was to make the colony a democracy. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a successful settlement thanks to the group of governors and leaders the colony had. Even though Winthrop did not succeed making the Massachusetts Bay Colony a democratic colony he was still a great leader because of his leadership skills, he was one of the most educated men in “the new world”, and his determination for success, which helped push the colony in a positive way.
The seventeenth century was marked with a wide revolution for exploration, to a new world filled with land and opportunity. In William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, we are given a window into the exclusive lives of the pilgrims and their experiences along their journey to and through Massachusetts. We are able to read the account that “epitomizes the spirit of determination and self-sacrifice that seems to us characteristic of our first ‘Pilgrims.’” Bradford’s narrative plainly, yet elegantly describes the success, failures, triumph and unity in the early beginnings of the new founded puritan community.
As a dedicated Puritan, John Winthrop believed in the necessity of following God’s rules. “God Almighty... ”, Winthrop highly uses the name of God in his “A Model of Christian Charity” from 1630. While preparing to a new life in the newfangled colony, the soon to be the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was determined to build a better life to his supporter based in God’s fundaments of living. Winthrop believe in use the power of God to create a strong and compliant colony. His vision of a unified colony was excessive reinforce in his speeches. A colony where the people work together and help each other, always following the God’s principles.
A Description of New England: or The Observations, and Discoveries, of Captain John Smith (Admiral of that Country), in the North of America, in the year of our Lord, 1614; London, 1616. Reprinted in: Dow, George Francis (1921). Two Centuries of Travel in Essex County Massachusetts: A Collection of Narratives and Observations Made by Travelers 1605-1799. The Perkins Press, Topsfield.