Anne Hutchinson (July 17, 1591 - 1643) was the unauthorized Puritan preacher of a dissident church discussion group, and pioneer in Rhode Island and the Bronx.

She held to predestination, but preached that it implied good works were futile, and restricting one's behavior was arrogant. She also argued that many of the clergy were not among the "elect", and entitled to no spiritual authority. She challenged assumptions about the proper role of women in Puritan society, and eventually began to openly attack the clergy.

She emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1634, in response to the preacher John Cotton doing so. Many women in the comminity respected Hutchinson, largely because of her extensive knowledge of the bible. She started having discussion sessions about the sermons in her living room. She would explain to the sermon to the other women and eventually began adding her own beliefs to her speeches. Eventually men began to come to hear her speak as well. Because Hutchinson emphasized the Covenant of Works over the Covenant of Grace, she was unpopular with the towns ministers. She and her followers began to be known as the Antinomians.

Eventually, John Winthrop decided to take Hutchinson out of power before her influence became to strong among the community's men. After a two day trial she was banished as a heretic in 1638 and led 60 followers to settle Aquidneck Island in what later became Rhode Island. She later moved yet further from her Boston-based persecutors, to what is now The Bronx in northern New York City.

She died in 1643, with six of her children, of scalping by the members of the Siwanoy tribe.

Some critics trace the character of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter to her persecution. Hawthorne may have been symbolizing Hutchinson in the trials and punishment of Prynne.

The Hutchinson River (and thus the Hutchinson River Parkway), in the eastern parts of Bronx and of Westchester County, New York, are her most prominent namesakes; an elementary school in Eastchester (in the western part of that county) is another.

Three U.S. Presidents (Franklin D. Roosevelt and both Bushes) are her descendants.

Another descendant, Eve LaPlante, is the author of the latest biography of Anne Hutchinson, AMERICAN JEZEBEL: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans (HarperCollins, 2004).

References:

Erikson, Kai T. Wayward Puritans; A Study in the Sociology of Deviance. New York: Wiley, 1966.

External links

• http://www.americanjezebel.com
• http://www.evelaplante.com
• http://www.annehutchinson.com