GORTON, SAMUEL (c. 1600-1677)

This article appears in Volume V12, Page 261 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: GOA-GRA

GORTON, SAMUEL (c. 1600-1677) , English sectary and founder of the American sect of Gortonites, was born about 1600 at Gorton, Lancashire. He was first apprenticed to a

clothier

CLOTHIER

in London, but, fearing persecution for his religious convictions, he sailed for Boston,

Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS (an Indian name, originally applied to a tribe of Indians)

, in 1636. Constantly involved in religious disputes, he fled in turn to Ply-mouth, and (in 1637-1638) to Aquidneck (Newport), where he was publicly whipped for insulting the clergy and magistrates. In 1643 he bought land from the Narraganset Indians at Shawometnow Warwickwhere he was joined by a number of his followers; but he quarrelled with the Indians and the authorities at Boston sent soldiers to arrest Gorton and six of his companions. He served a

term

TERM

of imprisonment for heresy at

Charlestown

CHARLESTOWN

, after which he was ejected from the colony. In England in 1646 he published the curious

tract

TRACT (from Lat. tractare, to treat of a matter, through Provencal tractat and Ital. trattato)

" Simplicities Defence against Seven Headed Policy " (reprinted in 1835), giving an account of his grievances against the

Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS (an Indian name, originally applied to a tribe of Indians)

government. In 1648 he returned to New England with a

letter

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the
alphabet
- ALPHABET (see also WRITING)
; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

protection

PROTECTION

from the

earl

EARL

of Warwick, and joining his former companions at Shawomet, which he named Warwick, in honour of the

earl

EARL

, he remained there till his death at the end of 1677. _ He is chiefly remembered as the founder of a small sect called the Gortonites, which survived till the end of the 18th century. They had a

great

GREAT

contempt for the regular clergy and for all outward forms of religion, holding that the true believers partook of the perfection of God.
Among his quaint writings are: An Incorruptible Key composed of the CX. Psalms wherewith you may open the rest of the Scriptures (1647), and Saltmarsh returned from the Dead, with its sequel, An Antidote against the Common Plague of the World (1657). See L. G. Jones, Samuel Gorton: a forgotten Founder of our Liberties (Providence, 1896).

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