March 22, 2021 • 25 mins
On this day in 1916, Chinese emperor Yuan Shikai abdicated the throne and announced he would resume his presidency. / Anney and Samantha from the podcast Stuff Mom Never Told You stop by the show to talk about religious rebel Anne Hutchinson, who was excommunicated on this day in 1638. Find them on Twitter @MomStuffPodcast, and Facebook and Instagram @StuffMomNeverToldYou.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everyone, Technically you're getting two days in history today
because we're running two episodes from the History Vault. Hope
you enjoy. Hello, Welcome to this dand history class, where
we dust off a little piece of history every day.
(00:22):
The day was March twenty second, nineteen sixteen. After Yun
shit Kai was declared the first official president of the
Republic of China in nineteen twelve, he had attempted to
bring back Confucianism and reinstate the imperial monarchy, but people
across China and outside of the country opposed the restoration
(00:42):
of the monarchy, and on this day, Yuen abdicated the
throne and China once again had a republican form of government.
Yuen's death soon after in June nineteen sixteen, created a
China with the week government and divided army, ushering in
the warlord era. Early on, Yuin served in the Cheen
(01:05):
Brigade of the Anhui Army, which was sent to Korea
in eighteen eighty two to prevent a Japanese coup. At
the time, Korea had come out of his self imposed
isolation and was targeted by the Japanese and other foreign interests.
Yun served for a decade in Korea, rising to the
position of Chinese Commissioner in Soul until the First Sino
(01:29):
Japanese War broke out in eighteen ninety four, and he
returned to Beijing. After Japan emerged victorious in the Sino
Japanese War in eighteen ninety five, Yuen was put in
charge of training a new army. In eighteen ninety eight,
when the Guangshi Emperor attempted to institute a series of
progressive reforms, Empress Dowager should She wrested power from the
(01:52):
emperor with the help of conservative military leaders. Yuen and
should She then formed an alliance and his political power grew.
He was appointed governor of Shandong Province in eighteen ninety nine,
and at the turn of the century he used his
new army to suppress the Boxer rebellion, and his division
(02:13):
was the only part of China's army that survived the rebellion.
From there he kept gaining influence. He became the Viceroy
of Juli, the region around Beijing, and he was appointed
the Minister of Beiyang and the commissioner of the Army
Reorganization Council. Yuen even played a role in political reforms
(02:36):
late in the king dynasty, like creating the ministries of
Education and Police. She was firm in her support of Yuen,
and Yuen was even more powerful than her because of
his role in government and military command, So his opponents
in the King Court began to worry that he would
lead a military coup. When Shodhi and Guangxu died only
(02:59):
a day apart in nineteen oh eight, Yuan was ordered
to retire from his offices and sent home to Heinan
province under the guise that he had to treat a
foot ailment, but he didn't stay away for long. When
the Shinhai Revolution broke out in October nineteen eleven, the
Teen Court pagged him to come back, but he refused,
(03:22):
saying his foot ailment was still a problem. That was
sarcasm if you didn't catch it anyway. Yuen eventually accepted,
and he became Prime Minister in November, as well as
commander in chief of all the armies in North China
that were fighting against the revolutionists. By December, he had
forced leaders of the revolution to negotiate. During the negotiations,
(03:46):
revolution leader Sun Yat Sen was elected president of the
provisional Government of the Chinese Republic, but the revolutionaries were
in a weak position militarily, so they compromised with Yuen.
Uin got Empress Dowager longed You to abdicate the throne
on behalf of her child, Emperor's son who Ye. In return,
(04:08):
Soun yat Sin resigned as provisional President and Yuen took
the oath of office as Provisional President of the Republic
on March tenth, nineteen twelve. But Yuen only took the
position to consolidate his power. He wasn't particularly interested in
a democratic government. Needless to say, the Republic had a
rocky start. The treasury was empty, provinces were controlled by
(04:32):
war lords, and there still was no permanent constitution. Using
foreign loans, Yuen expanded his army and bought politicians. The
Nationalist Party or Gua Mindong, opposed Yuen and his camp.
When the chairman of the party was murdered in March
of nineteen thirteen, all signs of guilt pointed to UN's government.
(04:56):
In nineteen thirteen, Parliament under force elected Un president. The
new president soon dissolved the Guamndong, arrested its members and
dissolved parliament. Soon, Yuin named himself president for life and
gave himself the right to appoint his successor. As a
part of their expansion efforts, Japan attempted to take advantage
(05:18):
of Yuen's unstable rule in China with a list of
twenty one demands, which would basically make China a Japanese
protectorate in order to avoid war. Un accepted a revised
version of the demand. People protested and boycotted Japanese goods,
and you win lost credibility, But Yuen took advantage of
(05:39):
the anger around the demands to convince people that the
monarchy and his position as emperor needed to be reinstated
for stability. In nineteen fifteen, he announced that he would
soon be emperor under the title Hon Xian Yuan was
ruling through provincial military governors, but military governors and provinces
began to revolt in opposition to the monarchy. With support
(06:03):
from the Japanese the press, UN's advisors and even his
armies rallied against him. Un gave in and revoked monarchism
on March twenty second, nineteen sixteen, though he also said
he would resume his presidency Yuen died three months later
of uremia, while China was still fighting for his resignation
(06:24):
as president. Over the next decade, China would be plagued
by warlordism and the week central government. I'm Eve Jeff
Pote and hopefully you know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. If you feel like correcting
my pronunciation or my accent on anything that I've said
(06:45):
in the show, feel free to leave a very kind
comment on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at TDI HC podcast.
