Profitable settlements: the earl of Warwick and toleration in the English Atlantic, 1643-8.

The article focuses on the tolerationist policies of Robert Rich, second earl of Warwick, and the Committee for Foreign Plantations (C.F.P.) in the English Atlantic colonies during the 1640s. It argues that Warwick’s C.F.P. extended religious toleration selectively to godly Protestant settlers whose presence was deemed essential for the expansion of militant Reformed Protestantism, English colonial sovereignty, and profitable exploitation, including the enslavement of African-descended laborers and subjection of Indigenous peoples. The article contrasts Warwick’s instrumental and confessional approach to toleration—aimed at preserving colonial stability and Protestant imperial ambitions—with the more universal religious freedom advocated by figures like Roger Williams. Key cases examined include the granting of toleration in Bermuda amid sectarian disputes, the protection of radical Protestant settlers like Samuel Gorton in Narragansett Bay, and the broader use of toleration as a tool to maintain and expand English Protestant colonial enterprises in the face of internal dissent and external threats.