Two of Boston’s earliest dissenters were Mary Dyer (d. 1660) and Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643). Mary Dyer, a Quaker, witnessed on the Boston Common two times before she was hanged for heresy. Anne Hutchinson was banished from Boston after she accused the Puritan oligarchy of preaching that “good works” would bring God’s grace. As a pledge of their friendship and shared belief in the role of religious dissenters, Mary Dyer walked beside Hutchinson after she was excommunicated from the Puritan church.
