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Anne Hutchinson Facts & Worksheets

Anne Hutchinson was the controversial Puritan spiritual leader who defended her stand against common political and religious views.

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Anne Hutchinson was a well-known Puritan spiritual advisor who was instrumental in the Antinomian Controversy. The majority of her religious convictions were directed against Boston’s established Puritan clergy. She rose to prominence, which aided in forming a theological schism that threatened New England’s Puritan religious community.

See the fact file below for more information about Anne Hutchinson, or download the comprehensive worksheet pack, which contains over 11 worksheets and can be used in the classroom or homeschooling environment.

Key Facts & Information

Anne Hutchinson

  • Because she left no writings before her death, almost everything scholars know about her is based on accusations made by others.
  • She supported her minister brother-in-law John Wheelwright despite her belief that most established clergy were not operating under a covenant of grace but somewhat under a contract of works.
  • She was exiled primarily for defaming ministers, but she was first charged with two other offenses: improperly holding meetings in her room and dishonoring the Commonwealth’s fathers.

Early Life

  • On July 20, 1591, she was born Anne Marbury in Alford, Lincolnshire, England. Her father, Francis Marbury, was an Anglican cleric, while her mother was Bridget Dryden.
  • Francis frequently clashed with his superiors because he believed that clergy must be well-educated. This resulted in his censure and imprisonment several years before she was born.
  • He was put on trial in public in 1578. During his house arrest, he penned a transcript of what he remembered from the trial, which he later used to educate his children, portraying himself as a hero and the Bishop of London as a buffoon.
  • She stayed in Alford for the first fifteen years of her life, where she received a more decent education than most girls during that time.
  • Her father was firmly committed to learning, which significantly added to her knowledge. She also became very familiar with scripture and Christian tenets.
  • Their family relocated to London in 1605, where her father was the vicar of St. Martin Vintry.
  • Her father died unexpectedly in February 1611, at the height of his career.
  • She married William Hutchinson, whom she knew because Hutchinson was also from Alford, on August 9, 1612, and moved to London to work as a fabric merchant.
  • They returned to Alford shortly after their wedding at St. Mary Woolnoth Church.

Boston

  • They traveled to Boston after hearing about a preacher named John Cotton at St. Botolph’s Church. The couple endured long horseback rides to Boston to hear Cotton preach as often as possible.
  • Cotton was preaching with less emphasis on people’s behavior in attaining salvation, claiming that the crucial moment was the moment of conversion.
  • She was initially captivated by Cotton’s theology of absolute grace, which caused her to question the worth of works.
  • John Wheelwright, who preached the same message as Cotton, also greatly influenced her. Both promoted a sense of religious rebirth among their parishioners.
  • They bought a half-acre lot on Boston’s Shawmut Peninsula, intending to settle there.
  • William’s success in the cloth trade led to more land purchases and investments. He prospered and rose through the ranks to become a town selectman and deputy to the General Court.
  • They became members of the First Church in Boston, the colony’s most important church.
  • She visited women in labor, leading her to perform conventicles.

Conventicles

  • Cotton and other women who ran conventicles inspired her to start holding meetings in her home. She went over sermons with her audience and explained them to them.
  • As the meetings progressed, she began to express her own religious beliefs, emphasizing “intuition of the Spirit” as the only path to be chosen by God rather than good works.
  • Her interpretations of theology soon included the views of the colony’s ministers, and it drew a larger audience, which later included Governor Henry Vane, a religious politician who advocated religious tolerance.
  • She preached her belief that a person’s behavior was unrelated to the state of the soul, which drew more listeners, mostly merchants and craftsmen, who were more attached to their professions than to their religious state.
  • Because of the popularity of her meetings, the ministers became aware of them and challenged them as unauthorized.
  • But she simply responded with a Titus verse that said, “the elder women should instruct the younger.”

