Why did Roger Williams establish the Rhode Island colony?
Roger Williams, who was exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his radical beliefs, acquired property from the Narragansett Indians in 1636 and established the first permanent European colony in Providence. Who founded Rhode Island?
Where did Roger Williams settle in the New England colonies?
Roger Williams' group was the earliest: In 1636, he settled in what would become Providence on the north end of Narragansett Bay, after he was kicked out of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Roger Williams had grown up in England, only leaving in 1630 with his wife Mary Barnard when the persecution of Puritans and Separatists began increasing.
What did Roger Williams do in East Providence?
That spring Massasoit gave him a tract of land along the SeekonkRiver in what is now East Providence. A handful of Roger’s followers came down from Salem and began to plant fields and build houses. Almost as soon as they had started, Roger received at letter from Governor Winslow of Plymouth.
What happened to Roger Williams on Narragansett Bay?
That winter, Narragansett Bay froze over, an event that rarely happens. In this extreme cold, Roger Williams, a city boy from London, made his escape on foot from Salem. The nearest European settlement that he could go to was New Amsterdam, now known as New York, more than 200 miles away.
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What did Roger Williams do in Rhode Island?
The political and religious leader Roger Williams (c. 1603?-1683) is best known for founding the state of Rhode Island and advocating separation of church and state in Colonial America. He is also the founder of the first Baptist church in America.
Why did Roger Williams move to Rhode Island?
Under the belief that divine providence had brought them there, the settlers named the settlement "Providence." Williams wanted his settlement to be a haven for those "distressed of conscience," and it soon attracted a collection of dissenters and otherwise-minded individuals.
Was Roger Williams banished to Rhode Island?
Religious dissident Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the General Court of Massachusetts. Williams had spoken out against the right of civil authorities to punish religious dissension and to confiscate Native American land.
Who settled Rhode Island?
Roger WilliamsRoger Williams, defender of religious liberty and founder of Rhode Island, landed near Boston, Massachusetts, on February 5, 1631, aboard the ship Lyon.
Why did people come to Rhode Island colony?
The Rhode Island Colony was founded by those who wanted to escape the lack of religious tolerance found in the other New England colonies. Its founder Roger Williams was a former colonist and religious exile from the Massachusetts Colony, where religious tolerance did not exist among the Puritans.
Who founded Rhode Island and why?
Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams in 1636, who had been banished from the Massachusetts colony for his advocacy of religious tolerance and the separation of church and state.
How did Roger Williams founded Rhode Island?
Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island based upon principles of complete religious toleration, separation of church and state, and political democracy (values that the U.S. would later be founded upon). It became a refuge for people persecuted for their religious beliefs.
Why did Roger Williams leave England?
After finishing school in England, Roger Williams traveled to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, initially to be a missionary. His radical views on religious freedom and disapproval of the practice of confiscating land from the Native Americans earned him the wrath of church leaders and he was banished from the colony.
When did Roger Williams established the colony of Rhode Island quizlet?
(New England Colony) It was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams and his supporters for religious freedom and separation of church from state after disagreement with Massachusetts Bay. Roger Williams. He lived from 1603 to 1683. He founded the state of Rhode Island and believed in the separation of church and state.
Who founded Rhode Island and why?
Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams in 1636, who had been banished from the Massachusetts colony for his advocacy of religious tolerance and the separation of church and state.
Why was Roger Williams expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s?
On this day in 1635, Puritan minister Roger Williams was found guilty of spreading "newe & dangerous opinions" and banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Before leaving England in 1630, Williams had seen heretics whipped, imprisoned, and burned at the stake.
Where was Roger Williams born?
Early life. Roger Williams was born in or near London between 1602 and 1606, with many historians citing 1603 as the probable year of his birth. The exact details of Williams' birth are unknown as his birth records were destroyed when St. Sepulchre's Church burned during the Great Fire of London.
Who was Roger Williams?
Minister, statesman, author. Signature. Roger Williams (c. 21 December 1603 – between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was a Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and later the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
How did the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations unite?
It took Williams several years to unify the settlements of Narragansett Bay to unite under a single government given the opposition of William Coddington. The four villages finally united in 1647 into the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Freedom of conscience was again proclaimed, and the colony became a safe haven for people who were persecuted for their beliefs, including Baptists, Quakers, and Jews. Still, the divisions between the towns their powerful personalities did not bode well for the colony. Coddington disliked Williams, and did not enjoy his position of subordinated under the new charter government. Accordingly, Coddington sailed to England and returned to Rhode Island in 1651 with his own patent making him "Governor for Life" over Aquidneck and Conanicut Islands.
What laws did the Massachusetts Bay Colony pass?
In 1641, the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed laws sanctioning slavery. In response, under William's leadership, the Providence Plantations passed a law in 1652 restricting the amount of time for which an individual could be held in slavery and tried to prevent the importation of enslaved Africans. The law established terms for slavery that mirrored that of indentured servitude; enslavement was to be limited in duration and not passed down to children. Upon the unification of Providence Plantations with Aquidneck Island, residents of the latter refused to accept this law, ensuring it became dead letter. Later in life, at the time of King Phillips War, tensions with the Narragansetts were irreparable and despite his efforts for peace, a destructive war ensued during which his home was burned to the ground. During the war, Williams with group of Providence citizens, facilitated and profited from the sale of a number of captured Narragansetts and Wamponoag.
