In 1624, Charles I ascended to the English throne and married a Roman Catholic woman, placing all religious dissidents in danger. At this time, emigration to the New World was just beginning, and Puritan leaders saw the journey to America as a means of escaping persecution. In 1628, a group of settlers led by John Endecott sailed to the east coast, where they established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop himself became involved in emigration plans a year later, and he was chosen as the future governor of Massachusetts Bay. While his pregnant wife remained in England until a year later, John and his son Henry, along with 700 other immigrants, set out for America in 1630. During the journey, Winthrop dictated his famous sermon, A Model of Christian Charity, which described his religious aims for the new colony. In it, he described his ideal settlement as a "city upon a hill," a phrase now famous in literature.
Winthrop served as governor of Massachusetts for twelve of the colony’s first twenty years, and he promoted a tradition of common law in his duties. He was responsible for the banishment of religious radicals such as Anne Hutchinson and Thomas Hooker, but despite his disagreement with their teachings, he never treated them with the cruelty espoused by his fellow leaders. Following the death of his third wife in 1647, he married Martha Rainsborough, who gave birth to one child before John passed away from natural causes in 1649.
Born. | |
Admitted to Trinity College. | |
Married Mary Forth. | |
Began keeping a journal documenting his religious life. | |
Became Lord of the Manor at Groton. | |
Death of Mary. | |
Married Thomasine Clopton. | |
Death of Thomasine. | |
Gave the sermon A Model of Christian Charity while sailing to America. | |
Served as second governor of Massachusetts. | |
Served as sixth governor of Massachusetts. | |
Creation of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties. | |
Served as ninth governor of Massachusetts. | |
Served as twelfth governor of Massachusetts. | |
Married Martha Rainsborough. | |
Died. |
New England Indians in | Indian History for Young Folks by Francis S. Drake |
First Governor in Boston in | Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Edward Eggleston |
Founding of Massachusetts in | This Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall |
Education in the Colonies in | American History Stories, Volume I by Mara L. Pratt |
Image Links | ||
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Governor Winthrop in Indian History for Young Folks |
John Winthrop in Builders of Our Country: Book I |
Second Stuart king. His quarrels with Parliament led to civil war and his execution. | |
Military leader of Parliament who headed the Commonwealth government after death of Charles I. | |
Henrietta | Daughter of Henry IV of France, and Queen of Charles I, and mother of Charles II and James II. |
One of the Pilgrim Fathers who sailed on the Mayflower. Elder in Congressional Church. | |
Governor of the Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims. Wrote the Mayflower Compact. |