John Winthrop
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| John Winthrop | |
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| In office 1630 – 1634 1637–1640 1642–1644 1646–1649 |
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| Preceded by | John Endecott (1630) Henry Vane (1637) Richard Bellingham (1642) Thomas Dudley (1646) |
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| Succeeded by | Thomas Dudley (1634 & 1640) John Endecott (1644 & 1649) |
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| Born | January 12, 1587 or 1588 Edwardstone, Suffolk, England |
| Died | March 26, 1649 (aged 62 or 63) Boston, Massachusetts |
| Profession | Lawyer, Governor |
| Religion | Puritanism |
| Signature |  |
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: John Winthrop |
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John Winthrop (12 January 1587/8 – 26 March 1649 obtained a royal charter, along with other wealthy Puritans, from King Charles for the Massachusetts Bay Company and led a group of English Puritans to the New World in 1630. [1]. He was elected the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the year before. Between 1639 and 1648, he was voted out of the governorship and then re-elected a total of 12 times. Although Winthrop was a respected political figure, he was criticized for his obstinacy regarding the formation of a general assembly in 1634, and he clashed repeatedly with other Puritan leaders like Thomas Dudley, Rev. Peter Hobart and others.
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[edit] Family
Winthrop married his first wife, Mary Forth, on 16 April 1605 at Great Stambridge, Essex, England. Mary bore him six children; the oldest son of that marriage was Winthrop, the Younger, a future governor/magistrate of Connecticut. Mary died in June 1615. Winthrop (elder) married his second wife, Thomasine Clopton, on 6 December 1615 at Groton, Suffolk, England. Thomasine died on 8 December 1616. On 29 April 1618 at Great Maplestead, Essex, England, Winthrop married his third wife, Margaret Tyndal. In the Spring of 1630, Winthrop (elder) led a fleet of eleven vessels and 700 passengers to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the New World, sailing aboard the Arbella and accompanied by his two young sons, Stephen (12) and Samuel (4). [2]. Winthrop's wife, Margaret, sailed on the second voyage of the Lyon in 1631[3], leaving their small manor behind. Their baby daughter, Anne, died on the Lyon voyage[4]. Two more children were born to them in New England. Margaret died on 14 June 1647 in Boston, Massachusetts. Winthrop (elder) then married his fourth wife, Martha Rainsborough, widow of Thomas Coytmore and sister of the famous Levellers Thomas and William Rainborowe, sometime after 20 December 1647 and before the birth of their only child in 1648, he died of natural causes.
[edit] Legacy
Winthrop is most famous for his "City upon a Hill" sermon (as it is known popularly, its real title being A Model of Christian Charity) in which he declared that the Puritan colonists emigrating to the New World were part of a special pact with God to create a holy community. This speech is often seen as a forerunner to the concept of American exceptionalism. The speech is also well known for arguing that the wealthy had a holy duty to look after the poor. Recent history has shown, however, that the speech was not given much attention at the time of its delivery. Rather than coining these concepts, Winthrop was merely repeating what were widely held Puritan beliefs in his day. The work was not actually published until the nineteenth century, although it was known and circulated in manuscript before that time. Winthrop did publish The Humble Request of His Majesties Loyal Subjects (London, 1630), which defended the emigrants’ physical separation from England and reaffirmed their loyalty to the Crown and Church of England. This work was republished by Joshua Scottow in the 1696 compilation MASSACHUSETTS: or The first Planters of New-England, The End and Manner of their coming thither, and Abode there: In several EPISTLES.
Modern American politicians, like Ronald Reagan, continue to cite Winthrop as a source of inspiration. However, those who praise Winthrop fail to note his strident anti-democratic political tendencies. Winthrop stated, for example, "If we should change from a mixed aristocracy to mere democracy, first we should have no warrant in scripture for it: for there was no such government in Israel ... A democracy is, amongst civil nations, accounted the meanest and worst of all forms of government. [To allow it would be] a manifest breach of the 5th Commandment."[5]
Winthrop was not governor at the outset of the Pequot war and bore only an indirect responsibility for its outcome. The decision to sell the survivors as slaves in the Bahamas was a societal response and not a personal choice.[citation needed]
The Town of Winthrop, Massachusetts, is named after him, as is Winthrop House at Harvard University, though the house is also named for the John Winthrop who briefly served as President of Harvard.
Winthrop is also briefly immortalized in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in the chapter entitled "The Minister's Vigil."[6]
John Winthrop's descendants number thousands today, including current U.S. Senator from Massachusetts John Kerry.[7]
[edit] See also
- Blessing of the Bay
- Dudley-Winthrop Family
- Robert Seeley
- Billerica, Massachusetts
- Dorothy Talbye Trial
- City upon a Hill
[edit] Notes
- ^ Vowell, Sarah. The Wordy Shipmates. New York: Penguin, 2008. p.73.
- ^ BOYER, CARL, 3RD, editor Ship Passenger Lists, National and New England (1600-1825). Newhall, Calif.: the editor, 1977. 270p. 4th pr. 1985. Reprint. Family Line Publications, Westminster, MD, 1992
- ^ ibid
- ^ ibid
- ^ R.C. Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop (Boston, 1869), vol. ii, p. 430.
- ^ Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Portable Hawthorne. Ed. William C. Spengemann. New York: Penguin, 2005.
- ^ Vowell, Sarah. The Wordy Shipmates. Riverhead Books: New York, 2008. p. 224.
[edit] References
- Bremer, Francis J. John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 299
- Reich, Jerome R. Colonial America. 5th ed. Ed. Charlyce J. Owen and Edie Riker. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2001.
- Winthrop, R.C. Life and Letters of John Winthrop (Boston, 1869), vol. ii, p. 430.
[edit] External links
- The Journal of John Winthrop, 1630-1649, Harvard University Press, (1996).
- Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from that Aspersion
- The Winthrop Society
- Winthrop Historical Sites in Boston
- official Massachusetts Governor biography
- "A Modell of Christian Charity" (1630)
- Genealogy of Governor John Winthrop - Wiki Genealogy
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Endecott |
Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1630–1633 |
Succeeded by Thomas Dudley |
| Preceded by Henry Vane |
Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1637–1639 |
Succeeded by Thomas Dudley |
| Preceded by Richard Bellingham |
Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1642–1643 |
Succeeded by John Endecott |
| Preceded by Thomas Dudley |
Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1646–1648 |
Succeeded by John Endecott |
