It is December 1637 and you are a “friend of the Hutchinson family” in Massachusetts. Three of Anne Hutchinson’s 19 siblings recently heard that Anne was to stand trial for heresy and sedition. Through transatlantic Puritan networks they’ve sent word asking you to send them news about it. The siblings live in England and they have heard stories about their father Francis Marbury, an Anglican minister, who spent time in prison for heresy after criticizing church leadership. They have asked you to assess Anne’s self-defense during the trial, specifically her rhetorical strategy before Massachusetts General Court. This strategy includes what she said as well as the style in which she delivered it. They know that this trial is bigger than Anne herself and so they also asking for your opinion about what kind of symbol Anne is becoming in the colony. How should they see their sister who left England three years ago?
Note about drafting your response: Consider breaking apart the trial transcript into parts where you see Hutchinson exercising different rhetorical strategies. You want to have some synthetic sentences that explain Hutchinson’s strategy. They could be as straightforward as “I see Hutchinson (or Anne) using three main rhetorical strategies, X, Y, and Z.” Or “I see her using a rhetorical strategy of X, which she executes by doing Y and Z.” As with other posts, support your analysis of her strategy with specific passages from the trial and explain your assessment of her defense. Hutchinson doesn’t win her trial. She is expelled from Massachusetts. But for the second part of the response you can consider whether any of her rhetorical strategies are potentially more or less successful within the wider New England Puritan community? What makes you say so? The chapter in Alan Taylor might might help you develop some ideas, but you can also generate your own. Your view of Anne as a symbol should be accompanied by historical evidence, too. You can also keep in mind that the trial occurred on November 7, 1637, and Anne was banished the next day. So you know the trial’s result when you draft your reply. Anne remained in Massachusetts until April 1638. She faced a second church trial in March 1638 where she was excommunicated.
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