Thank you for joining me today. See you same place,
same time tomorrow. Hey, y'all, it's Eves again. Welcome to
(07:10):
this day in History class. Today. I'm joined by Annie
Reese Hi and Samantha mcphagh. Hey, y'all of stuff Mom
never told you. Thank you so much for having as.
We're so excited to be here, very excited. I'm excited
y'all are here too. And if you listen to stuff
Mom never told you, which if you don't already you should,
You've probably hurt me over there talking about female first
(07:32):
are women in history who did amazing things, and we're
the first to do those things. So I'm super excited
to be joined by them for this episode about Anne Hutchinson,
and they will kick it off and let us know
about what happened today. Yea, So on this day in history,
Anne Hutchinson is who we're talking about. I'm really excited.
Was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony and excommunicated. She's considered
(07:56):
by some as one of America's first feminists after she
rejected excele gender roles and challenged male authority about preaching
to both men and women as a spiritual leader in Massachusetts.
So right up our alley we go. But okay, let's
step back a bit because that's a lot so. Hutcheson
was born in England in fifteen ninety one to Francis
Marbury and Bridget Dryden. She was raised in Lincolnshire and
(08:19):
as she grew up, her father, who was a dissident priest,
taught her scripture and also taught her to question the
teachings of the Church of England, while her mother taught
her about herbal medicines. And it was not common at
this time to get a formal education as a woman.
She didn't get one, but she did read pretty much
whatever she could get her hands on, and she was
(08:40):
always a thinker. One of her inspirations was a local
vicar named Reverend John Cotton, who is a huge player
in her story, but he eventually left her immediate sphere
and he joined a group of religious dissidents in North America,
where religious freedom was promised in sixteen thirty three. He
was outspoken in his criticism of the Protestant Church of England,
(09:02):
and because of that he was often suppressed. So to
get away from all of that, he made the journey
to the New World. Okay, yes, So before we get
a little more into that, just a little more history
on Anne Hutchinson. She married a well off merchant from
a good family named William Hudginson in sixteen twelve. In
between sixteen fourteen and sixteen thirty she had over a
(09:23):
dozen kids. Yeah, she was busy. She was very busy,
just saying so. In sixteen thirty four, her family followed
Reverend Cotton and made the journey to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
When Hudginson was forty three. She used her training as
a midwife to find work, and through this she met
and bonded with a lot of women, and she started
inviting some of them to her house to discuss Cotton's
(09:44):
sermons rights, but those sound like I want to know
what those meetings were like, Like, what was an environment
like in those meetings? She was very, very passionate, and
she is what I would describe with my modern eyes
as a spitfire. She had a lot of opinions and
she wanted to share those opinions, and she was really
critical of the system in place, and they started critiquing
(10:07):
some of that Puritan belief system. In particular, Hutchinson did
not agree with Puritanical beliefs around the Covenant of Works,
which essentially was the belief that the path to salvation
required following religious laws and performing good works and thus
kind of dependent on the church and clergy. Hutchinson followed
(10:29):
instead the Covenant of Grace ideology, and this basically, in
a nutshell, meant that salvation could be obtained through God's
grace alone. And as part of this, she didn't adhere
to the Puritan belief that good works were an act
of God's grace. She espoused that a direct personal relationship
with God was the only way to achieve salvation, which
(10:52):
was a direct threat to the current power structure of
the church. All Right, and not only that, they also
criticized some of the power structure of the colony, and
of note, the assumed inferiority of women compared to men
when it came to God's laws. Her meetings became popular
enough that word got out about them, and some men
began attending. Some of them were well known in the community.
(11:14):
Some had upwards of eighty people in attendance, and this
caught the attention of local religious leaders who did not
like Hutchinson's popularity nor the interpretations they felt she was
a challenge to their authority. Obviously she was basically cutting
out the middlemen, and middlemen is actually because right, exactly,
I just want to reiterate her meetings that were getting
(11:36):
towards the end of eighty followers. That was more than
some churches were getting. Right, I was going to ask
that it was like eighty was a big number back then. Yes, okay,
in particular in this town she was in. And that's
when people started, when men started showing up at these meetings, right,
and then when they noticed that she was getting a
better higher attendance than some of the established churches. Right.
(11:58):
In sixteen thirty seven, hut was tried for sedition and heresy.
But at the heart of the matter, she was on
trial for challenging established gender roles by holding a place
of authority over men at her meetings by talking while
they listened. The horror. They also accused her of breaking
(12:18):
the fifth Commandment, which is honor thy parents. In total,
she faced three charges breaking that fifth commandment, defaming authorized ministers,
and improperly holding meetings in her home. The men in
power were afraid her actions would inspire other women to
challenge masculine authority. Even her role model, Reverend Cotton, who
(12:42):
she semi followed, he turned against her a story of betrayal.
