John Winthrop's "City on a Hill"

The idea that John Winthrop and the early colonial settlers saw themselves as a "city on a hill," as an example for other nations, helps to define the concept of...

• American idealism

• American exceptionalism

• the American Dream

• American capitalism

According to his sermon, why did Winthrop say the Puritans must view themselves as "a city upon a hill"?

• In order to have a more defensible position in case of an attack by indigenous peoples.

• In order to build a light house to help approaching ships navigate.

• In order to serve as a religious inspiration to others.

• In order to concentrate evil and sin and then separate it from the rest of society.

John Winthrop was made the first governor of which colony?

• Massachusetts Bay Colony

• Plymouth Colony

• Jamestown Colony

• Roanoke Colony

In the opening line of this sermon, the word "posterity" most nearly means...

• safety and security

• immediate well-being

• proper or formal

• all future generations of people.

Winthrop writes, "We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities." Which choice most nearly means the same as the word "abridge" in this sentence?

• cut short

• bring together

• find connections

• exercise

Winthrop's sermon opens with him extolling the virtues of uniting as a community and working together. Which sentence from the opening paragraph is the best evidence of this theme?

• "Wee must delight in eache other; make other’s conditions our oune; rejoice together, mourne together, labour and suffer together, allwayes haueving before our eyes our commission and community in the worke, as members of the same body."

• "Soe that wee shall see much more of his wisdome, power, goodness and truthe, than formerly wee have been acquainted with."

• "The eies of all people are upon us."

• "Wee shall open the mouthes of enemies to speake evill of the ways of God, and all professors for God’s sake."

In the final sentences of the first paragraph, Winthrop writes, "The eies of all people are upon us. Soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our God in this worke wee have undertaken, and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. Wee shall open the mouthes of enemies to speake evill of the ways of God, and all professors for God’s sake."

What is his claim in stating this?

• The colonists must continue to pray regularly because if they fail to honor God, He will smite them all.

• If any of the colonists lie, cheat, of deal falsely with God, then that colonist is cheating God.

• God is fickle and does not like what the colonists are doing, so they must work extra hard to honor God.

• If the colonists fail to work together for the benefit of the community, they will fail God, not only causing God to withdraw his support, but also give opportunities for their enemies to speak ill Christianity.

In the very last line of his sermon, Winthrop writes, "Therefore let us choose life that wee, and our seede may live, by obeyeing His voyce and cleaveing to Him, for Hee is our life and our prosperity."

What does Winthrop claim is the key to the colonists' success in this last sentence?

• Working together to help their children come to know God

• introducing the indigenous people of the new world to God

• following God's commandments and staying faithful to the word of God

• setting up a united government to help organize the colonists

Who is Winthrop's intended audience?

• All those reading his sermon

• The indigenous people of the "new world"

• His doubters back in England

• The 700 colonists who set up homes in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

This sermon was almost lost to history until it was referenced by this President of the United States in a speech given in 1961.

• John F. Kennedy

• Ronald Reagan

• Barak Obama

• Dwight D. Eisenhower