America was not always the "Land of Liberty." In the 1630s, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, questioning Puritan dogma could bring you a world of trouble. It could get you shunned, it could get you ex-communicated, it could even get you criminally convicted and banished. Anne Hutchinson found all this out in 1637. But Hutchinson's trial and conviction also, in ways that would have surprised her detractors, helped set American on a path towards greater toleration for religious differences.

Concepts

freedom of religion

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Additional Tags

famous trials, from "god in america: how religious liberty shaped america" (episode 1)(pbs, 2010), hutchinson banished, john winthrop, governor of the colony, trial of anne hutchinson (1637), women's religious study groups held in private homes

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Classroom Considerations

• Knovation Readability Score: 4 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)