How many pages are there in the Roger Williams Mystery Book?
Brown University 's John Carter Brown Library has long housed a 234-page volume referred to as the "Roger Williams Mystery Book". The margins of this book are filled with notations in handwritten code, believed to be the work of Roger Williams.
How many pamphlets were published in 1644?
The publication produced a great uproar; between 1644 and 1649, at least 60 pamphlets were published addressing the work's arguments. Parliament responded to Williams on August 9, 1644, by ordering the public hangman to burn all copies.
What was the purpose of the settlement of Williams?
Williams wanted his settlement to be a haven for those "distressed of conscience," and it soon attracted a collection of dissenters and otherwise-minded individuals. From the beginning, a majority vote of the heads of households governed the new settlement, but only in civil things. Newcomers could also be admitted to full citizenship by a majority vote. In August 1637, a new town agreement again restricted the government to civil things. In 1640, 39 freemen (men who had full citizenship and voting rights) signed another agreement that declared their determination "still to hold forth liberty of conscience." Thus, Williams founded the first place in modern history where citizenship and religion were separate, providing religious liberty and separation of church and state. This was combined with the principle of majoritarian democracy .
Where did Roger Williams leave Boston?
Williams was more sympathetic to the people of Salem, who took a much stricter approach to worship. When John Endicott in Salem offered Williams a post as teacher in their church without consulting Boston, the leaders in Boston expressed their displeasure. Salem bowed to Boston’s will and this left Roger Williams and his wife with little choice other than to leave for another colony: Plymouth Bay.
What did Roger Williams want?
Edmund Morgan, Roger Williams wanted to make sure that Rhode Island and Providence Plantations became a place in which people from any background, religion, or nationality could make their own way. It did not mean, that their faith, or lack thereof, would be celebrated, nor that they would be free from the scorn of the deeply religious men like Williams. Williams expected people to disagree, and disagreement and discourse was a necessary part of this New World democracy that Williams was making. In civil matters individuals were on equal ground, something that many modern Americans take for granted, but which was a very different model of government from other Puritan colonies and other countries at that time [2] .
What did Rhode Island do in the 18th century?
By the late 18th century, little Rhode Island led the colonies as the biggest player in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Who was the governor of Rhode Island in 1651?
In 1651, William Coddington obtained a commission to form a government for Aquidneck and Connanicut Islands. This document effectively nullified the 1643 Parliamentary Patent and made Coddington governor for life. This outraged many residents and there was a popular movement to have this commission revoked or replaced. Roger Williams and Newport’s John Clarke and William Dyer traveled to England to do just this. The commission was revoked in 1653, and Dyer and Williams returned to Rhode Island. John Clarke, however, remained.
Who were the founding fathers of Rhode Island?
It is important to remember that as important as Roger Williams was and continues to be, he was not the only colonial “founder” of Rhode Island. The land around Providence was soon settled by other like-minded men and women from the Massachusetts and Plymouth Bay Colonies–some of whom chose to leave and others who were banished. In the first decade of the colony, Williams was joined by people such as Anne and William Hutchinson and William Coddington, who all founded Portsmouth in 1638, Samuel Gorton who settled Warwick, Richard Smith who, with Williams, colonized Wickford, and William Harris and the Arnolds who settled Pawtuxet.
Who helped Williams create the Royal Charter?
It took nearly twenty years and expert help of real diplomat, Dr. John Clarke of Newport, to turn Williams’s philosophy into a legal document that could shape the whole colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; the Royal Charter of 1663
What was Roger Williams' most famous book?
Roger Williams continued to write about his beliefs, as well. His most famous book was published in 1644: The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution. This book presented the public with the true meaning of religious freedom for Williams, and the need for the church to be protected from the government’s authority—and the protection of individuals from a state-imposed religion. The separation of church and state, a founding belief of the United States, was part of a wider conversation in England that had been raging since the time of Williams’ birth in 1603. But what made Williams different was that he was not an oppressed person any more. While he was threatened with deportation or hanging for preaching his beliefs in Massachusetts, now he was in a position of power in this new colony.
What did Roger Williams do in the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
Roger Williams, the man credited with founding Rhode Island and an influential religious figure in the history of the United States, arrives at Boston, the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, from England.
Why did John Williams go to England to find a colony?
The settlements in the vicinity of Narragansett Bay were expressly excluded from the formation of the military alliance known as the United Colonies, which was established in 1643 by the surrounding colonies.
Where did Roger Williams settle in Rhode Island?
Williams is shown making his way over the Seekonk River in the painting titled ″The Landing of Roger Williams in 1636″ (1857) by Alonzo Chappel. At the spring of 1636, Williams and a number of other people from Salem founded a new community in Rumford, Rhode Island, on property that Williams had purchased from Massasoit.
What did Roger Williams believe about separation of church and state?
