Transcription
When we ran out of time in our last lecture, we were talking about the Puritans who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. And specifically, we had identified a man by the name of John Winthrop who had agreed to serve as the governor of the newly established colony in Massachusetts. Of course, John Winthrop was a man of deep religious convictions, and and for that reason, not surprisingly then, when he arrived in the New World, the society that he manufactured, the society that um he helped to build, was one that had deep religious convictions. Remember uh John Winthrop believed uh very much that Puritans had a covenant with God, and that that covenant uh basically required um that they um construct a church that was worthy of God, um and then that was worthy of the covenant that they had with God. So not surprisingly then, when he became the governor and settled in in Massachusetts, John Winthrop went about designing a government that was very very different than that which had been established in Plymouth. Remember William Bradford uh in Plymouth had attempted to separate church and state; the civil government established under the Mayflower Compact did not allow for a an official church, um but the the government and the church established by John Winthrop was going to be very different. Okay.
In fact, what John Winthrop is going to establish now is what we would accurately call a theocracy; that is, the laws of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Bay Colony were going to be God's laws. In other words, under this government now, the law of the land would be spelled out um in the Bible. The Bible quite literally became the basis and the foundation for civil law in Massachusetts. Right, that was civil law that would be interpreted by John Winthrop and the council of Puritan elders. Okay. So, in other words, if John Winthrop was going to create a society and more specifically a church that that that would be an example for the world, well he was going to have to have power; he was going to have to have the ability to shape um society uh in the way uh that he believed it was it was necessary. All right, and the way to do that was to organize a society within the parameters of the Bible itself. Okay. And in order to have support for this this government, he was going to have to have popular support, and that included the Puritans themselves. He fully understood that there would be people coming to Massachusetts who would not be Puritans, and in order to make sure that they did not corrupt the Puritan mission, he now and the and the um the company itself was going to quite literally redefine what it meant to be a freeman. Okay. Remember that a freeman originally was a stockholder within the company, but now the definition of freeman is going to be changed; anybody who is a Puritan who lives in Massachusetts is now going to be granted the title of freeman, and because only freemen had voting power, that meant that this colony would be administered by Puritans exclusively for Puritans, and that guaranteed that Winthrop and the council of elders, the Puritan council of elders, would retain power. Okay. And therefore, they would retain the ability to um craft and shape um society and especially the church, God's church. Okay.
And again, in getting away from the centralized administrative structure, the hierarchical clergy that existed in uh England, Winthrop now and the Puritans are going to embrace an organizational strategy called Congregationalism. Okay. That is, you're going to have administration of various um churches, various uh parishes, if you will, on a local level. Okay. Congregations are going to have their own power to administer themselves. All right. That, in the minds of Puritans, um gets away from the corruption of of of a clergy. All right. And if you can get away from the corruption of a clergy, you will create the ideal church that God envisioned. Right. So the key is local control; the key is Congregationalism; that's what Winthrop believed; that's what the Puritans believed. Okay. And in theory, that all sounded good; in theory, that's exactly what they had in mind, but in practice they quickly discovered that there were problems with Congregationalism, and the biggest problem for Winthrop is that various congregations began to teach different perspectives, different interpretations, and these were not interpretations that Winthrop and the council of elders agreed with. In other words, Congregationalism allowed so much religious freedom that Winthrop himself found it difficult to control um the the church itself. All right. And he and over time he began to realize that things were slipping away from him; there were challengers; there was dissension within Massachusetts. Okay.
