John Winthrop (January 12, 1588 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and a leading figure in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of colonists from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years. His writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan "city upon a hill" dominated New England colonial development, influencing the governments and religions of neighboring colonies in addition to those of Massachusetts.
Winthrop was born into a wealthy land-owning and merchant family. He trained in the law and became Lord of the manor at Groton in Suffolk, England. He was not involved in founding the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1628, but he became involved in 1629 when anti-Puritan King Charles I began a crackdown on Nonconformist religious thought. In October 1629, he was elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and he led a group of colonists to the New World in April 1630, founding a number of communities on the shores of Massachusetts Bay and the Charles River.
Between 1629 and his death in 1649, he served 18 annual terms as governor or lieutenant-governor and was a force of comparative moderation in the religiously conservative colony, clashing with the more conservative Thomas Dudley and the more liberal Roger Williams and Henry Vane. Winthrop was a respected political figure, and his attitude toward governance seems authoritarian to modern sensibilities. He resisted attempts to widen voting and other civil rights beyond a narrow class of religiously approved individuals, opposed attempts to codify a body of laws that the colonial magistrates would be bound by, and also opposed unconstrained democracy, calling it "the meanest and worst of all forms of government". The authoritarian and religiously conservative nature of Massachusetts rule was influential in the formation of neighboring colonies, which were formed in some instances by individuals and groups opposed to the rule of the Massachusetts elders.
Winthrop's son John was one of the founders of the Connecticut Colony, and Winthrop himself wrote one of the leading historical accounts of the early colonial period. His long list of descendants includes famous Americans, and his writings continue to influence politicians today.
Life in England John Winthrop was born on January 12, 1587/8Moore, p. 237 to Adam and Anne (née Browne) Winthrop in Edwardstone, Suffolk, England. His birth was recorded in the parish register at Groton.Bremer (2003), p. 403, notes the distinction that not all of the Winthrop children were recorded in the Edwardstone parish register. His father's family had been successful in the textile business, and his father was a lawyer and prosperous landowner with several properties in Suffolk.Bremer (2003), p. 67 His mother's family was also well-to-do, with properties in Suffolk and Essex.Bremer (2003), p. 70 In 1592, Winthrop's father was appointed as auditor at Trinity College, Cambridge.Bremer (2003), p. 68 Winthrop's uncle John (Adam's brother) immigrated to Ireland, and the Winthrop family took up residence at Groton Manor.Bremer (2003), p. 73
Winthrop was first tutored at home by John Chaplin and was assumed to have attended grammar school at Bury St. Edmunds. He was also regularly exposed to religious discussions between his father and clergymen, and thus came to a deep understanding of theology at an early age. He was admitted to Trinity College in December 1602,Bremer (2003), p. 79 matriculating at the university a few months later. Among the students with whom he would have interacted were John Cotton and John Wheelwright, two men who also had important roles in New England.Bremer (2003), p. 82 He was a close childhood and university friend of William Spring, later a Puritan Member of Parliament with whom he corresponded for the rest of his life.Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 'SPRING, Sir William (1588–1638)', The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604–1629 (2010), from History of Parliament online (Accessed March 11, 2014). The teenage Winthrop admitted in his diary of the time to "lusts ... so masterly as no good could fasten upon me."Bremer (2003), p. 83 Biographer Francis Bremer suggests that Winthrop's need to control his baser impulses may have prompted him to leave school early and marry at an unusually early age.Bremer (2003), pp. 84, 90
In 1604, Winthrop journeyed to Great Stambridge in Essex with a friend.Bremer (2003), p. 88 They stayed at the home of a family friend, and Winthrop was favorably impressed with their daughter Mary Forth.Bremer (2003), p. 89 He left Trinity College to marry her on April 16, 1605, at St Mary and All Saints, Great Stambridge. Mary bore him five children, of whom only three survived to adulthood.Moore, pp. 268–270 The oldest of their children was John Winthrop the Younger, who became a governor and magistrate of Connecticut Colony.Mayo (1948), pp. 59–61Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, p. 2 Their last two children, both girls, died not long after birth, and Mary died in 1615 from complications of the last birth. The couple spent most of their time at Great Stambridge, living on the Forth estate.Bremer (2003), p. 91 In 1613, Adam Winthrop transferred the family holdings in Groton to Winthrop, who then became Lord of the manor at Groton.Bremer (2003), pp. 98–100
Lord of the manor
