In recent weeks, social media networks have been flooding with campaigns to construct monuments of several historical figures from colonial America on the Washington Mall. Congressmen from New England and the Mid-Atlantic have produced a series of controversial bills to establish these monuments, and the most exciting perhaps, is one of Anne Hutchinson, the woman who shapes the beginnings of American religion.
Anne Hutchinson was remarkable in many ways. Not only did she initiate religious conscience in America, but by doing so, she challenged the governing power’s ideals in a way that is considered a part of American Identity today. Furthermore, she held her own intellectually at a time when women were expected to care only for the household and stay out of political and religious matters. …show more content…
In 1692 the Salem Witch trials occurred, and thousands of women were killed for being accused of witchcraft, as described by Massachusetts Officials, “Goodwife Cory, Goodwife Nurse, Members of the Churches at the Village and at Salem, many others being by that time Accused” (MP, 76). As mentioned in the essay “The Godly Family of Colonial Massachusetts”, “…Puritan theory was given pointed expression by the poet Milton: ‘God’s universal law gave to man despotic power/Over his female in due awe,’” (Mintz and Kellogg, 64). Puritan women were meant to help their husbands, not have ideas of their own.
Anne Hutchinson was determined guilty and banished from the colony “as a woman unfit for society.” However, her ideas live on and become a part of American Identity. The documentary God in America, states “Anne Hutchinson is the future in the sense of religious conscience, in the sense that conscience speaks out against the state” (Belton). The way she established religious freedom by showing it came from within paves the way for America’s melting pot of different beliefs and
Anne Hutchinson was remarkable in many ways. Not only did she initiate religious conscience in America, but by doing so, she challenged the governing power’s ideals in a way that is considered a part of American Identity today. Furthermore, she held her own intellectually at a time when women were expected to care only for the household and stay out of political and religious matters. …show more content…
In 1692 the Salem Witch trials occurred, and thousands of women were killed for being accused of witchcraft, as described by Massachusetts Officials, “Goodwife Cory, Goodwife Nurse, Members of the Churches at the Village and at Salem, many others being by that time Accused” (MP, 76). As mentioned in the essay “The Godly Family of Colonial Massachusetts”, “…Puritan theory was given pointed expression by the poet Milton: ‘God’s universal law gave to man despotic power/Over his female in due awe,’” (Mintz and Kellogg, 64). Puritan women were meant to help their husbands, not have ideas of their own.
Anne Hutchinson was determined guilty and banished from the colony “as a woman unfit for society.” However, her ideas live on and become a part of American Identity. The documentary God in America, states “Anne Hutchinson is the future in the sense of religious conscience, in the sense that conscience speaks out against the state” (Belton). The way she established religious freedom by showing it came from within paves the way for America’s melting pot of different beliefs and