And one of the most outspoken of the dissenters, one of the gravest critics of John Winthrop, um was a woman by the name of Ann Hutchinson. Okay. Anne Hutchinson um was a woman in a Puritan society that didn't did not allow women to have a role um in um in public. Okay. A woman's role um was reserved for the house; she was to to be a domestic um servant quite literally to men. Okay. Men ran society; men made decisions; men were ministers in in the various congregations; women did not have a role to play in Puritan society. Well, Ann Hutchinson begged to differ; she had different ideas about the place of women in Puritan society, and Anne Hutchinson not only had different ideas, she had the skills; she had the intellect to challenge um John Winthrop very publicly. Okay. And Hutchinson began by effectively ordering or organizing prayer meetings. Okay. These were not officially sanctioned um gatherings uh by the congregation; they were simply groups of people who got together for Bible discussion, but during these um discussions, during these uh meetings, uh it quickly became apparent that Anne Hutchinson had had charisma, had leadership, and and she began to develop followings. Okay. Followings that especially included women, and in so doing she was beginning to um amass some degree of power, even though she was not a minister herself; she had followers, and she had influence within local congregations. Right. One of the things that Anne Hutchinson began to discuss is the possibility that God spoke directly to her. Okay. In fact, she began to argue that that God himself appeared to her; that God himself spoke to her. Okay. Now, the idea that God appearing on the frontier in Massachusetts and speaking to anyone was considered heresy. Okay. God didn't speak to average men; God spoke to Moses; God spoke to Noah; God spoke um to the um to the um to the great um um prophets of of Christianity. Okay. God did not appear um in the middle of nowhere and talk to a woman. Okay. To suggest that was heresy. Okay. And it was leading people away from from um the rightful church; it was leading people down the road to damnation; that's what John Winthrop held. Okay. And so this heresy became known as the Antinomian heresy, and ultimately Anne Hutchinson now was placed on trial as a heretic. Okay. Now, in England, if convicted of heresy, that could bring about execution; heretics were executed; they were burned at the stake very commonly. Okay. So Anne Hutchinson now was being placed in a position, placed on trial, um and her life was quite literally at stake, but she did not back down. Okay. She refused um to um cave in um to Winthrop and and the council and to their will; she went to trial, and by all accounts she uh for uh accorded herself very well, and this is what you see um in this picture; it's an artist rendition of of Anne Hutchinson uh defending him herself to Winthrop and the council of elders. Okay. She knew scripture; she knew scripture inside and out, and she was able to use it very very effectively um to to make her case. Okay. And by all accounts um her supporters were absolutely convinced of her innocence, uh and they were absolutely um swept up in in her leadership. Okay. But Winthrop and the council could not allow her to amass any more power. Okay. Ultimately, she was convicted, and she was found guilty of heresy, but she was not executed; that would have created tremendous upheaval and certainly would have suggested that God's church in the New World was was having difficulty of its own. So, rather than executing um Ann Hutchinson, she was banished from the colony; she actually left Massachusetts, and she along with other dissenters—there was a man by the name of Roger Williams who was also a very prominent critic of Winthrop's church—okay, they went to southward um south of the Plymouth Colony and ultimately established a colony there um that would become known as Rhode Island. Okay. So interestingly enough, the colony of Rhode Island got its origins as a result of dissension that existed within Massachusetts itself. Okay.
Now we will talk more about Massachusetts; in fact, this whole question of Puritan leadership is actually going to come into play in a later lecture when we talk about Salem; we will talk about the Salem Witch Trials a bit later, and this whole question of Puritan leadership will will return, and especially the role of women um within the church itself. Okay. So we'll we'll save that um for a little bit later discussion; for now we want to move forward and wrap up this lecture by talking a little bit about Pennsylvania. Just say a few things about the Middle Colonies, and and two of the major Middle Colonies, New York and Pennsylvania, are what we call Restoration Colonies; they were actually established a little bit later in the 1660s. By by the time these colonies um were founded, uh Massachusetts had become established; Virginia had become established, and so the Restoration Colonies um came just a little bit later. Okay. But in order to understand the founding of Pennsylvania and similarly the founding of New York, um we have to understand what the Restoration is and what it what it meant. Okay. So you may remember that I told you that on that in 1629 Charles the First um dissolved Parliament, and in so doing he touched off what amounted to um 30 years of civil war. Okay. That civil war would ultimately bring a revolution against the king, and that king that revolution produced the arrest of Charles the First, and he was um he was charged with abuses of power, and ultimately um he was beheaded. Okay. Charles the First lost his head. Now, the son of Charles the First, Charles II, um immediately fled uh England. Okay. Rather than claiming his father's throne, um he feared for his life, and he actually spent the next decade in France, on the continent. All right. And um England went through