Anne Hutchinson and Puritan Leadership
Anne Hutchinson and Puritan Leadership Anne Hutchinson was a strong willed and intelligent woman that lived in 1637 in the Massachusetts Bay colony. She opposed both John Winthrop, governor of the colony, as well as the Puritan church leaders who had a different set of beliefs from her, and made up the court of elected officials that assisted the governor. She was banished from the colony in 1638 on charges of blasphemy, because she claimed to have direct and divine inspiration from the Holy Spirit, in a Puritan community it was thought that only preachers and other church leaders could see God, this idea was known as the covenant of works. Anne Hutchinson was a believer in the covenant of grace where God could show himself to anyone at anytime. Anne Hutchinson had a bold personality, many problems with Puritan leadership and their beliefs, and was banished from the colony on charges of blasphemy in a controversial trial. Anne Hutchinson was a very confident and bold woman, and unlike many other women in colonial lifestyle she spoke her mind. Her intellect was very strong, and she outwitted Governor Winthrop and the jury of her trial for many days. She believed very heavily that men and women were equal in the eyes of God, and thought that the covenant of works being preached by the Puritan preachers was incorrect. Anne Hutchinson was an excellent speaker, which was demonstrated in her court trial where she bashed most of the charges against her with her high intellect. Hutchinson also led discussions on the sermons from the Puritan preachers with other women after church using her interpretation of what God was really trying to say. Anne Hutchinson was a strong believer in predestination an, idea developed by John Calvin. Predestination is the belief that God has already chosen those few people for salvation. In her interpretation Anne Hutchinson thought that actions did not matter towards salvation because God had already made his choice, this theory is