II • John Winthrop • Magistrate
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Parrington, Vernon Louis
Bred up in a half-feudal world, the leaders of the Migration remained patriarchal in their social philosophy, unable to adapt old prejudices to new conditions. Human motives are curiously mixed, human actions rarely consistent; and if the shortcomings of John Winthrop show blacker by contrast with the excellence of the ideal which he professed, the fault must be charged against his time and associates and not against his manly, generous nature. Most English gentlemen of his day were steeped in a sodden Toryism, yet he earnestly desired to be a faithful steward of church and state. If as a gentleman he held firmly to the privilege of rulership, as a Christian he endeavored to rule honorably and in the fear of the Lord. If he followed the beaten path and tried to shape the great experiment by the traditional principles of his class; if his zeal at times led him into indisputable tyrannies; it was because he was led away from the light, not because he sought selfish ends. Godliness has its own special temptations, and it would be ungenerous to bear ill-will against so lovable a man.
Source notes
Footnotes
[1] James Truslow Adams, The Founding of New England, p. 170.
[2]Institutes, Book IV, Chapter XX, Paragraph 8.
[3] “Letter to Lord Say and Sele,” in Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vol. I, p. 497.
[4] Vol. I, p. 116.
[5]Ibid., Vol. I, p. 125.
[6]Magnalia, Vol. I, p. 265. Compare with this Cotton’s own words: “The law, which your Lordship instanceth (in that none shall be chosen to magistracy amongst us, but a church member) was made and enacted before I came into the country; but I have hitherto wanted sufficient light to plead against it” (Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vol. I, p. 498).
[7] Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vol. I, Appendix 2.
[8] See Narragansett Club Publications, Vol. II, p. 203.
[9]Ibid., Part II, p. 15.
[10] See Hutchinson, Papers, Vol. II, pp. 131 ff.; quoted in Adams, Founding of New England, p. 261.
[11] “Master John Cottons Answer to Master Roger Williams,” in Narragansett Club Publications, Vol. II, pp. 22–23.
[12]Life and Letters of John Winthrop, Vol. I, p. 310.
[13]Ibid., Vol. I, p. 296.
[14]Life and Letters, Vol. I, pp. 397–398.
[15]Ibid., Vol. I, p. 288.
[16]Ibid., Vol. I, p. 179.
[17] Book IV, Chapter XX, Paragraph 6.
[18] The heads of argument are given in Life and Letters, Vol. II, pp. 211–214.
[19]Ibid., Vol. II, p. 236.
[20] Both are given in the appendix to Vol. II of the Life and Letters.
[21]Ibid., Vol. II, p. 454.
[22]Journal, Vol. II, p. 240.
[23]Ibid., Vol. II, p. 438.
[24]Discourse about the Neg: Vote, Life and Letters, Vol. II, p. 434.
[25]Journal.
[26]Life and Letters, Vol. II, p. 430.
[27]Ibid., Vol. II, p. 237.
[28]Letter of Lord Say and Sele, in ibid., Vol. II, p. 426.
[29]History of New England, Vol. II, pp. 279–282.
[30] Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vol. II, pp. 482–520.