John winthrop's evaluation of winthrop.

First of all, winthrop's social background and religious thoughts are very complicated, and there are different opinions on him in history. Some people describe him as "one of the greatest figures in American history", but others see "all the weaknesses of that era" in him, and others position him as "the main spokesman of theocracy". However, several viewpoints are consistent: first, he is a "real gentleman" regardless of his birth or upbringing; Secondly, he was a non-secessionist puritan belonging to the congregational church. Third, he later became the leader of the Puritans in New England. It doesn't matter which faction winthrop belongs to, one of the reasons is that the beliefs of many Christians often changed at that time. The second reason is that at the time of the rise of Puritanism, almost all Puritans originally belonged to English Protestantism, that is, the state religion. In my opinion, the first point is the most important, because he is a "real gentleman", which determines his "elite" consciousness that he can't give up when pursuing the puritan ideal, and he has the conditions to receive a good traditional education before entering the society.

But winthrop is not only a "real gentleman", in a sense, he is also a down-to-earth practitioner. During his tenure as a lawyer of the Royal Guardian Court, he made many resolutions on a series of social issues. He actively promoted the transfer of the headquarters and articles of association of Massachusetts Bay Company to the North American colonies, wrote Case Analysis of winthrop Immigrants, General Situation of New England Colonies, and An Emotional Letter to British Villagers and Villagers, and organized the "Great Migration" of immigrants. Although his career as governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony was full of difficulties, he always rose from setbacks again and again with his generosity, gentleness, persistence and selfless dedication to the colonial cause. He did not refuse to admit his mistakes and failures, but he was more willing to constantly sum up and study his experiences and lessons in this process in order to advance his colonial cause, and wrote one article after another similar to opposing the church's participation in the trial of government officials, discussing autocratic government and discussing freedom. He eventually became the governor who was elected the most times and served for the longest time during the pioneering period of Massachusetts Bay colony, became the most influential figure in the early New England colony, and made outstanding contributions to the institutional, economic and cultural construction of the colony.

Winthrop has contributed a lot to the construction of Massachusetts and New England, but the most important and concentrated point is that he put forward and practiced the ideal and program of building a "city on a hill" in the New World. Its great ideological, theoretical and historical significance is not limited to Massachusetts and New England, but extends to the whole American civilization, beyond the scope of the United States, because it is the only one in the world that has been put into practice since the idea of building a "city on a hill" was put forward by the Bible. We can find traces of it in the American Constitution, and there are still many people in the world who are struggling to realize their ideals. His ideal and program of establishing "City on the Peak" can be found in winthrop's sermon entitled "A Model of Christian Kindness" in 1630. In it, he explicitly asked people to "realize that we will be like a city on the top of a mountain" because "the eyes of the whole world are watching us". Because he preached to the colonists on the flagship "Abela" which went to the colony of Massachusetts Bay, he systematically expounded his thought, theory, organization and way of establishing "the city on the top of the mountain", which was both programmatic and practical, and was a rare classic for creating American civilization.

What is important is that winthrop not only put forward the ideal and plan of establishing a "city on the top of a hill" in the colony, that is, "the proper form of secular government" and "the proper form of church government", but also started to implement it as soon as he arrived in New England, which can even be said to be fruitful: he established a government, established villages and towns, expanded the ruling foundation, and formulated a series of effective laws and regulations, leading the colony out of its initial predicament. While establishing an "appropriate secular government form", it also established an "ideal church"-the congregational society. In short, in the first four years after winthrop took office, he made unremitting efforts to establish an ideal "city on the top of the mountain", which can be said to have laid the foundation for what he called "the proper form of secular government".

Winthrop's contribution to colonial economy and education is particularly outstanding. During his tenure, he promulgated a series of laws to develop the economy. 1639 issued a decree to encourage and support shipbuilding production and exempt vessels engaged in fishery production and transportation from various fees for seven years; 1644 issued a decree to give the contractor who set up the iron works the privilege of monopolizing the iron production for 2 1 year; 1647, fishermen in Hull area were granted various rights to build towns; 1648 issued a decree to allow sheep farmers to use all land in towns and villages. In order to develop the colonial leather industry, 1642, 1646 and 1647 passed decrees to ensure the quality of leather products. These powerful policies and measures not only made the colony get rid of the economic depression that occurred in the 1940s in 17, but also made the colonial economy embark on the road of independence. During his term as governor, the first compulsory education law and the first public education law in British North America colony came out one after another in Massachusetts Bay colony, and the first middle school and the first university in British North America were established in Massachusetts Bay colony. Because he attached great importance to education, Massachusetts Bay Colony became the most developed area in British North America, which laid the foundation for the establishment of American primary, secondary and higher education systems.

Winthrop also has its historical limitations. In his contacts with Indians, he ignored that Indians were the natural masters of the American continent, invaded and plundered Indian land, and whitewashed the invasion of immigrants as an act of God, which fully exposed the mentality of European colonialists. Religiously, he believed that tolerance of heresy would disintegrate the Puritan society. In order to establish a pure "city on the top of the mountain", he not only excluded those who he regarded as heretics, but even issued a decree prohibiting immigrants from settling down; On the political system, winthrop advocated the establishment of "mixed aristocracy". Although this system has its rationality, it also has its historical limitations. Opposing direct democracy is a good example. On the understanding of society, he recognized the concept of hierarchical society; There is also a phenomenon of neglecting the rights and interests of ordinary immigrants in administration. He emphasized that society is an organic whole, and individual interests should give way to collective interests, which is consistent with the principle advocated by Christianity at that time. Generally speaking, it is understandable, but it is not appropriate to ignore personal interests and rights.

Of course, when we evaluate the merits and demerits of historical figures, the main focus should not be the temporary gains and losses of historical figures, nor should we leave the era and environment in which historical figures live, let alone criticize the ancients. The judgment of historical figures should be based on whether he promoted the development of history and in what ways promoted the pace of human civilization. The key to evaluate winthrop is to examine whether he has played a positive role in advancing the historical process of New England. In this sense, winthrop is a historical figure worthy of recognition.