Religion became a sensitive subject during Colonial America after such oppression in England. The settlers that journeyed to the new territory claimed by England wanted to separate from the official church of England and become their own church. Extreme beliefs were exchanged among all separatists and puritans, but once each foot was set on American soil, the water started to boil. The differences between Anne Hutchinson’s belief of free grace and her community’s belief that santificationism could not be tolerated for much longer before Hutchinson would be banned from Massachusetts Bay and Boston would prevail. Although neither belief holds popular vote in Christian society today, the controversy was a decisive factor in colonial America as …show more content…
Their belief is best shown with the statement, “True sanctification lay along a fine line between complacency and works righteousness. But those whose deeds and attitudes flowed from sincere and increasing faith could base their sense of assurance on the evidence of a godly life, even if they never received a direct inner witness of the Spirit” (29). The fine line is what eventually seemed to be crossed with the trial of Anne Hutchinson. This seemed to uphold a salvation by works belief which the Catholic Church had always taught. This posed a big problem for the Hutchinson family. The people that had arrived in the New England continent had fled from oppressive government and religious laws, only to reenact what they had fled …show more content…
John Winthrop and the other court members had always been taught, that the government would always intervene in matters of religion because religion was such a huge part of society.. However, Winthrop did not have to carry out such suppression on such new soil. The thought was accurate. The government intervened because it feared for the souls of the people. Winthrop was afraid that Anne Hutchinson was turning people away from the truth that would save them. Unfortunately, the government was doing the very same thing that it feared; turning people away. Anne admitted that she had gained certain beliefs in prison, which basically meant she was blaming the court for her beliefs at that point. Even in her ‘confession’ that was coerced by John Cotton, she renounced everything, only to blame the court (133). This did not seem to unravel the decision of excommunication but only to increase the indignation that Winthrop had toward
This theory contends that the reason Anne Hutchinson was such a threat was that she was uniting an increasing number of women to learn more about themselves and make religion meaningful in their lives. A God of love and mercy was much more appealing to them than one who condemns all sinners but the chosen few. She understood
During the colonial era, many mainly great colonies established based on the idea of social and religious freedom. “Throughout the Colonial period, economic concerns had more to do with the settling of British North American than did religious concerns.” This statement has some traces of invalidity but overall, it is very valid at many different points. Even though most of the colonies were established on the premises of religious freedom, however as time progressed, money became an issue and thoughts of money making aroused among colonial settlers. The economic concerns of the colonies out numbered the prominent religious concerns that arose that time, and subjugated colonial life up until the end of the British colonial period in colonial America.
When the Mayflower sailed over to the New World, on the boats were Puritans that were looking for a change in the way that their religion was practiced where the Chesapeake settlers came over for gold. Alongside the Puritans were the Separatists who wanted everything their way and wanted to perfect the ways of the Puritans. When they landed in New England, they immediately settled down because they didn’t have an economic reason for coming. Both sets of religions ventured overseas so that they could create a new religion that would work for them in their favor and not be prosecuted for practici...
Literary historicism, in the context of this discussion, describes the interpretation of literary or historical texts with respect to the cultural and temporal conditions in which they were produced. This means that the text not only catalogues how individuals respond to their particular circumstances, but also chronicles the movements and inclinations of an age as expressed in the rhetorical devices of its literature. Evaluating the trial of Anne Hutchinson within such a theoretical framework means speculating on the genesis of her theological beliefs with recourse to prevailing theories of gender, class, and interpretation. Because texts are self-contained spheres of discourse, nuanced interpretations of them can be undertaken with greater assiduity than in the case of individuals whose private experiences remain largely concealed from the interpreter's knowledge. A historical analysis of Anne Hutchinson herself is hence, in the present discussion, secondary to the analysis of how she comes across in textual discourse as a palimpsest of seventeenth century gender controversy.
