Indeed, many men where disenfranchise, disarmed, and banished from the town of Boston because of their beliefs which the ruling church considered to be heresy. Although the Puritans fled England seeking a place where they could worship in peace, they did not extend this same freedom to those who differed with them. More than than, Anne's life and her persecution by the church of Boston helped to form the foundational American value of religious freedom.

Her descendants have gone on to be governors, ministers and presidents. This is a fascinating biography of Anne Hutchinson, one of the earliest English immigrants to America whose legacy has had a great impact on the foundation of America.

American Jezebel illuminates the origins of our modern concepts of religious freedom, equal rights, and free speech, and showcases an extraordinary woman whose achievements are astonishing by the standards of any era. The seeds of the American struggle for women's and human rights can be found in the story of this one woman's courageous life. In exile, she settled Rhode Island, becoming the only woman ever to co-found an American colony. The book narrates her dramatic expulsion from Massachusetts, after which her judges, still threatened by her challenges, promptly built Harvard College to enforce religious and social orthodoxies-making her the mid-wife to the nation's first college. It captures this American heroine's life in all its complexity, presenting her not as a religious fanatic, a cardboard feminist, or a raging crank-as some have portrayed her-but as a flesh-and-blood wife, mother, theologian, and political leader. Written by one of Hutchinson's direct descendants, American Jezebel brings both balance and perspective to Hutchinson's story. Hutchinson defended herself brilliantly, but the judges, faced with a perceived threat to public order, banished her for behaving in a manner 'not comely for sex.' Her unconventional ideas had attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. In 1637, Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six-year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition.

American Jezebel by Eve LaPlante