I love it. Yes. He labeled her meetings as quote
promiscuous and filthy, coming together of men and women without
distinction of marriage, and your opinions fret like a gang green,
it spread like a leprosy, and we'll eat out the
very bowels of religion. So that's pretty harsh. That is
(13:06):
really specific too, coming from your role model who you
started these meetings kind of talking about how awesome he wants.
So did she influence other women? Yes, she definitely had
a following of her own of people who completely agreed
with her and thought Yeah, why are we dependent on
the men to get salvation through God? Why does it
(13:28):
have to be via what they say? A lot of
people had strong opinions about Hutchinson, right, Someone at her
child got right to this, saying Hutchinson had quote rather
been a husband than a wife, and a preacher than
a hearer, and a magistrate than a subject. Basically, she
was assuming a masculine role. Okay, all right for it, right,
(13:51):
So let's talk about the child. Because the entire transcript exists,
which is excellent. As you know, Eve, sometimes it's hard
to get these documents so helpful, and this was an
excellent example of how she was a spitfire because these
men were just leveling these accusations at her and she
just always had an answer. So I know you'll love
(14:14):
a good quote on this show. Perfect, So we thought
we would do a very tame reenactment of a section
of this trial. And we're not going to get up
on the table and ready to go like we're actually
in trial. If the movement inspires you, yes you can,
and I'm gonna I'm getting into the role who go Okay, perfect,
(14:35):
And this is from the examination of missus Anne Hutchison
at the court of Newton. So Governor Winthrop, the Governor
himself was a part of this, and he said, Missus Hutchinson,
you are called here as one of those that have
troubled the peace of the commonwealth, and the church is here.
You are known to be a woman that hath had
(14:56):
a great share in the promoting and divulging of those
opinions that our causes of this trouble. And you have
spoken diverse things, as we have been informed, very prejudicial
to the honor of the churches and ministers thereof. And
you have maintained a meeting and an assembly in your
house that hath been condemned by the General Assembly as
a thing not tolerable nor comely in the side of God,
(15:17):
nor fitting for your sex. And notwithstanding that was cried down,
you have continued the same. Therefore, we have thought good
to send for you to understand how things are. That
if you be in an erroneous way, we may reduce
you that so that you may become a profitable member
here among us. Otherwise, if you be obstinate in your course,
that then the court may take such course that you
(15:39):
made trouble us. No further, Therefore, I would entreat you
to express whether you do not hold an assent in
practice to those opinions and factions that have been handled
in court already. That is to say, whether you do
not justify mister Wheelwright's sermon and the petition. And I'm
just imagining her face is being very stolic, yes, in calm,
(15:59):
and you're saying, I am called here to answer before you,
but I hear no things late my charge, which is
an excellent comeback. He's just like, here's all the things
you do going, and she's like, I didn't hear anything.
He took a lot of words. He had like three
points in a whole nineteen paragraphs to say those three points,
And that's pretty indicative of how this trial plays out,
(16:19):
a big, like long winded accusation and her being like, no,
I don't see right. So she always had a comeback ready,
and she did make one mistake during the trial. Hutchinson
claimed that through direct revelation, God granted her the right
to interpret scriptures as she saw fit. As you might imagine,
(16:42):
that did not fly, not at all, and it fit
under the charge of defaming authorized ministers, and she was
excommunicated and banished as a quote woman not fit for
our society. On March twenty second, sixteen thirty eight. For
three months, she was imprisoned in something like house, arrested
(17:04):
when she was once again bought before her judges to
ask if she had renounced her heretical beliefs. John Cotton,
her mentor, said to her, let me warn you. The
dishonor you have brought onto God by these unsound tenets
of yours is far greater than all the honor you
have brought to Him. And the evil of your opinions
doth outweigh all the good of your doings. Consider how
(17:26):
many poor souls you have misled? How many women have
you convinced that they don't need to depend on men
to get salvation? What a travesty Indeed, to this, she responded,
as my sin hath been open. So I think it
needful to acknowledge how I came to fall into these errors.