a period of history called um the Regency; a man by the name of Oliver Cromwell ruled, and we won't get into all of the details of that, and in fact it may have been William and Mary; I won't even get all into all of the details; safe to say that for a period of about 10 years the king had been had gone into exile. Okay. Remember Charles the First and Charles II were members of the Stuart Dynasty, and that's why it's called the Stuart Restoration. Well, in 1660 Charles II's supporters in England um managed to basically um overthrow the Regency and effectively pave the way for the return of the king, or the restoration of the king. Okay. So in 1660 Charles II was and the Stuart monarchs were restored up to the throne, the throne. Okay. And that's why it's called the Restoration; the monarch was restored. Now, when the monarchy was re-established, well Charles II had debts of gratitude that he had to pay; one of his supporters had been James, the Duke of York. Okay. James, the Duke of York, received a very generous um grant of land in in in New York. Okay. And that grant of land uh in the New World, I should say, and that grant of land became New York. Okay. Well, a second debt of of gratitude was owed to an admiral um in the King's Navy; his name um was Sir William Penn, Admiral William Penn. Okay. Now Admiral William Penn had never been much had never had much use for colonization; he had never had much use for this land grant more generally, and he ultimately died in 1680 having never really done anything with this grant of land. Okay. But when he died, um he basically um left his grant to his son. Okay. And in 1681 William Penn Jr. petitioned the King um for um the right to his father's land in the New World. Okay. And very much to his surprise, William Penn the son actually received the grant. Okay. The reason he was surprised is because by this time William Penn had become one of the most vocal critics of the Crown and one of the most um vocal problems for the Anglican Church. You see, William Penn had become one of the principal advocates for a new religion called Quakerism. Okay. And now William Penn in 1681 is going to begin taking steps to establish Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers. So who were these Quakers? Let's spend a little bit of time talking about Quakers and Quakerism and why it is that William Penn um and how it is that William Penn was able to establish Pennsylvania as a as a refuge for for Quakers.
So the organizer of Quakerism, you know, kind of the the propagator of this faith, the man who conceptualized Quakerism, was a man by the name of George Fox. Okay. George Fox came from Nottingham, England, which was a kind of a working-class town in the Midlands of England, north of London. Okay. And George Fox was nothing exceptional; he was not an extremely um, you know, gifted man; not an extremely um respected man; he was a shoemaker; he was a common um craftsman. Okay. But in the aftermath of uh or during the trials and tribulations of the English Civil War, when there was a great deal of upheaval and there were very vocal criticisms of the Anglican Church and the place of common men in the Anglican Church, well George Fox began to teach a religious message that gave hope to the common man. Okay. Not only did it give hope to the common man, it basically treated common men as equals of the most privileged men in society. Okay. George Fox believed that at the time of creation God had instilled in all humanity, all men, all women, black, white, man, woman, rich, poor, it didn't matter, everybody possessed within their soul an inner light. Okay. And this inner light is a guide to one's salvation. Okay. All one has to do is follow this inner light; this inner light is instilled in the individual by God, and this inner light is is shown forward by God's son, Jesus. Okay. So this is very much a Christian belief. Okay. All one has to do is look inside, search inside, find that inner light, find the inner light, allow Jesus to be one's guide, one's salvation, and one then can find salvation on their own; one does not need clergymen. Okay. One simply has to search for and find the inner light. Okay. Now, in many ways this wasn't a whole lot different than the messages that that that Calvin and Luther were teaching, but the big difference was that George Fox was teaching that all people possessed this light equally, and ultimately, of course, what that meant is that all people then are then equals. Okay. Quakers became known as the Society of Friends. Okay. The Society of Friends; it had a connotation of equality, egalitarianism, again, and it didn't matter what one looked like; it didn't matter whether one was rich or poor; it didn't matter whether one was male or female; all Quakers were part of this Society of Friends. Okay. And so one of the things that um Quakers immediately, one of the causes that Quakers immediately took up, was the cause of abolishing slavery and especially the slave trade. Okay. It is wrong to enslave um other people, God's people. Okay. There is no basis; there is nothing to um to to justify slavery in the eyes of God. So Quakers were early abolitionists, and they were very active as abolitionists. Okay. But because they saw all people as equal, they challenged social standing. Okay. How could one justify being a king, for example, if in the eyes of the people he was no better than the people? Okay. How could one be a a ruler if he was no different than everybody else? Okay. So this notion of Quakerism challenged important social standings within English society. Okay. But it also especially undermined the role of the clergy, because ultimately now George Fox is saying you don't need a clergyman; you don't need to have a priest to save your soul, to administer the sacraments. Okay. All you really need is to look inside and find that inner light. Okay. Now, because