UNII 4
W ORKSUEET
O.te -
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The D issenters
~()I :all PuritAtU toed lhf' rigid line"" of bt--lit>f rlrawn b\• 1he rut it.1n Jeadt•t":". Meaulw-rs of lhc·
t"hun.-h ~ ho wouldn '1 ronfonu "C'"T~ buuttd run uf tm coluur. Hc-1~ <Uf' lhC' .,luaiM o{ two M th~
di,3enterlt,
Rog•r Wllliamo
Rogor Williams eame to Massachusetts in 1631. He'd been ordained a ~nister in the Church
of England in London. When h<l bec.me a Puritan, he brought his family to Boston. He wos
el.aed minf-s:ter of the church at Sat.m fn 1635, but his strang• tdeas
began to bother his follow Puritans.. He $-<Jld that civil government-the
Purit&ns' magistntes-h&d no right to enforco any retlgious laws. He
Insisted that no one, not even the king of England, Nd the right to take
any colonial land without purchasing rt from the Native Am«i<:ans. He
demanded that thG Massachusetts church separate from the Church of
Rl10dr
~Aland
Engtand.. 'Nhidl was not "pure."
Williams refused to give up any of his ·..-rors. • So the Mass~ns }
General Court ordored hlm expelled from the colony to keep hit "infec
tion" from spreadlng. An arrest wamtnt called for Willl&ms to b. forced
to board • oh;p and ret""' to London Instead, he fled to the Narrogan·
/.
sett Bay area in January 1636. He purchased '""d ther• from loal lndi·
ans who helped him survive the winter. H& founded the sattlomont of Providence, which became
the colony of Rhode Island when Wimoms got o charter fa< it, in 1644.
In Rhode Island, Williams wu able to set up the type of society he Nd dn>amed of. His colony
had reprosentativo government-alllandownerJ could vote and choose their own type of govern·
t'Mnt. The people of Rhode lsJand ha.d complete religious freodotn. Church and Stato wore com~
pletely sopa•ate. Rhode Island became aha- fo.- people who wwe seldom wekome anywl>e<e
.tse in the colonies, like Ouilkers and Jews. Williams's felf' and just relations with th• native lndtans
ertsured peaceiul coexistence for all wrthin the colony.
Extra Challenge:
R~ the triM of Roge< WilUams or Anne Hutchinson. The two dissenters (and p..t.•ps
th~r followe-rs) shovld justify their .c;tions. The membett of the MMsadlusetts Gentf'al Court
shoutd state their objoc:Uons and why each dlssentor MU$t bo bllnishod from the cofony. Be
l
emphadct These w•re court cases that arousod a lot of controversy and emotion when 1hoy
were going on.
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UNIT4
WORKSHEET 6
The Dissenters
(continued)
Anne Hutchfn50n
Anne Hvt.;hinson also cauJIK1 heac:latd'Hts for the Puritan
l11ders. She too was born in England, where $he marriod her
husbandWil'iam in 1612. Thoy came to Mas.sachusotts In
1634 with tholr brood of children, which ev..,tually totaled
15. Hutchins::.n soon ~n dov.topi.ng ideas that were at
odds with the ~tablished Purrtan powers. Soh. belieYed in
wving grac. and direct spiritual communication between
Individuals and God. Such savod people didn't have to
observe re41glous laws, Hutchinson said. She&lso int&tpteted
the Bi~e for henelf and criticized the Boston ministers'
-
Hutchinson, a bn11iant and W*ll-spoken woman, develo,.-d
quite a folloVIing. llle Puritan I•IM:Iers became alarmed. She
Wi.lS chruged with the heresy of entlnomlanlsm (which means
"against the aw'"), or saying that believef"S ore not bound by
rnor-.1 law. As with Williams. the court ban4.shed Hutchinson
f10<n II><> cokny on 1638. W•h ' - husb.>nd, m~>ny children,
1nd some fol owers, she settled at Poca-sset, ln what Wl'$
thQn Rhode hlt~nd. Even'thero, Hutchinson cla$hed with oth er sottlers. Aftor her husband died, In
1642. silo moved with six of h~r chiJdren to P~ham Bay, in Now Netherland. Indians ldlled all but
the youngest Joolutchlnson girl thore in 1643.
Questions:
I
liow rlirl \\>'illi:uns ;u 1CI Iltt1Cllin.s011 vi1)!.1h: t.he ru1C":'I (lf tlteir V'uril>~n comm\tt.tilJ('!I?
2. Why C'hrl l:.tuitan le.adrrTo 1hiuk l.la.tl Willifuns and Huh. hinson hMI tu be h:;mi1du:cJ?
1. \\1~otl1mportan1 p1inc i p!eofourgU\t.'IUmnlrdid R4,1(C'r\\'illiarndint put into pr-.u-ti(t><md la'W?
N-"tU on U.S. HUlin':
Th, l.m of UJluuiulh()'l ami Srit~il