Instead of looking upon myself, I looked at men. I
(17:48):
spake rashly and unadvisedly. I do not allow that is
sanctioned the sighting of ministers, nor of the scriptures, nor
anything that is set up by God. Right, So in
this whole thing she's sustaining by Yeah, I believe the
same things, but I don't believe it in the same way. Yeah,
she really. It was a kind of non apology. She
sort of tried to get forgiveness so they wouldn't kick
(18:10):
her out, but at the same time didn't really back
away from the core of her right. It's very diplomatic
of her, she exactly. She did a very diplomatic apology,
and Reverend John Cotton sort of gave her this chance, said,
you know, you just have to really apologize and say
you're wrong, right, And she looked at it and said,
(18:32):
that's okay. I still believe this, but you know you're
doing your thing, okay. So she and her family, along
with sixty other followers, were relocated to the more liberal
colony of Rhode Island, which was founded by another religious
thinker banished from the Massachusetts colony, Roger Williams, who believed
in total religious freedom, meaning no one church should be
(18:53):
supported by tax dollars, and that it was wrong to
take lands from Native Americans. What and the ideas got
him banished because how dare he he purchased the land
from a Native American tribe to found Rhode Island. The
stress of this whole thing perhaps attributed to a still
birth and Hutcheson had soon after they arrived to Rhode Island,
(19:14):
and the rumors that she'd given birth to a quote
monster birth, which were really awful. After her husband died
in sixteen forty two, the family moved again to what
is now New York. A year later, in sixteen forty three,
a Native American massacre, possibly provoked by the Puritans or
in response to white people taking their land, claimed the
lives of all the family members but one daughter in
(19:37):
the Hutchinson family. Some from Massachusetts Colony viewed this as
divine justice, retribution from God. Reverend Thomas Welde wrote of
her death, quote and therefore God's hand is the more
apparently seeing her in to pick out this wolful woman,
to make her and those belonging to her an unheard
of heavy example of their cruelty above all others. Okay,
(19:59):
So she died in seen forty three, So there was
about five years or so between the time she was
excommunicated and when she died, and they held that animosity
for her, like that same vehement animosity for her that
whole time where they were like, I'm so glad that
she died. I think this is retribution, right, that might
be part of the Puritan way, And I say that
(20:19):
non judgmentally, but I feel like a spite is a
big part of yeah, certain belief system. Right. It was
like what you got, what was coming for you? Right?
You angered God and all these religious men. Therefore here
is your just deserts, righteous retribution. Yep, God striking you down.
(20:39):
And Governor whipped up from earlier after her death described
her as an American Jezebel. So yes, still a grudge,
still some anger, some hurt feelings. Perhaps. She is sometimes
referred to as the mother of the Antinomian Conspiracy, which
took place from sixteen thirty six to sixty eight Massachusetts
(21:01):
Bay Colony, and really, in a nutshell was essentially this
whole thing, the Covenant of works, Covenant of grace. It
was one of the first and most severe theological schisms
in New England. In the wake of her trial and
the wake of Ann Hutcherson's trial. To prevent any future
similar incidents, the colony put all this money into training
(21:22):
theologians and ministers, all men, of course, and one of
the institutions born out of this was Harvard. Oh interesting, Yes,
And I read an article on Harvard's blog about how
she's sometimes seen as the mother of Harvard. Does Harvard
itself the university support that view of her as a
mother or is it just kind of like women in
(21:45):
this day and ah who support her as that? Well.
I would love to hear from listeners from the What
I ascertained from this blog post is sort of a
new acceptance of her. Previously it was sort of the
opposite as forget about her didn't have been right. So
I think it's probably a pretty well known fact. But
if anyone wants to write in, we would love to know, right,
(22:08):
So only I think it was three and a half
centuries later, It only took three and a a half centuries
they finally she was officially pardoned by the governor of
Massachusetts at the time, Michael Ducacas. And she has a
road in a river named after her in New York.
So there's that, so you know, her legacy continues. Yeah,
it was some kind of recognition posthumously, but it happened. Yeah,
(22:29):
it just it just took a minute. But she is
definitely reading about her To me, she seems like one
of the first American that's kind of our thing. We
always said religious freedom and having these thoughts and debates,
But because she was a woman doing it at the
time and was threatening this masculine authority, was very much
(22:52):
frightening a frightening prospects. Absolutely, and we again we hear
these stories about people making that journey and coming for
this religious freedom, and I am glad that, even though
it might not have turned out necessarily great for her,
I'm glad there were these people that were fighting this
fight and thinking, you know what, I believe in this
(23:14):
way challenging the status quo. Yeah, I think it's a
very relevant thing to talk about right now. Absolutely, and
I do have a TLDR version, Okay, I'm ready for it. Basically,
she was a woman who was a thinker that believed
that salvation was only available through God, not through these
man made church structures. She directly challenged the patriarchal church's power.
(23:38):
She preached her reliefs gained quite a following at a
time when women were meant to be quiet and subservient,
and she was charged with harrisey and excommunicated and vanished
because of it. There you go. So if you don't
want to hear you had to get Anne Hutchinson, then
just fast forward to this point in time. You didn't
want a re enactment a very dramatic reads curious Court
(24:02):
gays cool. Well. Anne Hutchinson is definitely a person that
I think if you don't know about, you definitely should
do a lot more research. Because I know we spoke
about it for only so many minutes, and the history
of the whole Antonomian controversy and Anne Hutchinson's life herself,
the colony, there are so many ins and outs of
(24:22):
that conversation that can be dug further into that I
think it's definitely worth while digging into it if you do.
Thank you so much for bringing that to the table today.
I think that it's so important to learn about figures
like her, and it allows us to broaden our perspectives
of like what happened in history contextually at different points
(24:44):
in time. And it also allows us to, like I
don't know, I think in a way, and it gives
us avenues our pathways to figure out how we would
like to resist in our own ways. Absolutely, yeah, so
thank you so much for joining me today. I hope
that y'all come back. Yes, love cool. Yeah, that's all
for today. Thank you, thank you. So we've reached the
(25:08):
end of this special episode, and our producers Tandler and
Alexis forced me to say it every single time. I'm
Eve Stuff Coote, and we all hope that you know
a little bit more about history today than you did yesterday.