George Fox um began to teach Quakerism, he threatened not only the Crown but he threatened the Church. Okay. And the net result, well George Fox in delivering this message quickly found himself in and out of jail. Okay. And his disciples, those that believed him, suffered the same consequences, and again perhaps the most prominent of these disciples was a man by the name of William Penn. As a young man, William Penn had come to embrace Quakerism, and very much like John Winthrop, in so doing he alienated his father; his father was a man of distinction in English society; he was an admiral in the Royal Navy; he was a landowner, and he was a great supporter of the King, and yet now his son William Penn Jr. is taking up a religion that challenges the place of the clergy and it even challenges the exclusiveness and the power of the King himself. So William Penn, like George Fox, found himself in and out of clear out of jail; at one point in time William Penn was locked up in the Tower of London, and oftentimes if somebody was locked up in the Tower of London that was a virtual death sentence. Okay. William Penn was being charged with heresy, leading people away from the Church, like um Ann Hutchinson; he might have faced um execution. Okay. At least at the very least, um um William Penn advocate or faced possible life imprisonment um in the Tower of London. Okay. But he actually only spent about eight months; he was ultimately released, and when he was released, that's when he uh petitioned the um the Crown for land in the New World, and probably um to get rid of of many Quakers, to rid the realm of Quakerism. Well, William Penn's request, his petition, was granted, and in 1681 then William Penn established a colony in the New World that he originally called Sylvania, which means woods, and then his name was tacked onto it, and it became Pennsylvania, Penn's Woods. Okay. In 1681 it was now to be established as a refuge for Quakers; if you're a Quaker, if you're subject to abuses, you can come to the New World, and by all means the the King was plenty eager to get rid of of Quaker dissenters um within um England itself, and so in many ways now this became an opportunity for Quakers to come to the New World to practice their religion and ultimately to to free themselves from the harsh penalties um levied by the Crown and by society, English society more generally. Okay.
So what happened when they arrived in in the New World? Well, it is important to remember something that while Pennsylvania was established as a refuge for Quakers, Pennsylvania was a huge grant of land; it was massive. Okay. And the fact of the matter is Quakers were a small um denomination within the Protestant movement. Okay. They were Christians, but they were a small group of Christians, and the reality is the Quaker population was not going to be great enough to populate this entire colony. All right. So in order to make good on this um on this grant as a place where Quakers would be free to practice, well William Penn stressed that within Pennsylvania religious toleration would be the law of the land. Okay. The fact of the matter is there were going to be more of people coming over; there would be Anglicans; there would be Catholics; there would be Presbyterians; there would be Lutherans; there would be all kinds of people coming to Pennsylvania, and in order to avoid a situation where one group secured too much power, well basically religious toleration was going to be the observed law of the land. So if you come to Pennsylvania, you're going to be free to practice your religion; you're going to be tolerated; the government will not prosecute different religious groups. Okay. Different religious groups would not a lot be able to secure power. Okay. And so effectively now, through religious toleration, like in in the case of the Plymouth Plantation, now we're going to see an effort to segregate, to separate church and state, so that religious toleration can be observed. Okay. And ultimately then Penn himself came to the New World, and he participated in in laying out or surveying the major city of Pennsylvania in eastern Pennsylvania; we will see the formation on the banks of the Delaware River of the city of Philadelphia. Okay. To this very day, Philadelphia's nickname is the City of Brotherly Love. Okay. If you've ever been to Philadelphia today, you might wonder how it is that that that that name ever came to be applied um to Philadelphia. Okay. Because Philadelphians can be a rough crowd. All right. But the point is that that the name, the City of Brotherly Love, goes back to the original founding and the importance of religious toleration within the city and within the colony itself. Okay. And you can see Quakers; yes, they did become they did gravitate to Pennsylvania, but large numbers of other religious groups from all over Europe, especially, began to arrive in Philadelphia and and Pennsylvania more generally, and to be honest with you, Pennsylvania became one of the most diverse of colonies. All right. The fact of the matter is you had Germans; you had Scots-Irish; you had French; you had Dutch; you had English colonists; people from all over, especially Western Europe, came to Pennsylvania, and it was a very diverse population. Okay. I'm going to wrap up the discussion of Pennsylvania there; we've now talked about um three important colonies: Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. What we're going to do in our next lecture now is is start talking about conflict. Okay. Conflict is a very um it was a very important part of life in colonial North America, and it's one of those topics that's often kind of overlooked, but social and cultural conflict were major issues; in spite of efforts towards brotherly love, conflict was very much a part of life in colonial society, and we'll start looking at that in our next lecture.