Puritan Dissent Essay
John Winthrop, Roger Williams, and Anne Hutchinson all hoped to accomplish great things in the New World and did accomplish many great things. Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were both opposition of John Winthrop in the fact that they were Puritan dissenters. John Winthrop believed in the combined power of church and state, whereas, Roger Williams believed in the separation of the power of church and state, and Anne Hutchinson was an Antinomian teacher who taught salvation was through faith and divine grace. All of these dissenters are equally important in the development of America and the Puritan faith.
John Winthrop was the founding governor of the Massachusetts and believed in the divine power of church and state, being ruled mainly by the church; and in the "city upon a hill" being the Puritan Utopia. Winthrop also helped establish the idea of American experiment/progress. Winthrop was crucial in the dissent and development of America because he led tens of thousands of people to the New World and successfully kept them alive and continuously progressing. This is why John Winthrop was important in the development of America.
Roger Williams was a Puritan dissenter who initially migrated to Massachusetts and was considered to be the most pure puritan. Williams was said to know the Bible too well, he showed that God’s church was never named in the Bible; therefore, proving that the Puritan church was not God’s church. Williams was banished in 1636 from Massachusetts and founded the providence of Rhode Island. The foundation of Rhode Island was important because it was the colony that had religious freedom and his legacy of all people being able to choose their religions lived on through history. Roger Williams was important to the dissent of the Puritan church and the development of America because he demonstrated the idea of religious tolerance.
Anne Hutchinson was a follower of Roger Williams before he was banished from Massachusetts in 1636 but Hutchinson was an Antinomian teacher. Hutchinson taught that in order to be saved one must have faith in the lord and divine grace; not the salvation through good works or adherence to the laws. Hutchinson was put on trial by Edwin Austin Abbey for the preaching to males as a woman. This was important because not only was Hutchinson on trial for 2 days before being sentenced to banishment and excommunication from the church, but she also was a friend