You have been listening to Annie and Samantha of the
feminist podcast stuff Mom never told you. You can find
them on social media at stuff mom never told you.
(25:31):
You can find their podcast on Apple podcast or anywhere
else you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening and I'll
see you tomorrow. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Hey, everyone, Technically you're getting two days in history today
because we're running two episodes from the History Vault. Hope
you enjoy. Hello, Welcome to this dand history class, where
we dust off a little piece of history every day.
(00:22):
The day was March twenty second, nineteen sixteen. After Yun
shit Kai was declared the first official president of the
Republic of China in nineteen twelve, he had attempted to
bring back Confucianism and reinstate the imperial monarchy, but people
across China and outside of the country opposed the restoration
(00:42):
of the monarchy, and on this day, Yuen abdicated the
throne and China once again had a republican form of government.
Yuen's death soon after in June nineteen sixteen, created a
China with the week government and divided army, ushering in
the warlord era. Early on, Yuin served in the Cheen
(01:05):
Brigade of the Anhui Army, which was sent to Korea
in eighteen eighty two to prevent a Japanese coup. At
the time, Korea had come out of his self imposed
isolation and was targeted by the Japanese and other foreign interests.
Yun served for a decade in Korea, rising to the
position of Chinese Commissioner in Soul until the First Sino
(01:29):
Japanese War broke out in eighteen ninety four, and he
returned to Beijing. After Japan emerged victorious in the Sino
Japanese War in eighteen ninety five, Yuen was put in
charge of training a new army. In eighteen ninety eight,
when the Guangshi Emperor attempted to institute a series of
progressive reforms, Empress Dowager should She wrested power from the
(01:52):
emperor with the help of conservative military leaders. Yuen and
should She then formed an alliance and his political power grew.
He was appointed governor of Shandong Province in eighteen ninety nine,
and at the turn of the century he used his
new army to suppress the Boxer rebellion, and his division
(02:13):
was the only part of China's army that survived the rebellion.
From there he kept gaining influence. He became the Viceroy
of Juli, the region around Beijing, and he was appointed
the Minister of Beiyang and the commissioner of the Army
Reorganization Council. Yuen even played a role in political reforms
(02:36):
late in the king dynasty, like creating the ministries of
Education and Police. She was firm in her support of Yuen,
and Yuen was even more powerful than her because of
his role in government and military command, So his opponents
in the King Court began to worry that he would
lead a military coup. When Shodhi and Guangxu died only
(02:59):
a day apart in nineteen oh eight, Yuan was ordered
to retire from his offices and sent home to Heinan
province under the guise that he had to treat a
foot ailment, but he didn't stay away for long. When
the Shinhai Revolution broke out in October nineteen eleven, the
Teen Court pagged him to come back, but he refused,
(03:22):
saying his foot ailment was still a problem. That was
sarcasm if you didn't catch it anyway. Yuen eventually accepted,
and he became Prime Minister in November, as well as
commander in chief of all the armies in North China
that were fighting against the revolutionists. By December, he had
forced leaders of the revolution to negotiate. During the negotiations,
(03:46):
revolution leader Sun Yat Sen was elected president of the
provisional Government of the Chinese Republic, but the revolutionaries were
in a weak position militarily, so they compromised with Yuen.
Uin got Empress Dowager longed You to abdicate the throne
on behalf of her child, Emperor's son who Ye. In return,
(04:08):
Soun yat Sin resigned as provisional President and Yuen took
the oath of office as Provisional President of the Republic
on March tenth, nineteen twelve. But Yuen only took the
position to consolidate his power. He wasn't particularly interested in
a democratic government. Needless to say, the Republic had a
rocky start. The treasury was empty, provinces were controlled by
(04:32):
war lords, and there still was no permanent constitution. Using
foreign loans, Yuen expanded his army and bought politicians. The
Nationalist Party or Gua Mindong, opposed Yuen and his camp.
When the chairman of the party was murdered in March
of nineteen thirteen, all signs of guilt pointed to UN's government.
(04:56):
In nineteen thirteen, Parliament under force elected Un president. The
new president soon dissolved the Guamndong, arrested its members and
dissolved parliament. Soon, Yuin named himself president for life and
gave himself the right to appoint his successor. As a
part of their expansion efforts, Japan attempted to take advantage
(05:18):
of Yuen's unstable rule in China with a list of
twenty one demands, which would basically make China a Japanese
protectorate in order to avoid war. Un accepted a revised
version of the demand. People protested and boycotted Japanese goods,
and you win lost credibility, But Yuen took advantage of
(05:39):
the anger around the demands to convince people that the
monarchy and his position as emperor needed to be reinstated
for stability. In nineteen fifteen, he announced that he would
soon be emperor under the title Hon Xian Yuan was
ruling through provincial military governors, but military governors and provinces
began to revolt in opposition to the monarchy. With support
(06:03):
from the Japanese the press, UN's advisors and even his
armies rallied against him. Un gave in and revoked monarchism
on March twenty second, nineteen sixteen, though he also said
he would resume his presidency Yuen died three months later
of uremia, while China was still fighting for his resignation
(06:24):
as president. Over the next decade, China would be plagued
by warlordism and the week central government. I'm Eve Jeff
Pote and hopefully you know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. If you feel like correcting
my pronunciation or my accent on anything that I've said
(06:45):
in the show, feel free to leave a very kind
comment on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at TDI HC podcast.
