Professional Documents
Culture Documents
John Winthrop was the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. There for nine
years he was a dictorial governor and for ten years a deputy governor under Sir Hennery
John Winthrop presided over the court that banished Anne Hutchinson from the
colony that was a non-puritan who was very strong for women’s rights. Although he very
strict and narrow minded with his belies of puritisam he could be very practical and
His government established the puritan stamp, which refers to only the puritans being
considered freemen. This means they were the only ones to own land by stock and go
where ever they please. This meant that certain churches, be enrolled in government and
own their own homes. When John Winthrop was governor the colony was almost
Today, if John Winthrop had never left his wealth, his life and land in England for his
Christian beliefs. He set out with some 700 puritans on a ship for an amount of time with
many of the passengers ill, dying, and scared to an unknown land so they could worship
God in their own way. This led the way for our religious freedom.
The most impressing thing about John Winthrop for me is how he and his family
were always Christian but he himself turned puritan at his first marriage.
2
At 30 years old John Winthrop married his third wife, her name was Margaret Tyndal,
daughter of Sir John Tyndal of Much Malstead, Essex. With his marriage to Margaret he
was given a dowry land in Essex. Because he owned both lands he learned through hands
In 1628 John Winthrop and Thomas Dudley went and asked the King of England if
they could settle on a piece of land with their new colonies. This land between the
Charles River and Massachusetts Bay would soon be known as the Massachusetts Bay
On March 4, 1629 John Winthrop and his other puritan friends signed the Cambridge
Agreement essentially pledging that they would start a new voyage to the new world and
make a puritan colony in New England. The colony’s land was taken from the Native
Americans and with Winthrop’s excuse that the natives had not subdued it and had no
After settling in Massachusetts, Winthrop was nominated Governor and had already
had 700 colonists for the settlements, and in 1630 their fleet sailed to America. On this
voyage John preached on Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount.” On the ship John also issued a
model of Christian Charity. These were ideas that would stamp the young puritan colony.
John Winthrop devoted over 20 years of his life to building the Massachusetts colony.
A later puritan called him an American Nehemiah because, like Nehemiah (who left an
influential court position to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem), John cast aside a high
position to unselfishly share the hardships of his fellow colonists in establishing a godly
society.
3
John Winthrop was the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony; for nine years he
was a dictorial governor and for ten years a deputy governor under Sir Hennery Vane. He
John Winthrop presided over the court that banished Anne Hutchinson from the
colony, she was a non-puritan who was very strong for women’s rights. Although he was
very strict and narrow minded with his believes of puritisam, he could be very practical
His government established the puritan stamp, which refers to only the puritans being
considered freemen. This means they were the only ones to own land, buy stock and go
where ever they pleased. This meant that non-puritans could not go to certain churches,
be enrolled in government and own their own homes. When John Winthrop was governor
Today, if John Winthrop had never left his wealth, his life and land in England for his
Christian beliefs we wouldn’t be able to worship as we please. He set out with 700
puritans on a ship for an amount of time with many of the passengers ill, dying, and
scared to an unknown land so they could worship God in their own way. This led the way
The most impressing thing to me about John Winthrop is how he left all his worldly
possessions and life as he new it behind, to start a new life in a new land and live the
John Winthrop was a good Christian and he has inspired me by having left his home
and wealth in England to come to a country that he didn’t have any clue about or where it
But there are some reasons why I don’t want to be like John Winthrop. If I was like
John Winthrop I would Banish or maybe execute any body that didn’t worship god like
me. Also if I was like John Winthrop I would be really stern and I wouldn’t have stayed
in school for that long. Also all the responsibility John had with leading 700 people
across an ocean to another country I couldn’t handle all that responsibility by myself.
There isn’t really anyway I want to be like him except for having the courage for