History Focus
August 30

On August 30, 1637, Anne Hutchinson ( American religious leader and poet ) is tried in Massachusetts, and banished.

Although banished from the colony for her actions, Anne Hutchinson joined others, such as Roger Williams, whose actions increased religious freedom in the American colonies.

Anne Hutchinson is credited with being the first American woman to lead the public fight for religious diversity and female quality. Eleanor Roosevelt began her list of America's greatest women with Anne Hutchinson.

Anne used her influence to test the Massachusetts Bay Colony's religious tolerance, which, ironically, had been the reason for the settlement to start with.

Anne Hutchinson came to be known as a religious troublemaker. Her father, Francis Marbury, also earned a reputation as a religious rebel. As a young minister he so openly opposed the lack of an educated clergy that in 1578 he was arrested and sent to jail in England. After he was released he supported his growing family by preaching and teaching at St. Wilfred's Church. Anne Hutchinson was born in July 1591. At that time, her father was again in trouble over his quarrels with the Anglican leaders. He was accused of being a Puritan. He won his trial but he was forbidden to preach again for several years. This was a benefit for Anne, for now her father could spend his time tending the fields near their home and teaching his young daughter to read through the Bible.

Anne Marbury married William Hutchinson, a merchant, on August 9, 1612 in London. She and her husband came to America in 1634 with Reverend John Lothrop's group on the ship "Griffin" and settled in Boston.

The religious climate in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was oppresive. It was expected that everyone pray, fast and discipline oneself. Anne saw that the men members of Boston's church met regularly after sermons to discuss the Bible and the sermon. She started to hold similar meetings for women in her own home. The group began by discussing the previous Sunday's sermon. Her group grew quickly and included men as members. Anne began telling them of her own beliefs which differed from those of the Boston ministers.

Soon crowds of men and women were attending the meeting. By 1637 she was holding two meetings in her home where 60 to 80 men and women would attend. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was established in an atmosphere of religious freedom, but it had changed to a rigid Puritan way. The Puritan ministers were becoming the law of the colony. They were both making the rules and trying those who broke the rules. Hutchinson's meetings opposed this practice. She felt that the Purititians were preaching the Covenant of Works. Her meetings emphasized the Covenant of Grace. She taught that individuals would be responsible for their own actions and that they would be admitted to heaven through belief in God.

The colonly was not at all appreciative of her teachings. Hutchinson was brought to trial before a court headed by Winthrop. Winthrop had made himself the attorney general, foreman of the jury, and chief justice in this trial. According to John Winthrop, Anne Hutchinson "infected" other members of her family with her beliefs. At the hearing she was harshly scolded for nearly nine hours. She was of being a husband rather than a wife, a preacher rather than a hearer, and a magistrate rather than a subject. On August 30, 1637 she was banned from the colony.

Banished from Boston, Anne Hutchinson with her husband, 13 children and 60 followers settled in the land of Narragansetts, from whose chief, Miantonomah, they purchased the island of Aquidneck, now part of Rhode Island. In March, 1638 they founded the town of Pocasset, the Indian name for that locality; the name "Portsmouth" was given to the settlement in 1639. Here they established that colony's first civil government.

In 1642, Anne took her children to the Dutch colony in New York. But a few months later, fifteen Dutchmen were killed in a battle between Mohegans and the Narragansetts. In August, 1643 the Mohegans raided the Hutchinson house and slaughtered Anne and thirteen members of her family, except for one young daughter who was taken captive. The child was about eight years old when taken and remained with the tribe for four years. By then she had forgotten her own language and all her friends. She was returned to the Dutch when the parties finally made peace.

Sources: Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia
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