MYTH NO. 3: Puritans banished Anne Hutchinson for being a feminist
Fact No. 3: The one Puritan most Americans know by name is Anne Hutchinson. They learned in high school that Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts for daring to lead religious meetings when women were forbidden by the Puritan government from doing so.
This is untrue. The Massachusetts Puritans had no laws against women gathering together to study scripture. In fact, women often came together to discuss the latest sermon they’d heard, share their stories of spiritual seeking, and support each other. Long story short, Hutchinson was banished because she was a crucial source and supporter of a rebellion against the religious and political structures of the colony that nearly led to civil war, and was brought to court for slandering the colony’s ministers, all but two of whom she had claimed were “anti-christs.”
During her civil trial, she claimed that God spoke to her directly and said that if she was harmed in any way by the colony’s government, God would destroy the colony. This was both blasphemy (the Puritans didn’t believe that God spoke directly to any person) and treason (threatening the state), and she was banished for that, as were a handful of her unrepentant male followers.
Hutchinson also believed that anyone Christ had saved literally became Christ, and therefore could not be punished for any crime, including murder.
Fact No. 3: The one Puritan most Americans know by name is Anne Hutchinson. They learned in high school that Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts for daring to lead religious meetings when women were forbidden by the Puritan government from doing so.
This is untrue. The Massachusetts Puritans had no laws against women gathering together to study scripture. In fact, women often came together to discuss the latest sermon they’d heard, share their stories of spiritual seeking, and support each other. Long story short, Hutchinson was banished because she was a crucial source and supporter of a rebellion against the religious and political structures of the colony that nearly led to civil war, and was brought to court for slandering the colony’s ministers, all but two of whom she had claimed were “anti-christs.”
During her civil trial, she claimed that God spoke to her directly and said that if she was harmed in any way by the colony’s government, God would destroy the colony. This was both blasphemy (the Puritans didn’t believe that God spoke directly to any person) and treason (threatening the state), and she was banished for that, as were a handful of her unrepentant male followers.
Hutchinson also believed that anyone Christ had saved literally became Christ, and therefore could not be punished for any crime, including murder.