America’S Debt To Its 17th Century Rebels 2009.With Voice
1. America’s Debt to Its 17th-Century Rebels: Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and Thomas Morton
2. Rebellion is Nature’s Plan Be grateful to the child who refuses to clean his or her room Be grateful to the Puritans who refused to obey the Anglican Church Be grateful to those who refused to obey the puritans.
3. Purification of the Anglican Church All the puritans wanted to purify the Church of England of what they considered to be “the relics of Popery.’’ Anything that would be found in a Roman Catholic Church they didn’t want in the Church of England. All statues of the Virgin Mary, and the Saints they considered idolatrous They didn’t want prayer books.
5. Not plain enough Westminster Cathedral represents all the puritans opposed: excessive ornamentation, and much too Roman Catholic Architecture. “God’s altar needs not our polishing,” asserted the puritan divine Cotton Mather
6. Three Main Groups of Puritans Those who stayed in England and eventually defeated the monarchy and the Church of England Those who remained nominally in the Church of England, but went to Massachusetts Bay (now Boston) to worship in a Purified church Those who separated completely from the Church of England and went to Plymouth
7. The Separatists and the Mayflower Of the 104 passengers on board, fewer than half were Puritan Separatists (or ‘”saints” as they called themselves.) The others they called “strangers,” even though they belonged to the Church of England.
8. The Mayflower II in Plymouth Harbor Photo by Paul Keleher, Creative Commons Attribution
9. The question of authority Because they knew they were right, Separatists, established their authority over the majority with the Mayflower Compact.
15. Thomas Morton: Puritan Scourge Morton, an Anglican, helped found a rival colony near Plymouth. The rivalry was essentially commercial, particularly with gun sales to Indians. But Morton seemed to take delight taunting the Separatists.
16. The Idolatrous Maypole Morton set up a maypole on his own property and had a party with native Indian women. As he anticipated, the Separatists were enraged, and sent the militia, under Captain Miles Standish (“Captain Shrimp” to Morton) Standish arrested Morton and sent him back to England for trial
17. The English Court Exonerated Morton Morton returned to what seemed to be his calling in life: tormenting Puritans. In his struggles, Morton made two important observations: the Puritans may have been sticklers for rules and regulations, but they lacked humanity. The Indians had great humanity and kindness.
18. Roger Williams: the First Modern American Thinker The Puritan magistrate, John Winthrop thought that Williams was “unsettled in his wits” and ordered his arrest for speaking dangerous ideas. His dangerous ideas were: separation of church and state, freedom of religion, and the equality of the Indians.
19. Williams’ Great Escape Williams eluded the long arm of the law and founded Rhode Island, the first refuge of religious freedom in the New World. Ironically, Rhode Island became home for many Roman Catholics.
20. The Tragic Case of Anne Hutchinson She dared to say that people can form their own beliefs without the intervention of the magistrates. She also discussed the Bible in her own home with her friends. For her courage, she was banished and died in the wilderness.
21. Anne Hutchinson in Boston The rebel from exile to glory Photo by Vic Thompson Date: July 10,2008
22. America’s Outlaws Become Respectable In 1938, bill 488 eliminated the laws that imposed exile on Roger Williams. A University and a National Park were also named after him. Anne Hutchinson was given a statue in front of the state house Thomas Morton’s New England Canaan is a well-respected book in American Colleges and Universities
23. New Rebels Needed After our first rebels became respectable, we needed new ones to move us ahead. They soon emerged in a neighborhood near you.