Antinomian Controversy

Background

  • Reverend Zechariah Symmes questioned her orthodoxy in September 1634 because of the questions she asked him after his shipboard sermons.
  • Her membership in the Boston Church was delayed as a result, but she was eventually admitted after a pastoral examination demonstrated that she was sufficiently orthodox to join the church.
  • In 1635, she was exposed for the first time to senior pastor John Wilson’s teachings, and she noticed a significant difference between their doctrines, particularly her emphasis on morality versus the pastor’s doctrines of “evidencing justification by sanctification.”
  • Wilson’s sermons were disrupted after she told her followers that he lacked “the seal of the Spirit.”
  • Thomas Shepard criticized the Bostonians as early as 1636 when he expressed concern about Cotton’s preaching and some of his parishioners’ unconventional beliefs.
  • In May 1636, Reverend John Wheelwright became an ally to the Bostonians when he aligned himself with her and Cotton.
  • Henry Vane, a supporter of hers, was also elected governor of the colony, which boosted the free grace advocates.
  • When John Winthrop issued the first public warning on October 21, 1636, she was harshly criticized. He chastised her for bringing two potentially dangerous errors:
    • A justified person possesses the person of the Holy Spirit.
    • No sanctification can result in justification.

Confrontation

  • Seven ministers confronted cotton at his home on October 25, 1636. They agreed in the name of sanctification.
  • By late 1636, the debate had heated up, and she and her supporters were accused of antinomianism and familism in the Puritan church. Antinomianism occurs when the moral law is not binding on those who are subject to the law of grace, whereas familism refers to union with God while being free of both sin and responsibility for it.
  • Wheelwright preached a sermon that the Puritan clergy saw as “censurable and incited mischief” on January 19, 1637, but the advocates became more vocal in their opposition to the “legal” ministers.
  • Because the ministers were concerned about her brave stand and those who supported her, they threatened the “Puritan’s holy experiment.”
  • By March, opposition to free grace advocates had grown.
  • In May 1637, John Winthrop replaced Henry Vane as governor, and the magistrates who supported Hutchinson and Wheelwright were voted out.
  • Wheelwright was sentenced to banishment on November 2, 1637, and was ordered to leave the colony within fourteen days. Several of their supporters were tried and convicted as well.

Civil Trial

  • She was brought to trial on November 7, 1637, before Governor John Winthrop.
  • She was accused of “traducing ministers” and “troubling the peace in the commonwealth and churches.”
  • The court had difficulty charging her because she had never publicly expressed her opinions, but in the first two lines of prosecution, Winthrop portrayed her as Wheelwright’s co-conspirator.
  • Winthrop was unable to convict her of any crime.
  • The prosecution was assisted by Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley, who questioned her about her conventicles. When she did not respond, he charged her with ministerial slander.
  • She addressed the court saying, “You have no power over my body, neither can you do me any harm—for I am in the hands of the eternal Jehovah, my Saviour, I am at his appointment, the bounds of my habitation are cast in heaven, no further do I esteem of any mortal man than creatures in his hand, I fear none but the great Jehovah, which hath foretold me of these things, and I do verily believe that he will deliver me out of your hands. Therefore take heed how you proceed against me—for I know that, for this you go about to do to me, God will ruin you and your posterity and this whole state.”

Verdict and Detention

  • Because her statement was deemed seditious and in contempt of court, it made the prosecution easier for her opponents.
  • Each of the three ministers testified against her.
  • She was labeled a heretic and a devil’s tool. The Court also sentenced her to exile, deeming her unfit for society.
  • She was placed under house arrest and told she couldn’t leave the colony until March. She was not permitted to return home and was held at the home of Reverend Thomas Weld’s brother in Roxbury.

Church Trial

  • She was put on trial again on March 15, 1638, at her home church in Boston, despite being in poor health due to months of detention.
  • By examining her theological errors, the ministers attempted to defend their orthodox doctrine.
  • She was tested by ruling elder Thomas Leverett, who read out the numerous errors she had been charged with.
  • She was discovered to have unsound beliefs that impeded the community’s spiritual well-being.

