The correct answer is the third one: for Winthrop, a "city upon a hill" meant a utopian community based on the principles of the Bible. Winthrop was a Puritan lawyer who led the first large wave of non conformist inmigrants from England to the New World, and served as a governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His view of the colony was informed by his religion; he intended the new community to serve as a Christian example of what a moral society could be.
