speakers, and, as in the case of Mary Dyer, to invade the sacred
precincts of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to proselyte to Quakerism.


_VII. Female Rebellion_

But those Puritan colonists had far greater troubles to harass them than
the few quiet Quaker women who were moved by Inner Light to speak in the
village streets. One of these troubles we have touched upon--the Rise of
the Antinomians, or the disturbance caused by Anne Hutchinson. The other
was the Salem Witchcraft proceedings. In both of these women were
directly concerned, and indeed were at the root of the disturbances. Let
us examine in some detail the influence of Puritan womanhood in these
social upheavals that shook the foundations of church rule in New
England.

While most of the women of the Puritan colonies seem to have been too
busy with their household duties and their numerous children to concern
themselves extensively with public affairs, there was this one woman,
Anne Hutchinson, who has gained lasting fame as the cause of the
greatest religious and political disturbance occurring in Massachusetts
before the days of the Revolution. Many are the references in the early
writers to this radical leader and her followers. Some of the most
prominent men and women in the colony were inclined to follow her, and
for a time it appeared that hers was to be the real power of the day;
great was the excitement. Thomas Hutchinson in his _History of
Massachusetts Bay Colony_, told of her trial and banishment:
"Countenanced and encouraged by Mr. Vane and Mr. Cotton, she advanced
doctrines and opinions which involved the colony in disputes and
contensions; and being improved to civil as well as religious purposes,