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I r YS ia MRS AIRS ANNE HUTCHiNSON I By y Dorthy Bowman BH Before BHe e speaking of the life of Mrs Hutchinson and considering the reason redson why her name name has been handed down to tous tous tous us as a woman of untiring nature and of great ability through a lapse of about two hundred and fifty years it will be bewell bewell bewell well to spend a few moments in studying the people among whom she labored and their ideas of religion In IIi 1631 at a session of the general court of Massachusetts a law was passed restricting the right of suffrage It was enacted that none but members of of the Puritan Church should vote at the colonial elections Nearly three-fourths three of the the people were thus excluded from exercising ng their right of freemen Taxes were levied for the support of the church oaths of obedience to the magistrates were required and attendance on ot r public worship was enforced by law Roger Williams the minister of Salem was very much opposed to this restriction on the right of suffrage He maintained that every citizen had the i right ight to vote and hold office no matter what his religious ous beliefs For these noble teachings he was banished from the colony Soon after his banishment Mrs 1 Hutchinson Hutchinson Hutch Hutch- inson arrived at Boston Sept 16 1634 with a company of emigrants under the leadership of Hugh Peters and Sir Henry Vane The latter was soon afterwards elected governor of of the colony While in England Mrs Hutchinson was much interested in the teachings of the Rev J John ohn Wheelwright and it was a desire to belong to his ministry that induced herto herto her herto to follow him to Boston vV When hen she reached Massachusetts the people were divided into two parties the followers of Roger Williams forming I one Party patty while the opposite part party believed with the 0 clergy that only church members should be allowed to hold office and vote Notwithstanding their great influence the clergy felt insecure and they became very stern and exacting Every sermon had had- to be carefully reviewed and criticised ed and weekly debates were held for determining the proper mode of worship and the correct belief for the people Mrs Mis Hutchinson desired the of speaking at these debates but was refused refused refus refus- ed on the ground that women had no business with such matters Being refused refused refus refus- ed a voice in the debates she called meetings of her friends spoke much in public pleading with great fervor for the full freedom of conscience She claimed that the person of the Holy Spirit dwells in the heart of evey believer and that the inward revelations of the spirit the conscious judgment of the mind are of paramount authority She frequently examined and criticised the sermons of the ministers and she was said to be weakening the hands and the hearts of the people toward the ministry Many of the magistrates were converted convert convert- ed to her opinions and the governor Sir Henry Vane was a firm believer in her doctrine She was a woman of such profitable and sober carriage says Bancroft that her enemies could never speak of her without acknowledging her eloquence and ability While the governor of Massachusetts sided with Mrs 1 Hutchinson no measure could be taken against ag her but as soon as Sir Henrys Henry's term of office expired a call was made for a meeting of the synod of New England At this meeting held at Newtown Aug 30 1637 eighty eighty- two eighty two religious tenets were condemned as erroneous erroneous ous Mrs Hutchinson's teachings all being being being be be- ing included She and her friends were declared unfit for the society of Christians i In November she was t taken ken before the court and after a two days clays trial was sentenced to banishment from Massachusetts Massachusetts Massachusetts Mass Mass- but was accorded the privilege of remaining the winter in Roxbury Early in 1638 she and a number of her friends wended their way toward the home of Roger Williams They purchased pur pur- chased the island of Rhode Island from the chief of the N and planted plant plant- ed the colonies of Portsmouth and New New- port In the same year the Rev John Wheelwright also an exile from Massachusetts Massachusetts Mass Mass- because of his openly expressed sympathy with Mrs 1 Hutchinson founded Exeter New Hampshire The true tendency of her principles is best understood by studying the institution institution institution tion founded by her followers The Thep p people of Portsmouth and Newport formed forme a constitution of which the following following following fol fol- lowing was copied from the records now at Providence It was therefore ordered by the whole body of freemen and an unanimously agreed upon that the government which this body politic doth attend unto in this island and the jurisdiction thereof in favor of our Prince is a Democratic or popular government that is to say it is in the power of the body of freemen orderly assembled or major part of them to make or constitution just laws by which they will by regulated and to depute from among themselves such minister as shall see them faithfully executed executed executed ex ex- between man and man It was further ordered that none be accounted a delinquent for doctrine and the law for liberty of conscience was perpetuated Bancroft say says of Exeter One more little republic in the wilderness organized on the principles of natural justice by bythe bythe bythe the voluntary combination of the inhabit- inhabit tans The colony rested on the principles Pl e of intellectual liberty philosophy itself could not have placed the right on a broader basis In 1642 Mrs Hutchinson moved to the New Netherlands where she lived with her son-in-law son in the valley of the Housatonic The next year 1643 in time of a war between the Dutch and the Indians her house was surrounded andset andset and andset set on fire by the savages every every member member of the family except one child was cruelly murdered Mrs Hutchinson herself was burned alive Honor to those whose words or deeds Thus help us in our daily needs And by their overflow Raise us from what is low |
