An American Statesman
Roger Williams National Memorial in Rhode Island tells the story of a relentless champion of religious freedom and "soul liberty."
By RYAN DOUGHERTY
Truth-seeker or troublemaker? Divine or dangerous? Some people didn't know what to think of Roger Williams as he crusaded for religious freedom and separation of church and state throughout the 17th century. But Williams' at-the-time "radical" beliefs would become central to modern democracy, earning him a lofty, indisputable place in history.
Born in London in about 1603, Williams studied law and theology at Cambridge University. While a young minister, he realized his search for spiritual truth clashed with the rigid views of the Church of England. "Men's consciences ought in no sort to be violated, urged, or constrained," Williams wrote.
Attempting reform in England at that time, however, was dangerous. By doing so, one risked imprisonment or worse. A group of Puritans fled England in 1629, founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony in America. The following year, they founded Boston and other settlements.
Williams' opposition to the church continued until he left for Boston in 1631. Settlers greeted Williams excitedly, proclaiming him "a godly minister."
| It wasn't long, though, until Williams learned that the Puritans of the Bay Colony also valued religious conformity. | |
He decried the union of church and state, advocating "soul liberty" instead. Williams became a separatist, trying to leave the Anglican Church. But the colony refused so radical a step. |
Then, as Massachusetts Bay Colony struggled to retain its charter, Williams condemned the royal charter's sanctioning of taking American Indian lands. At that point, Boston's officials had seen and heard enough of Williams. In 1635, after brief stints of duty at Salem and Plymouth, Williams faced trial before the General Court and was convicted of "new and dangerous opinions against the authority of magistrates." He was banished from the colony.
Williams avoided arrest and deportation to England by fleeing the colony during winter, through frozen wilderness. Members of the Wampanoag tribe aided his escape. In the spring of 1636, Williams and his followers settled at the Ten-Mile River. That summer, they moved across the river to an area they named Providence, meaning "gift of God."
Williams sailed to England in 1643, seeking patents for the area. He secured a charter for the Providence Plantations in Narragansett Bay, granting Rhode Island, as the new colony was named, independence and "liberty of conscience." Rhode Island became a safe harbor amid religious oppression, a sanctuary for persecuted Quakers.
While in London, Williams published a pair of important books. The first, A Key to the Language of America, offered a sympathetic glimpse of American Indians.
Williams outlined his views on liberty of conscience and separation of church and state in his second work, The Bloody Tenet of Persecution. Many historians assert that Williams' beliefs became a building block for England's Bill of Rights in 1689, and later the United States' Constitution and Bill of Rights.
National Park Service literature describes Williams as "an early American statesman and champion of the great ideals underlying modern democracy." The Williams memorial, located on a common lot of the original settlement of Providence, pays tribute to his life and his continuing impact on society.
"[Williams] is the most fascinating figure of America's formative 17th century," wrote biographer Cyclone Covey, " . . . a symbol of a critical turning point in American thought and institutions."
RYAN DOUGHERTY is news editor.
