The fleet of English ships led by John Winthrop landed in Salem, Massachussetts.

John Winthrop (1558–1649), a lawyer, was one of the Puritan founders of Massachusetts Bay Colony and the colony’s first governor. Winthrop sailed to Massachusetts in 1630. As the Puritans prepared to create a community in the New World, Winthrop delivered his sermon on “A Modell of Christian Charity,” declaring that “we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” He served as governor several times throughout his twenty years in New England and his journals provide a...

Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) was an English-born Massachusetts Puritan who organized religious meetings for women and challenged the political authority of the clergy. As a result, Hutchinson was tried in 1637 for “traducing the ministers” of the church. John Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, served as both prosecutor and judge in her trial. Hutchinson was declared “a woman not fit for our society” and excommunicated from the church. Banished from Massachusetts, Hutchinson...

While the dominant narrative of the American Revolution focuses on its political causes, the factor of religion cannot be ignored. Many settlers came to the North American colonies seeking the freedom to practice their religions. For the Puritans, who established a vision for their colony, calling it a “City upon a Hill,” religion was intertwined with America’s destiny to become a beacon for the world. One cannot fully understand the minds of the Revolutionary generation without considering the place of...