ipl-logo

What Is John Winthrop's Idea Of A City Upon A Hill

282 Words2 Pages
In John Winthrop’s sermon he states that, “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us…” (188). To Winthrop this meant that they needed to prove that it is possible to live a true Christian life. To Thomas Jefferson the idea of the “city upon a hill” meant something different. Throughout his “Notes On the State of Virginia,” Jefferson emphasizes the importance of maintaining the new government. At the end of one his notes he states, “The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in its vigor” (721). This “pure government” to Jefferson is Americas
Open Document