The eyes of all people are upon us.

) Himself and one squaw and one [chief] stayed all night; and being in English clothes the governor set him at his own table where he behaved himself as soberly. He described an early meeting with one local chief: "Chickatabot came with his [chiefs] and squaws and presented the governor with a hogJohn Winthropad of Indian corn. Born into a wealthy landowning and merchant family Winthrop was trained in the law and became Lord of the Manor at Groton in Suffolk.

Although Winthrop was a respected political figure his attitude toward governance was somewhat authoritarian: he resisted attempts to widen voting and other civil rights beyond a narrow class of religiously approved individuals opposed attempts to codify a body of laws that the colonial magistrates would be bound by and also opposed unconstrained democracy calling it "the meanest and worst of all forms of government". Winthrop led the first large wave of migrants from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years of existence. His writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan "city upon a hill" dominated New England colonial development influencing the government and religion of neighboring colonies.