A Model of Christian Charity

John Winthrop (1587/88-1649) was an English Puritan lawyer born in Suffolk, England. He studied law at Cambridge University, where his Puritan beliefs began to take shape. Heir to an English Manor, Winthrop became a justice of the peace at age 18. This role, though reserved for the gentry class, was a political office close to the lives of common folk, as its major responsibility was to ensure peacefulness and enforce parliamentary and crown statues at the local level. Winthrop advanced through the courts over the next 20 years, and in 1626 he serves as an attorney in the Court of Wards and Liveries, which dealt mostly with cases of inheritance. This was a corrupt court, and within it Winthrop grew increasingly dissatisfied with the immoral conditions of his work and broader English politics. This corruption increased when Charles I took the throne of England (see Analysis).

As repair of English society from within became an increasingly unlikely proposition, Winthrop’s attention turned to a growing body of Puritans who sought to form a refuge for their faith in the New World. Plymouth, an English colony, was already one such establishment. In 1628, a group of settlers had received permission to found a new colony in the area surrounding present-day Boston. This group of settlers became the Massachusetts Bay Company, which Winthrop joined. In 1629, he became governor of their future colony, and was instrumental in the organization of ships, supplies, and 1,000 colonists for the Company’s 60-day sea voyage to the New World.

The fleet docked at Salem, which was at this time a shantytown populated by roughly 300 colonists. Life was rough here, and many settlers had died in the previous winter. Winthrop established his settlement on the nearby bay around Charlestown. Shortly thereafter some colonists moved again from Charlestown to an area they called Trimountaine in search of fresh water, a settlement later renamed Boston. In the first few years, Winthrop worked tirelessly and drew on personal funds to help the new colony find their feet. Shipping and local merchant economies developed with Winthrop’s help.

Winthrop’s authority as governor was central to the early colony, where he focused on legislating according to his Puritan ideals, though he never allowed clergy to serve as public officials. He was part of system of government that included himself as the governor, a deputy governor, and 18 assistant magistrates all elected by the community’s freemen. He served as governor for 12 of the colony’s first 20 years, successively voted in and out of office multiple times. Winthrop died in 1649 of natural causes. “A Modell of Christian Charity” remains his most historically significant piece of writing.