Anne Hutchinson

Anne Hutchinson turned from a strong and very smart woman, who could not live without her minister, into a leader of the power that opposed the church. When she commenced holding her meetings in Boston, back in the seventeenth century, she was not only going against the Puritans, she stood out as a government opponent, as church was in charge of the community at that time. Nowadays the influence of church on the community is less significant and the government is separated from the church. The reason for Hutchinson’s trial was only explained in the course of trial, and the accusation believed she would agree to the charges at once. Hutchinson was charged with teaching the Bible in the wrong way; however, during the trial real reasons showed up. Firstly, she collected too many people around her, gained their trust, and, the main factor that made the church oppose her; she used her own opinion while explaining the essentials, and compromised the ministers, criticizing their methods. During the trial Governor Winthrop could not outwit Anne, and burst out a phrase, clearly indicating his attitude to the women, stating Hutchinson was not good enough to argue over such serious issues with him. Nowadays the women’s rights cannot be neglected as that, since the society offers guarantees equality of rights and freedom to both sexes.

Hutchinson was not doing anything rebellious or revolutionary regarding the church, but tried to preserve its principles, appealing to preaching governance of grace, not work. Her beliefs happened to mismatch those of the ministers who customized their sermons to fit the new demands of society. In other words, Hutchinson tried to preserve the original approach to religion, while ministers were more concerned over the economic and political part of it. They were interrelated with the authorities, e.g. governor, and both sides were protecting each other’s interests. The modern state of such relations is quite different, as conglomerates of religious and government institutions are illegal, and decision, taken by such authorities, would be considered biased.

Reverend Cotton, who was the main reason of Hutchinson’s migration to America, made a smart, although unjust decision – he took the part of the winning party, to save himself from the possible unwanted consequences. Today such behavior is spread among the politics, economists etc who join the majority to avoid the possible deprivation of rights or loss of authority.