Thank you for joining me today. See you same place,
same time tomorrow. Hey, y'all, it's Eves again. Welcome to
(07:10):
this day in History class. Today. I'm joined by Annie
Reese Hi and Samantha mcphagh. Hey, y'all of stuff Mom
never told you. Thank you so much for having as.
We're so excited to be here, very excited. I'm excited
y'all are here too. And if you listen to stuff
Mom never told you, which if you don't already you should,
You've probably hurt me over there talking about female first
(07:32):
are women in history who did amazing things, and we're
the first to do those things. So I'm super excited
to be joined by them for this episode about Anne Hutchinson,
and they will kick it off and let us know
about what happened today. Yea, So on this day in history,
Anne Hutchinson is who we're talking about. I'm really excited.
Was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony and excommunicated. She's considered
(07:56):
by some as one of America's first feminists after she
rejected excele gender roles and challenged male authority about preaching
to both men and women as a spiritual leader in Massachusetts.
So right up our alley we go. But okay, let's
step back a bit because that's a lot so. Hutcheson
was born in England in fifteen ninety one to Francis
Marbury and Bridget Dryden. She was raised in Lincolnshire and
(08:19):
as she grew up, her father, who was a dissident priest,
taught her scripture and also taught her to question the
teachings of the Church of England, while her mother taught
her about herbal medicines. And it was not common at
this time to get a formal education as a woman.
She didn't get one, but she did read pretty much
whatever she could get her hands on, and she was
(08:40):
always a thinker. One of her inspirations was a local
vicar named Reverend John Cotton, who is a huge player
in her story, but he eventually left her immediate sphere
and he joined a group of religious dissidents in North America,
where religious freedom was promised in sixteen thirty three. He
was outspoken in his criticism of the Protestant Church of England,
(09:02):
and because of that he was often suppressed. So to
get away from all of that, he made the journey
to the New World. Okay, yes, So before we get
a little more into that, just a little more history
on Anne Hutchinson. She married a well off merchant from
a good family named William Hudginson in sixteen twelve. In
between sixteen fourteen and sixteen thirty she had over a
(09:23):
dozen kids. Yeah, she was busy. She was very busy,
just saying so. In sixteen thirty four, her family followed
Reverend Cotton and made the journey to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
When Hudginson was forty three. She used her training as
a midwife to find work, and through this she met
and bonded with a lot of women, and she started
inviting some of them to her house to discuss Cotton's
(09:44):
sermons rights, but those sound like I want to know
what those meetings were like, Like, what was an environment
like in those meetings? She was very, very passionate, and
she is what I would describe with my modern eyes
as a spitfire. She had a lot of opinions and
she wanted to share those opinions, and she was really
critical of the system in place, and they started critiquing
(10:07):
some of that Puritan belief system. In particular, Hutchinson did
not agree with Puritanical beliefs around the Covenant of Works,
which essentially was the belief that the path to salvation
required following religious laws and performing good works and thus
kind of dependent on the church and clergy. Hutchinson followed
(10:29):
instead the Covenant of Grace ideology, and this basically, in
a nutshell, meant that salvation could be obtained through God's
grace alone. And as part of this, she didn't adhere
to the Puritan belief that good works were an act
of God's grace. She espoused that a direct personal relationship
with God was the only way to achieve salvation, which
(10:52):
was a direct threat to the current power structure of
the church. All Right, and not only that, they also
criticized some of the power structure of the colony, and
of note, the assumed inferiority of women compared to men
when it came to God's laws. Her meetings became popular
enough that word got out about them, and some men
began attending. Some of them were well known in the community.
(11:14):
Some had upwards of eighty people in attendance, and this
caught the attention of local religious leaders who did not
like Hutchinson's popularity nor the interpretations they felt she was
a challenge to their authority. Obviously she was basically cutting
out the middlemen, and middlemen is actually because right, exactly,
I just want to reiterate her meetings that were getting
(11:36):
towards the end of eighty followers. That was more than
some churches were getting. Right, I was going to ask
that it was like eighty was a big number back then. Yes, okay,
in particular in this town she was in. And that's
when people started, when men started showing up at these meetings, right,
and then when they noticed that she was getting a
better higher attendance than some of the established churches. Right.
(11:58):
In sixteen thirty seven, hut was tried for sedition and heresy.
But at the heart of the matter, she was on
trial for challenging established gender roles by holding a place
of authority over men at her meetings by talking while
they listened. The horror. They also accused her of breaking
(12:18):
the fifth Commandment, which is honor thy parents. In total,
she faced three charges breaking that fifth commandment, defaming authorized ministers,
and improperly holding meetings in her home. The men in
power were afraid her actions would inspire other women to
challenge masculine authority. Even her role model, Reverend Cotton, who
(12:42):
she semi followed, he turned against her a story of betrayal.
I love it. Yes. He labeled her meetings as quote
promiscuous and filthy, coming together of men and women without
distinction of marriage, and your opinions fret like a gang green,
it spread like a leprosy, and we'll eat out the
very bowels of religion. So that's pretty harsh. That is
(13:06):
really specific too, coming from your role model who you
started these meetings kind of talking about how awesome he wants.