The Puritans who were seeking religious freedom were the first to affect New England religiously. Therefore, religion was heavily influential in the New England colonies. This area was strictly Calvinist, and there was little to no tolerance for any other religion. This homogeneity allowed for a rigorous sense of local order. The church was an equally-important partner with town governance in preserving social order (Church and State were not separate!) In every colony except for Rhode Island, law required everyone to attend worship services on the Sabbath and every taxpayer to contribute to the support of the
The colonists had different reasons for settling in these two distinct regions. The New England region was a more religiously strict yet diverse area compared to that of the Chesapeake Bay. The development of religion in the two regions came from separate roots. After Henry VIII and the Roman Catholic Church broke away from each other, a new group of English reformers was created called the Puritans. The Puritans came from protestant backgrounds, after being influenced by Calvinistic ideas. When their reforms were thwarted by King James I of England, they fled to the New World in what is now known as the "Great Migration". The Puritans were then joined by Quakers, Protestants, and Catholics in the religiously diverse New England area. These diverse religious factions were allowed to live freely but under the laws of New England. It was due to this religious freedom that these people came to escape religious persecution back home. The New Englanders had a religion-based society and religion was based on family. As the Bible highly regarded family, it condemned adultery. Adultery was considered a punishable crime. Adulterers were marked as impure by a letter "A" stitched on their clothing, as in the book "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. As religion was a very high priority in New England, it was very much less severe in the Chesapeake Bay region. The one established church in the region, the Anglican Church of Jesus Christ, was only then established in 1692, more than 70 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
By 1763, although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual revolution for religious toleration and separation of church and state. Between the two established churches, in the colonies, Anglican and Congregational, a considerable number of people didn't worship in any church. But in the colonies with a maintained religion, only a few belonged to it. As in England, Catholics were still discriminated against, but since their numbers were fewer the laws were less severe. Similarly, The Church of England was established in America, as it was in England already. However, in America the Congregationalists and Anglicans were the more dominate religions compared to the Catholics in Europe and England.
How was Anne Hutchinson's trial an ordeal for her and how was it an ordeal for
Religion and government in England had always gone hand in hand, and if one group’s ideas did not coincide with England’s laws controlling the practice of religion, they would be denied. The unification of church and state within European countries led to many wars, resulting in massive debt. As England declared themselves a Catholic country, Protestants who did not hold the same beliefs needed a new homeland where they could be free to worship in their own way. This new homeland was America, and it allowed Protestants, now calling themselves Puritans, to practice Christianity without government interference. While original settlers came to America to create a Christian homeland where they could practice their faith how they wanted, America quickly became a homeland for religious freedom through a mixing pot of differing religions, cultures, and ethnicities, enough open land for them to exist together, and the key idea of the separation of Church and State.
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.
The first day was as a disaster for the court because the court condemned Hutchinson that her actions and opinions were wrong. Hutchinson was so sure that she did not do anything wrong and did not any laws of society. But the court wanted to take her social power back and compelled her and anybody obeyed whatever the court wanted.
By 1763 although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual revolution for religious toleration and separation of church and state. During the mid-1600's England was a Christian dominated nation; the colonies, however, were mainly Puritans. When Sir Edmond Andros took over a Puritan church in Boston for Anglican worship, the Puritans believed this was done to break their power and authority. The Puritan church in New England was almost entirely separated from the state, except that they taxed the residents for the church's support. The churches in New England had no temporal power, unlike the church of England. Many seaport towns like Marble head and Gloucester, became more religious as time pasted. This show of religious freedom was a way in which the colonies had religious toleration and differed from the Christian church in England.
Many of England’s problems could be solved in America, and so colonization began. When the earliest settlers came, England had the responsibility to continue the Protestant Church, and prevent the Catholic Church from converting the entire Native American population of North America (Morison, p.105) A potential Protestant refuge could be based there in the threat of civil wars or a change of religion.
In Puritan led Massachusetts Bay Colony during the days of Anne Hutchinson was an intriguing place to have lived. It was designed ideally as a holy mission in the New World called the “city upon a hill,” a mission to provide a prime example of how protestant lives should have subsisted of. A key ingredient to the success of the Puritan community was the cohesion of the community as a whole, which was created by a high level of conformity in the colony. Puritan leaders provided leadership for all facets of life; socially, economically, religiously, and even politically. A certain hierarchy was very apparent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in which ministers always seemed to have gotten their way. Governor Winthrop got his way in 1637 by banishing a woman, Anne Hutchinson, whom he thought posed a threat to the structure of the colony. I believe that there is a legit rationale for her banishment, this being her religious ideas that were very close to that of the Antinomians who Governor Winthrop was not too fond of. I also think that this was not the primal reason. In my mind, Anne’s gender played a large role in determining whether or not she actually posed a serious threat to the solidarity of Massachusetts.
Though there were religious concerns that contributed to the settling of British North America, the economic concerns outweighed the notable religious concerns. A religious concern that played a role in British colonization was that the British wanted to have the Indians of North America converted to Protestant Christianity (Boorstin et al. 34). In addition, specific groups that were seeking religious freedom used the British colonizing as a venue to achieve this objective. Such groups included the Puritan separatists who had begun to lose their freedoms in England, and thus they became colonists in New England.