Personal Life

  • She had 15 children from his marriage with William, all of whom were born and baptized in Alford except for the youngest in Boston. Most were recorded to sail to New England.
  • Edward, the eldest, was baptized on May 28, 1613. He signed the Portsmouth Compact and settled on Aquidneck Island but soon returned to Boston. He died during King Philip’s War, where he served as an officer in the colonial militia.
  • Susanna, baptized on September 14, 1614, died during the 1630 plague in Alford.
  • Richard, baptized on December 8, 1615, was admitted to the Boston church in 1634, but he returned to England.
  • Faith, baptized on August 14, 1617, married Thomas Savage and lived in Boston until she died in 1651.
  • Bridget, baptized on January 15, 1618, married John Sanford and lived in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
  • Francis, baptized on December 24, 1620, was the oldest among those to perish in the massacre in New Netherlands.
  • Elizabeth was baptized on February 17, 1621, and died during the 1630 plague in Alford.
  • William, baptized on June 22, 1623, died during infancy.
  • Samuel was baptized on December 17, 1624, and lived in Boston, where he had no records other than marriage from which he had one child.
  • Anne, baptized on May 5, 1626, married William Collins and went to New Netherlands.
  • The other children were Mary, Katherine, William, Zuriel, and Susanna. Her fifteenth pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage due to her stress during the trial.
  • In June 1641, her husband died and was buried in Portsmouth.

Death and Legacy

  • She lived in Rhode Island in her later years. Her arrival, however, coincided with the colonists’ attacks on the region’s natives. Warriors dragged people into the house with the cattle and burned it down.
  • Her daughter was picking berries during the attack and was later discovered in the crevice of the nearby Split Rock.
  • She was a victim of the attacks that killed her. This event was mentioned in one of John Winthrop’s September journal entries but was not dated. Because it was most likely weeks before Winthrop received the news, Hutchinson’s death was estimated to have occurred in August 1643.
  • She influenced people to believe that personal revelation from God was as authoritative in a person’s life as the Bible, even though this teaching was contrary to Puritan theology.
  • Her life inspired many literary works, including William Gibson’s 1980 play Goodly Creatures. It depicts her life and political conflict with Governor Winthrop.
  • The Hutchinson River was named after her as well as the highway, the Hutchinson River Parkway.
  • Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis pardoned her in 1987, revoking the banishment order issued 350 years before.

Anne Hutchinson Worksheets

This bundle contains 11 ready-to-use Anne Hutchinson Worksheets that are perfect for students who want to learn more about Anne Hutchinson, who was the controversial Puritan spiritual leader who defended her stand against common political and religious views. She may have encountered numerous issues relating to her gender during her time, but her courage will not be forgotten throughout history.

Complete List of Worksheets Included

  • Anne Hutchinson Facts
  • HerStory
  • Religious Faiths
  • Antinomian Controversy
  • Biblical Facts
  • World Religions
  • All About the Church of England
  • The Hutchinson Trial
  • Boston Headlines!
  • Women and Religion
  • Let’s Sum Up!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Anne Hutchinson most famous for?

Anne Hutchinson was a well-known Puritan spiritual advisor who was instrumental in the Antinomian Controversy. The majority of her religious convictions were directed against Boston’s established Puritan clergy.

Who was Anne Hutchinson and what happened to her?

She rose to prominence, which aided in forming a theological schism that threatened New England’s Puritan religious community. She was exiled primarily for defaming ministers, but she was first charged with two other offenses: improperly holding meetings in her room and dishonoring the Commonwealth’s fathers.

What was Anne Hutchinson accused of?

She was accused of “traducing ministers” and “troubling the peace in the commonwealth and churches.”

Why was Anne Hutchinson banished?

She was labeled a heretic and a devil’s tool. The Court also sentenced her to exile, deeming her unfit for society.

How did Anne Hutchinson impact the future?

She influenced people to believe that personal revelation from God was as authoritative in a person’s life as the Bible, even though this teaching was contrary to Puritan theology.

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