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Text Box:                            John Winthrop John Winthrop, the second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was born in Groton, Suffolk, England, in 1588, and was educated at Cambridge.   Winthrop practiced law in London, where he faced persecution for his Puritan religious beliefs. He believed that the Church of England should rid itself of bishops, eliminate kneeling and do away with other remnants of Roman Catholicism.   Winthrop and a group of other Puritans, who wanted to establish a pious Puritan theocracy free from the stifling influences of the Church of England departed England aboard the ship Arbella. They landed at Salem in July of 1630. Winthrop had already been elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony before the Arbella set off for the New World. Winthrop was to replace John Endecott, the first governor, who had landed in Salem two years earlier in 1628.   As Winthrop explored the area surrounding Salem, he decided that the Shawmut Peninsula 16 miles to the south was where he wanted to found his “City on a Hill.” In September of 1630 he began the settlement of what he called Tremontaine for the three hills on the peninsula.*  The name was later changed to Boston. In 1640 the population of Boston had grown to 1,200. At the time of the American Revolution it had reached 16,000.   What is remarkable about Winthrop’s Massachusetts Bay Colony is that it is the first colony in America to be governed by laws and principles set forth in its Charter, which allowed the colony to be self governed. The Massachusetts Bay Charter had been brought over to Salem two years earlier by John Endecott. The Charter basically stated that the colonists were citizens of England and enjoyed the same rights as they would have enjoyed back in England. Massachusetts Bay Colony is also believed to be the first society in the world to require universal education of its citizens.   Winthrop believed that while God had allowed the creation of rich and poor, powerful and weak, the very survival of the colony depended on everyone working together. Class structure had to be set aside. Everyone was to be treated equally. Unfortunately, there were exceptions to this egalitarianism. If you didn’t agree with the Puritan form of Christianity, you were on the outs. Anne Hutchinson was one such example. Hutchinson arrived in Massachusetts in 1634 from England. She began holding Bible study meetings in her house in Boston. At one point close to 80 people attended her meetings. The Puritan religious community of Boston believed she was challenging the teachings of Puritanism, and finally Winthrop banished her from the colony. In short, while Winthrop was perhaps more moderate than some Puritan leaders, he was far from tolerant.   * The only hill remaining is Beacon Hill.