William Bradford Letter to John Winthrop
11 April 1638
This 1638 letter from Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth Colony to Gov. John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay Colony references Anne Hutchinson, who soon would be exiled from Massachusetts for her religious teachings. Hutchinson held popular weekly religious meetings in her Boston home. Many colony leaders felt threatened by Hutchinson and her followers, whom they labeled "Antinomians"—heretics who believed themselves above law and custom because of their direct communion with God. In this letter, Bradford expresses concern that Hutchinson and her followers might move into Plymouth Colony. He also asks Winthrop for information about a "monsterous & prodigious birth" to Mary Dyer. A follower of Hutchinson, Dyer gave birth to a deformed, stillborn baby, with Hutchinson acting as midwife. Hutchinson's opponents saw the birth as God's punishment, as they did a later, similar birth to Hutchinson. Dyer later converted to Quakerism and was jailed and executed in Boston for refusing to conform to the established church.
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