American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the PuritansIn 1637, Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six-year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. Her unconventional ideas had attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. Hutchinson defended herself brilliantly, but the judges, faced with a perceived threat to public order, banished her for behaving in a manner "not comely for [her] sex." Written by one of Hutchinson's direct descendants, American Jezebel brings both balance and perspective to Hutchinson's story. It captures this American heroine's life in all its complexity, presenting her not as a religious fanatic, a cardboard feminist, or a raging crank—as some have portrayed her—but as a flesh-and-blood wife, mother, theologian, and political leader. The book narrates her dramatic expulsion from Massachusetts, after which her judges, still threatened by her challenges, promptly built Harvard College to enforce religious and social orthodoxies—making her the mid-wife to the nation's first college. In exile, she settled Rhode Island, becoming the only woman ever to co-found an American colony. The seeds of the American struggle for women's and human rights can be found in the story of this one woman's courageous life. American Jezebel illuminates the origins of our modern concepts of religious freedom, equal rights, and free speech, and showcases an extraordinary woman whose achievements are astonishing by the standards of any era. |
From inside the book
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... I, who had ascended the throne in 1625. True religion was about to expire, Winthrop feared. William Laud, whom Charles had chosen to become Bishop of London in 1628, leaned toward Arminianism—the belief, put 4 A MERICAN J EZEBEL.
... Bishop of London in 1628, leaned toward Arminianism—the belief, put forward by a Dutch minister named Arminius, that people by their own free will can achieve faith and salvation—which especially of- fended Puritans, who so emphasized ...
... Bishop of London” with “many people standing by.” This dramatic dialogue, published in the early 1590s as a pamphlet, was one of the central texts he used to educate and amuse his children. “Thou art a very ass, an idiot, and a fool ...
... bishops were but politicians. They lacked true understanding of the Bible, he said, and they chose ministers without ... bishop to withdraw the young man from his post and send him to jail. Francis was freed several months later but ...
... Bishop John Aylmer, the portly presiding judge, who was then in his late fifties, occupied a wooden throne set alone on the west wall. Fran- cis Marbury faced Bishop Aylmer from the middle of the room, where he was flanked by two rows ...
Contents
1 | |
19 | |
A Masterpiece of Womans Wit | 39 |
Strange Opinions | 50 |
The End of All Controversy | 70 |
As the Lily Among Thorns | 82 |
From Boston to This Wilderness | 96 |
A Final Act of Defiance | 114 |
The Husband of Mistress Hutchinson | 139 |
An Uneasy and Constant Watch | 159 |
A Spirit of Delusion and Error | 168 |
A Dangerous Instrument of the Devil | 195 |
Exploring Anne Hutchinsons England and America | 257 |
Chronology | 271 |
Index | 293 |
Not Fit for Our Society | 127 |
Other editions - View all
American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied ... Eve LaPlante No preview available - 2005 |
American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied ... Eve LaPlante No preview available - 2004 |