Dark Times for Women: the Trial of Anne Hutchinson

The given document in the voice of freedom portion of chapter two from the book section is all about the limited access given to the ancient women in that era. This document was from 1637 about a woman named Anne Hutchinson and the document was written by Hutchinson, Thomas. The particular incident happened in Massachusetts where Anna Hutchinson was accused of calling the religious meeting in her home which was then regarded as against to Puritan theology. Because of this incident, Anne Hutchinson was placed in the trial for sedition by then-Governor John Winthrop and Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley. The purpose of this document was clearly be seen as the reflection of the position given to the women in the society and this document was placed in the history of the United States of America to show the discrimination done against women in the field like politics and religion. Thus, the time frame when this incident happened can be listed as the black time, especially for women which were around 1634.

As per the context, the debate document between the Governor and Anne Hutchinson shows the clash between the established power in the society and the individual conscience. The then Puritans' theology stated that salvation could only be achieved by the good faith and not by the good deeds which were strongly preached by John Cotton and Anne Hutchinson happened to be a strong follower of John Cotton's theology. This document is very important to US history because it teaches the present world whatever the time frame or whatever the situation it is, there always arises the evolution to eradicate the wrong concepts in the society which in fact described as theology in this document. Life in that era can easily be guessed as the theology at that era described salvation from faith and not from good works. The theology was strongly followed by the society and can be seen that if someone stood in front of the wrong theology, the punishment was decided by the followers. The issue of faith versus good deeds is still debatable in this context where still people are more focused on faith rather than good works for salvation.

For example, Galileo stated that the sun does not revolve around the earth but in fact, the earth revolves around the sun but the people at that era called the great scientist a mad person for the revolution he started for the fact in the society. Later it was comforted that the scientist was right and so had happened in this case as well. The people against the wrong theology in this document were called for a hearing for the punishment but later found out that the followings of these people are actually right. In today’s context as well, there are so many blind beliefs in the society and some are listed as law in the society and if somebody stands up against it they will be punished so the revolution is always a requirement for the benefit of the society. The focus must be towards good deeds as of Anne Hutchinson against only faith. It is true that faith provides people belief to live life but it should not be described as the only way for salvation.