As lord of the manor, Winthrop was deeply involved in the management of the estate, overseeing the agricultural activities and the manor house.Morison, p. 53 He eventually followed his father in practicing law in London, which would have brought him into contact with the city's business elite.Morison, p. 54 He was also appointed to the county commission of the peace, a position that gave him a wider exposure among other lawyers and landowners and a platform to advance what he saw as God's kingdom.Bremer (2003), p. 106 The commission's responsibilities included overseeing countywide issues, including road and bridge maintenance and the issuance of licenses. Some of its members were also empowered to act as local judges for minor offenses, although Winthrop was only able to exercise this authority in cases affecting his estate.Bremer (2003), p. 107 The full commission met quarterly, and Winthrop forged a number of important connections through its activities.Bremer (2003), pp. 107–109
Winthrop documented his religious life, keeping a journal beginning 1605 in which he described his religious experiences and feelings.Morison, p. 59 In it, he described his failures to keep "divers vows" and sought to reform his failings by God's grace, praying that God would "give me a new heart, joy in his spirit; that he would dwell with me".Bremer (2003), p. 96 He was somewhat distressed that his wife did not share the intensity of his religious feelings, but he eventually observed that "she proved after a right godly woman."Bremer (2003), p. 97 He was more intensely religious than his father, whose diaries dealt almost exclusively with secular matters.Morison, p. 60
His wife Mary died in 1615, and he followed the custom of the time by marrying Thomasine Clopton soon after on December 6, 1615. She was more pious than Mary had been; Winthrop wrote that she was "truly religious & industrious therein". Thomasine died on December 8, 1616, from complications of childbirth; the child did not survive.Bremer (2003), p. 103
In approximately 1613 (records indicate that it may have been earlier), Winthrop was enrolled at Gray's Inn. There he read the law but did not advance to the Bar.Bremer (2003), p. 101 His legal connections introduced him to the Tyndal family of Great Maplestead, Essex, and he began courting Margaret Tyndal in 1617, the daughter of chancery judge Sir John Tyndal and his wife Anne Egerton, sister of Puritan preacher Stephen Egerton. Her family was initially opposed to the match on financial grounds;Bremer (2003), pp. 112–113 Winthrop countered by appealing to piety as a virtue which more than compensated for his modest income. The couple were married on April 29, 1618, at Great Maplestead.Bremer (2003), p. 115 They continued to live at Groton, although Winthrop necessarily divided his time between Groton and London, where he eventually acquired a highly desirable post in the Court of Wards and Liveries. His eldest son John sometimes assisted Margaret with the management of the estate while he was away.Bremer (2003), pp. 117–125
Decision to begin voyage and settlement in the American colonies In the mid- to late-1620s, the religious atmosphere in England began to look bleak for Puritans and other groups whose adherents believed that the English Reformation was in danger. King Charles I had ascended the throne in 1625, and he had married a Roman Catholic. Charles was opposed to all manner of recusants and supported the Church of England in its efforts against religious groups such as the Puritans that did not adhere fully to its teachings and practices. This atmosphere of intolerance led Puritan religious and business leaders to consider emigration to the New World as a viable means to escape persecution.Bremer (2003), p. 138
The first successful religious colonization of the New World occurred in 1620 with the establishment of the Plymouth Colony on the shores of Cape Cod Bay.Morison, p. 12 Pastor John White led a short-lived effort to establish a colony at Cape Ann in 1624, also on the Massachusetts coast.Morison, pp. 28–29 In 1628, some of the investors in that effort joined with new investors to acquire a land grant for the territory roughly between the Charles and Merrimack Rivers. It was first styled the New England Company, then renamed the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629 after it acquired a royal charter granting it permission to govern the territory.Morison, pp. 31–34 Shortly after acquiring the land grant in 1628, it sent a small group of settlers led by John Endecott to prepare the way for further migration.Morison, p. 35 John Winthrop was apparently not involved in any of these early activities, which primarily involved individuals from Lincolnshire; however, he was probably aware of the company's activities and plans by early 1629. The exact connection is uncertain by which he became involved with the company because there were many indirect connections between him and individuals associated with the company.Bremer (2003), pp. 153–155 Winthrop was also aware of attempts to colonize other places; his son Henry became involved in efforts to settle Barbados in 1626, which Winthrop financially supported for a time.Manegold, pp. 8–12
In March 1629, King Charles dissolved Parliament, beginning eleven years of rule without Parliament.Morison, p. 64 This action apparently raised new concerns among the company's principals; in their July meeting, Governor Matthew Cradock proposed that the company reorganize itself and transport its charter and governance to the colony.Bremer (2003), p. 156 It also worried Winthrop, who lost his position in the Court of Wards and Liveries in the crackdown on Puritans that followed the dissolution of Parliament. He wrote, "If the Lord seeth it wilbe good for us, he will provide a shelter & a hidinge place for us and others". During the following months, he became more involved with the company, meeting with others in Lincolnshire. By early August, he had emerged as a significant proponent of emigration, and he circulated a paper on August 12 providing eight separate reasons in favor of emigration.Bremer (2003), pp. 157–158 His name appears in formal connection with the company on the Cambridge Agreement signed August 26; this document provided means for emigrating shareholders to buy out non-emigrating shareholders of the company.Morison, p. 69