So did she influence other women? Yes, she definitely had
a following of her own of people who completely agreed
with her and thought Yeah, why are we dependent on
the men to get salvation through God? Why does it
(13:28):
have to be via what they say? A lot of
people had strong opinions about Hutchinson, right, Someone at her
child got right to this, saying Hutchinson had quote rather
been a husband than a wife, and a preacher than
a hearer, and a magistrate than a subject. Basically, she
was assuming a masculine role. Okay, all right for it, right,
(13:51):
So let's talk about the child. Because the entire transcript exists,
which is excellent. As you know, Eve, sometimes it's hard
to get these documents so helpful, and this was an
excellent example of how she was a spitfire because these
men were just leveling these accusations at her and she
just always had an answer. So I know you'll love
(14:14):
a good quote on this show. Perfect, So we thought
we would do a very tame reenactment of a section
of this trial. And we're not going to get up
on the table and ready to go like we're actually
in trial. If the movement inspires you, yes you can,
and I'm gonna I'm getting into the role who go Okay, perfect,
(14:35):
And this is from the examination of missus Anne Hutchison
at the court of Newton. So Governor Winthrop, the Governor
himself was a part of this, and he said, Missus Hutchinson,
you are called here as one of those that have
troubled the peace of the commonwealth, and the church is here.
You are known to be a woman that hath had
(14:56):
a great share in the promoting and divulging of those
opinions that our causes of this trouble. And you have
spoken diverse things, as we have been informed, very prejudicial
to the honor of the churches and ministers thereof. And
you have maintained a meeting and an assembly in your
house that hath been condemned by the General Assembly as
a thing not tolerable nor comely in the side of God,
(15:17):
nor fitting for your sex. And notwithstanding that was cried down,
you have continued the same. Therefore, we have thought good
to send for you to understand how things are. That
if you be in an erroneous way, we may reduce
you that so that you may become a profitable member
here among us. Otherwise, if you be obstinate in your course,
that then the court may take such course that you
(15:39):
made trouble us. No further, Therefore, I would entreat you
to express whether you do not hold an assent in
practice to those opinions and factions that have been handled
in court already. That is to say, whether you do
not justify mister Wheelwright's sermon and the petition. And I'm
just imagining her face is being very stolic, yes, in calm,
(15:59):
and you're saying, I am called here to answer before you,
but I hear no things late my charge, which is
an excellent comeback. He's just like, here's all the things
you do going, and she's like, I didn't hear anything.
He took a lot of words. He had like three
points in a whole nineteen paragraphs to say those three points,
And that's pretty indicative of how this trial plays out,
(16:19):
a big, like long winded accusation and her being like, no,
I don't see right. So she always had a comeback ready,
and she did make one mistake during the trial. Hutchinson
claimed that through direct revelation, God granted her the right
to interpret scriptures as she saw fit. As you might imagine,
(16:42):
that did not fly, not at all, and it fit
under the charge of defaming authorized ministers, and she was
excommunicated and banished as a quote woman not fit for
our society. On March twenty second, sixteen thirty eight. For
three months, she was imprisoned in something like house, arrested
(17:04):
when she was once again bought before her judges to
ask if she had renounced her heretical beliefs. John Cotton,
her mentor, said to her, let me warn you. The
dishonor you have brought onto God by these unsound tenets
of yours is far greater than all the honor you
have brought to Him. And the evil of your opinions
doth outweigh all the good of your doings. Consider how
(17:26):
many poor souls you have misled? How many women have
you convinced that they don't need to depend on men
to get salvation? What a travesty Indeed, to this, she responded,
as my sin hath been open. So I think it
needful to acknowledge how I came to fall into these errors.
Instead of looking upon myself, I looked at men. I
(17:48):
spake rashly and unadvisedly. I do not allow that is
sanctioned the sighting of ministers, nor of the scriptures, nor
anything that is set up by God. Right, So in
this whole thing she's sustaining by Yeah, I believe the
same things, but I don't believe it in the same way. Yeah,
she really. It was a kind of non apology. She
sort of tried to get forgiveness so they wouldn't kick
(18:10):
her out, but at the same time didn't really back
away from the core of her right. It's very diplomatic
of her, she exactly. She did a very diplomatic apology,
and Reverend John Cotton sort of gave her this chance, said,
you know, you just have to really apologize and say
you're wrong, right, And she looked at it and said,
(18:32):
that's okay. I still believe this, but you know you're
doing your thing, okay. So she and her family, along
with sixty other followers, were relocated to the more liberal
colony of Rhode Island, which was founded by another religious
thinker banished from the Massachusetts colony, Roger Williams, who believed
in total religious freedom, meaning no one church should be
(18:53):
supported by tax dollars, and that it was wrong to
take lands from Native Americans. What and the ideas got
him banished because how dare he he purchased the land
from a Native American tribe to found Rhode Island. The
stress of this whole thing perhaps attributed to a still
birth and Hutcheson had soon after they arrived to Rhode Island,
(19:14):
and the rumors that she'd given birth to a quote
monster birth, which were really awful. After her husband died
in sixteen forty two, the family moved again to what
is now New York. A year later, in sixteen forty three,
a Native American massacre, possibly provoked by the Puritans or
in response to white people taking their land, claimed the
lives of all the family members but one daughter in
(19:37):
the Hutchinson family. Some from Massachusetts Colony viewed this as
divine justice, retribution from God. Reverend Thomas Welde wrote of
her death, quote and therefore God's hand is the more
apparently seeing her in to pick out this wolful woman,
to make her and those belonging to her an unheard
of heavy example of their cruelty above all others. Okay,
(19:59):
So she died in seen forty three, So there was
about five years or so between the time she was
excommunicated and when she died, and they held that animosity
for her, like that same vehement animosity for her that
whole time where they were like, I'm so glad that
she died. I think this is retribution, right, that might
be part of the Puritan way, And I say that
(20:19):
non judgmentally, but I feel like a spite is a
big part of yeah, certain belief system. Right. It was
like what you got, what was coming for you? Right?
