The Trial of Anne Hutchinson

The Trial of Anne Hutchinson in 1637 was a legal proceeding in colonial Massachusetts where Hutchinson, a respected religious thinker, was accused of challenging church authority. She held meetings at her home to discuss sermons and openly questioned the clergy’s teachings, advocating for personal interpretation of the Bible. The Puritan authorities viewed this as dangerous heresy and a threat to their social order. During the trial, Hutchinson defended her beliefs, but the court found her beliefs and actions incompatible with the community’s religious standards. She was ultimately banished from the colony, highlighting tensions between individual religious ideas and communal authority.