Roger Williams Arrives in America
Roger Williams was a prominent advocate for religious liberty during America's colonial period, arriving in Boston from England in February 1631. Educated at Pembroke College, Williams became increasingly critical of the Church of England and the authoritarian rule of King Charles I, leading him to embrace Puritanism and Separatism. After declining a teaching position in Massachusetts due to disagreements over religious practices, he served as a pastor in Salem, where he argued against the government’s right to enforce religious conformity.
His radical ideas regarding religious freedom and the legitimacy of land dealings with Native Americans ultimately led to his banishment from Massachusetts in 1635. In January 1636, he fled south to Narragansett Bay, where, after harsh winter conditions, he founded Providence in June 1636 on land purchased from Indigenous people. This settlement became known for its groundbreaking principles of complete religious toleration and separation of church and state, attracting many seeking refuge from persecution. Williams later secured a charter from Parliament in 1644, which established the Providence Plantations, and he continued to promote democratic governance throughout his life. His commitment to these ideals was reaffirmed when the colony received a royal charter in 1663, officially designating it as Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
Roger Williams Arrives in America
Roger Williams Arrives in America
Roger Williams, one of the most famous defenders of religious liberty in America's colonial period, was born in England, the son of James and Alice Williams, between 1603 and 1607.
As a youth, Williams was educated at Pembroke College, part of Cambridge University, and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1627. Interested in theology, he was ordained in the Church of England and became chaplain to the household of Sir William Masham at Otes, Essex. However, he became increasingly rebellious against what he regarded as the errors of the church and the lack of religious freedom under the autocratic King Charles I. Williams became a Puritan and then a Separatist, advocating a break from the Church of England.
Williams and his family left England to join the Puritan-dominated Massachusetts Bay Colony in America, arriving in Boston on February 5, 1631. He declined an invitation to serve as teacher of the church there because he found its members “an unseparated people,” refusing to sever completely their ties with the Church of England even while avoiding what they considered to be the church's intolerance. Instead, he took a position as the teacher to the church at Salem, Massachusetts, where he got into trouble for denying the right of civil magistrates to punish persons for religious offenses. As the theocratic Massachusetts Bay government insisted on this right, Williams left for the Plymouth Colony, dominated by Separatists, where he preached and began his missionary work.
In 1633, Williams returned to Massachusetts to serve as pastor of the church at Salem, where he preached that the power of the civil magistrates extended only to the bodies and goods of men and not to their consciences. He also spoke out against the validity of the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter, under which the king Williams asserted, had violated Indian rights by giving away land that was not his to give. Such convictions, and his stand for the absolute freedom of conscience, led to his banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the General Court late in 1635.
Plans were made to deport him to England, but Williams, learning of his impending arrest, fled south to Narragansett Bay with a few followers in January 1636. After suffering the deprivations of a harsh New England winter, he crossed to the west bank of the adjacent Seekonk River. There, on land that he bought from the Indians, he founded the city of Providence, the earliest Rhode Island settlement, in June 1636. Establishing a government founded on complete religious toleration, he made the colony a refuge from religious persecution that drew settlers from England and Massachusetts.
In addition to the separation of church and state, which was a basic tenet of the colony he founded at Rhode Island, Williams consistently championed the cause of democratic government. Three more communities—Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick— sprung up around Narragansett Bay by 1643, when Williams went to England to secure from Parliament a charter that would give legal sanction to the Rhode Island settlements and protect them from rival land claims by the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies. The charter was issued in March 1644, and the entire colony was officially designated the Providence Plantations. Although boundary disputes with Massachusetts, and later with Connecticut, continued into the 1700s, the new colony's survival as a separate entity was assured. The principle of religious freedom was reconfirmed by a new charter granted by King Charles II in 1663. In that document, the colony was renamed the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which remained its official designation until it gained independence in the American Revolution.
In 1654, Williams was elected the first president of the colony. He held that position for three years. Afterwards he served in a variety of lesser colonial posts until his death in 1683. He also wrote extensively on religious issues and Indian languages.