You angered God and all these religious men. Therefore here
is your just deserts, righteous retribution. Yep, God striking you down.
(20:39):
And Governor whipped up from earlier after her death described
her as an American Jezebel. So yes, still a grudge,
still some anger, some hurt feelings. Perhaps. She is sometimes
referred to as the mother of the Antinomian Conspiracy, which
took place from sixteen thirty six to sixty eight Massachusetts
(21:01):
Bay Colony, and really, in a nutshell was essentially this
whole thing, the Covenant of works, Covenant of grace. It
was one of the first and most severe theological schisms
in New England. In the wake of her trial and
the wake of Ann Hutcherson's trial. To prevent any future
similar incidents, the colony put all this money into training
(21:22):
theologians and ministers, all men, of course, and one of
the institutions born out of this was Harvard. Oh interesting, Yes,
And I read an article on Harvard's blog about how
she's sometimes seen as the mother of Harvard. Does Harvard
itself the university support that view of her as a
mother or is it just kind of like women in
(21:45):
this day and ah who support her as that? Well.
I would love to hear from listeners from the What
I ascertained from this blog post is sort of a
new acceptance of her. Previously it was sort of the
opposite as forget about her didn't have been right. So
I think it's probably a pretty well known fact. But
if anyone wants to write in, we would love to know, right,
(22:08):
So only I think it was three and a half
centuries later, It only took three and a a half centuries
they finally she was officially pardoned by the governor of
Massachusetts at the time, Michael Ducacas. And she has a
road in a river named after her in New York.
So there's that, so you know, her legacy continues. Yeah,
it was some kind of recognition posthumously, but it happened. Yeah,
(22:29):
it just it just took a minute. But she is
definitely reading about her To me, she seems like one
of the first American that's kind of our thing. We
always said religious freedom and having these thoughts and debates,
But because she was a woman doing it at the
time and was threatening this masculine authority, was very much
(22:52):
frightening a frightening prospects. Absolutely, and we again we hear
these stories about people making that journey and coming for
this religious freedom, and I am glad that, even though
it might not have turned out necessarily great for her,
I'm glad there were these people that were fighting this
fight and thinking, you know what, I believe in this
(23:14):
way challenging the status quo. Yeah, I think it's a
very relevant thing to talk about right now. Absolutely, and
I do have a TLDR version, Okay, I'm ready for it. Basically,
she was a woman who was a thinker that believed
that salvation was only available through God, not through these
man made church structures. She directly challenged the patriarchal church's power.
(23:38):
She preached her reliefs gained quite a following at a
time when women were meant to be quiet and subservient,
and she was charged with harrisey and excommunicated and vanished
because of it. There you go. So if you don't
want to hear you had to get Anne Hutchinson, then
just fast forward to this point in time. You didn't
want a re enactment a very dramatic reads curious Court
(24:02):
gays cool. Well. Anne Hutchinson is definitely a person that
I think if you don't know about, you definitely should
do a lot more research. Because I know we spoke
about it for only so many minutes, and the history
of the whole Antonomian controversy and Anne Hutchinson's life herself,
the colony, there are so many ins and outs of
(24:22):
that conversation that can be dug further into that I
think it's definitely worth while digging into it if you do.
Thank you so much for bringing that to the table today.
I think that it's so important to learn about figures
like her, and it allows us to broaden our perspectives
of like what happened in history contextually at different points
(24:44):
in time. And it also allows us to, like I
don't know, I think in a way, and it gives
us avenues our pathways to figure out how we would
like to resist in our own ways. Absolutely, yeah, so
thank you so much for joining me today. I hope
that y'all come back. Yes, love cool. Yeah, that's all
for today. Thank you, thank you. So we've reached the
(25:08):
end of this special episode, and our producers Tandler and
Alexis forced me to say it every single time. I'm
Eve Stuff Coote, and we all hope that you know
a little bit more about history today than you did yesterday.
You have been listening to Annie and Samantha of the
feminist podcast stuff Mom never told you. You can find
them on social media at stuff mom never told you.
(25:31):
You can find their podcast on Apple podcast or anywhere
else you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening and I'll
see you tomorrow. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
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