USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Religious dissident Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the General Court of Massachusetts. Williams had spoken out against the right of civil authorities to punish religious dissension and to confiscate Native American land.

Detailed explanation-2: -"Anne Hutchinson Preaching in Her House in Boston, ” from Harper’s Weekly, February 1901. (Library of Congress) In November 1637, Anne Hutchinson was sentenced to banishment by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, having been declared a “woman not fit for our society."

Detailed explanation-3: -In direct violation of Puritan doctrine and church structure, she believed heaven was open to those who worshipped God through a personal connection, without the need of any church intervention. These and other beliefs caused Hutchinson and her family to be banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Detailed explanation-4: -For speaking his mind, Williams was tried before the Massachusetts General Court in July 1635. When he refused to recant, he received a sentence of banishment from the colony with the threat of sending him back to England to prevent him from spreading his beliefs throughout the New World.