On a Hill in a City

"On a Hill in a City" In the 1630s, a far greater number of English Puritans departed from England and founded the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, New Haven, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. These migrants, with their university-trained pastors, were families with small children, unlike the outflow of young men to the Chesapeake colonies. The first governor of Massachusetts Bay, John Winthrop (Figure 3.12), said that their goal was to establish a new English Israel, or a "city upon a hill," as an example of reformed Protestantism. The Massachusetts Bay Colony's charter stated that one of its goals is for its citizens to "be soe religiously, peaceablie, and civilly governed, as their good Life and orderlie Conversacon, maie wynn and incite the Natives of Country, to the Knowledg and Obedience of the onlie true God and Saulor of Mankinde, and the Christian Fayth." The idea of a "city upon a hill" made clear the religious orientation of the New England settlement. The Massachusetts Bay Company's seal (Figure 3.12) depicts a Native American pleading with more English people to “come over and help us” to serve as an example of this. There were several distinctions between Puritan New England and the rest of Europe as well as England. Protestants prioritized literacy in order to make the Bible accessible to everybody. Contrasting sharply with this viewpoint was the Catholic position, which forbade the private possession of vernacular Bibles. The first printing press was established in English America in 1636 as a result of the Puritans' strong focus on literacy and the study of scripture. The first book published in North America was the Bay Psalm Book, which was released in 1640, four years later. Puritans followed the Calvinist idea of predestination, according to which all others would be doomed and a select few "elect" would be rescued. Though no one could be certain whether they were predestined for salvation, Puritans sought to get a glimpse of redeeming grace via reflection led by scripture. Church membership was limited to Puritans who were prepared to share their story of conversion, detailing how they heard sermons and studied the Bible in order to comprehend their spiritual condition. Despite the common misconception that Puritans left England to pursue religious liberty, they turned out to be as intolerable as the English official church. Dissidents were expelled in the 1630s when they defied Governor Winthrop in Massachusetts Bay, among them the Puritan priest Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. Roger Williams objected to the Puritans stealing Native American territory. Williams also promoted the concept that the state could not penalize people for their beliefs and for total independence from the Church of England, a stance that other Massachusetts Puritans disagreed with. Williams agreed that unbelievers would suffer everlasting damnation, but he did not feel the government had the right to enforce genuine orthodoxy. Despite being found guilty of disseminating harmful ideas by Puritan authorities, he went on to build Rhode Island, a colony that protected dissident Puritans from their Massachusetts colleagues. Williams spoke positively of the aboriginal peoples of Rhode Island, drawing a contrast between their virtues and the bigotry of Puritan New England. Additionally, Anne Hutchinson encountered opposition from Puritan authorities when she questioned the changing religious customs in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She specifically believed that New England Puritan clergy preached a watered-down form of Protestantism that placed a strong emphasis on hierarchy and deeds—a "covenant of works" as opposed to a "covenant of grace." Hutchinson and other literate Puritan women posed a threat to the authority of the male preachers. Her assertion of direct religious revelation—a kind of spiritual experience that disregarded the function of ministers—was, in fact, her main transgression. Puritan authorities tried and found Hutchinson guilty of false beliefs due to her convictions and her disobedience to colonial authority, particularly Governor Winthrop's. She was excommunicated and sent out of the colony in 1638. She first traveled to Rhode Island and then, in 1642, fled to New Netherland to seek shelter among the Dutch. Hutchinson and her family were slain by Algonquian warriors the next year. Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts said that her demise represented God's just punishment of a heretic. The Puritans had supernatural beliefs, much as a large number of other Europeans. People thought that witches collaborated with the Devil to carry out wicked actions and purposeful damage, such as the illness or death of children, the loss of animals, and other calamities. Every incident seemed to be a sign of God's compassion or judgment. In Puritan New England, hundreds of people—including residents whose looks or habits upset their neighbors or who seemed dangerous for whatever reason— were accused of witchcraft. Women comprised the great majority of suspects and executed individuals because they were seen as more vulnerable to the Devil due to their purportedly weaker constitutions. The most well-known incidents took place in Salem Village in 1692. The Native American battles on the frontier and the remarkable political and cultural shifts that occurred in New England devastated many of the accusers who brought charges against the alleged witches. Puritan authorities murdered nineteen individuals and killed numerous more, using their belief in witchcraft as a means of making sense of their rapidly changing environment.