#103 The Winthrop Fleet and the City on the Hill

We have arrived at the Great Migration of the Puritans to Massachusetts, which effectively began in 1628 and would continue until 1640 or so, and then abruptly end. The result would be that for almost two hundred years the non-indigenous population of New England would consist almost entirely of the descendants of a group of religious refugees shaped by a particularly tumultuous moment in English political and religious life.

The “Winthrop Fleet” of 1630 led by – no surprises here – John Winthrop, would define the geography of Puritan Massachusetts. Winthrop’s leadership, which will unfold over two decades, began with one of history’s most famous sermons, “A Modell of Christian Charity,” which would in turn define the aspirations for the Puritan settlement of Massachusetts Bay. It would also be the first great expression of one aspect of “American exceptionalism,” the idea that Americans – meaning specifically Puritan English settlers in New England – would serve as an example for all the world.

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Selected references for this episode

John M. Barry, Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul

Francis J. Bremer, John Winthrop: America’s Forgotten Founding Father

George Bancroft, History Of The United States Of America Volume 1

Thomas Hutchinson, The History of Massachusetts, from the First Settlement Thereof in 1628, Until the Year 1750

John Endecott (Wikipedia)

John Winthrop, A Modell of Christian Charity

David Crowther, The History of England Podcast