Comparison Of Anne Hutchinson And Roger Williams: The Salem Witch Trials

At the eve of America’s creation, many colonists came to the New World seeking escape from religious persecution in England. But often, these colonists were not seeking freedom for all religions, just for their own, and were often punishing those who did not worship to their specifications. The Puritans of the New England were no exception, with the exile of Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, and the tragedy that was the Salem Witch Trials. The governments of the New England colonies believed that those who strayed from their specific, strict standards were a civic threat and should be punished harshly
Anne Hutchinson was a fiercely religious woman of time, who periodically held meetings in her house with other Christian women to discuss

biblical teachings. After holding these meetings for several months, her expressed opinions during these meetings got out to the public and angered clergymen and priests. This later became known as the Antinomian controversy, and she was put on trial for her different views. In the trial, Mr. Winthrop (the governor of Massachusetts) says, “Mrs. Hutchinson, you are… known to be a woman that hath had a great share in the promoting and divulging of those opinions that are causes of this trouble…  But you have spoken divers things as we have been informed very prejudicial to the honour of the churches and ministers thereof, and you have maintained a meeting and an assembly in your house that hath been condemned by the general assembly as a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of God nor fitting for your sex” (1). Here, Winthrop shows us that Puritans’ standards with Religious ideas and gender roles were very strict and demanding. Scholars have thought about her gender and the growing revolts from other groups, and they have discussed the trial as political victory for the ministers. Hutchinson’s severe penalty has prompted them to argue how much her opinions really challenged the core ideals of Protestantism (2).
Roger Williams was another exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, making him subject to the same injustices as his counterpart, Mrs.

Hutchinson. Williams was initially welcomed upon his arrival in 1631 by Governor Winthrop as “a godly minister” (3), But Williams despised the church’s connections to the Church of England, and he left to join the Plymouth Separatists(Pilgrims). But he later returned to Massachusetts after being disappointed with the Pilgrims, as well. He preached and declared his radical views outside of the church, angering local church officials. He believed that women need to wear veils out in public(especially in church services) to signal that they were descendants of the corrupt Eve. In addition, He questioned the red cross of St. George as a symbol on the English flag, and he believed that the king did not have the right to charter colonies since he does not own the land he is giving away. A Salem magistrate heeded Williams’ words and took the cross out of the flag of the local militia, angering other church officials. They convinced Williams to rebuke this belief, and he would not have been exiled if he had continued to keep his opinions to himself, but Winthrop was replaced by Thomas Dudley, who eventually ordered him out of the colony. He left and founded Providence Rhode Island, where he would “continue to search for further truth, briefly becoming a Baptist before abandoning the hopes for a pure church created by men and formulating a position

calling for broad religious toleration” (5).