In the same way that his attitude on slavery distinguished him as a singular character in 17th-century America, Roger Williams’s commitment to the principle that Church and State should be kept separate was a novel concept that was decades ahead of its time. Williams adhered to these ideas right up to the year 1683, when he passed away.
What colony did Roger Williams get kicked out of?
The General Court of Massachusetts orders the religious radical Roger Williams to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Williams had previously been exiled there. Williams had been vocal in his opposition to the notion that civil authorities should have the authority to suppress religious dissent and to appropriate territory from Native Americans.
What colony did Roger Williams establish why did he establish it?
Williams established the settlement of Rhode Island on the tenets of total religious tolerance, the separation of church and state, and political democracy (values that the U.S. would later be founded upon). It evolved into a safe haven for persons who were being persecuted because of their religious views.
Where and when did Roger Williams arrive in the New World?
Roger Williams, who was probably around 28 years old at the time, landed in Massachusetts on the coast of the state on February 5, 1631, sailing on the ship Lyon. The only things he brought with him to this harsh new world were his wife, his books, and his degree; there was no employment waiting for him when he arrived.
Where did Roger and Narragansett live?
They spotted a group of Narragansett on a large rock, known afterwards as Slate Rock, along the western shore of the Seekonk River.
Where did the Wampanoag find Roger?
More than likely it was a Wampanoag hunting party who found Roger, gave him shelter, and brought him safely to Massasoit’s home near present day Bristol, Rhode Island. As chief sachem of the Wampanoag, Massasoit welcomed Roger and sheltered him through the winter.
Where did Massasoit get his land?
That spring Massasoit gave him a tract of land along the SeekonkRiver in what is now East Providence. A handful of Roger’s followers came down from Salem and began to plant fields and build houses. Almost as soon as they had started, Roger received at letter from Governor Winslow of Plymouth.
Who was Roger Williams' wife?
With his wife, Mary Barnard, who had emigrated with him on the ship “Lyon,” he removed to Plymouth, and there for two years was an assistant to the minister of the church. During that period he established a firm and enduring friendship with Massasoit, Chief Sachem of the Wampanoag Indians, and with the warriors of the tribe and of the Narragansetts, who later, during King Philip’s war, refused to molest Roger Williams when he ventured among them, although they burned the town of Providence. Equally firm and lasting were friendships with Canonicus and Miantonomah, Chief Sachems of the Narragansett Indians. Roger Williams was the intermediary passing between Massasoit and Canonicus and ending an old enmity that had estranged the sachems. Visiting the Indians frequently, Roger Williams laid the foundation for that knowledge of the Indian language which enabled him later to write and publish his “Key to the Language of America.” Roger Williams was a gifted linguist; besides being a proficient stenographer, he knew Latin, Greek and Hebrew, of ancient languages, and English, Dutch and French, of vernacular languages. While in England, 1651-1654, he exchanged the reading (or translation) of languages with John Milton, and gave lessons in languages to sons of a member of Parliament, to earn money to defray his expenses. He employed “the objective method, by words and phrases used colloquially, as distinguished from the analytic method of the ordinary grammars.” While at Plymouth he continued to exercise the propensity for argument and discussion that was characteristic throughout his life, and wrote a treatise on the royal patent, in which he maintained the thesis that the title to land in America could not be acquired through grant from the King of England, but only through purchase from the Indian owners settled on the land. This distinction between sovereignty and ownership became a settled conviction with Roger Williams, and explains the infinite care with which later in Rhode Island he conducted transactions with the Indians involving titles to land. It is also the accepted doctrine of modern international law, to wit, that a change of sovereignty does not affect the title to land, which continues in the original owners, and may be taken from them only by purchase by individuals, or by due process of law and with just compensation in the exercise of eminent domain.
When did the Hebrews settle in Rhode Island?
Hebrews, who were tolerated in few Christian countries in the seventeenth century, began to settle in Rhode Island so early as 1655, coming some from New Amsterdam and from Curacoa, both Dutch, and others directly from Holland. Rhode Island’s toleration was broad enough to embrace Hebrews as well as Christians of all denominations, and the Rhode Island Hebrews of the seventeenth century became the nucleus for an influential community. The liberality of Roger Williams appears in his proposition while in England in 1654, “whether it be not the duty of the magistrate to permit the Jews, whose conversion we look for, to live freely and peaceably amongst us,” and his plea: “Oh, that it would please the Father of Spirits to affect the heart of the Parliament with such a merciful sense of the soul-bars and yokes which our fathers have placed upon the neck of this nation, and at last to proclaim a true and absolute soul-freedom to all the people of the land impartially, so that no person shall be forced to pray nor pay otherwise than as his soul believeth and consented.” As for England there was hope in the famous Declaration of Breda made by Charles Stuart, who was to be Charles II, in anticipation of his return to the throne of his father.
Why did Roger Williams and William Arnold oppose the petition?
Both Roger Williams and William Arnold opposed the petition, because of the contempt for government which Gorton had expressed at Plymouth and at Portsmouth. Roger Williams was not willing to expand his insistence upon liberty of conscience and full liberty in religious concernments to the anarchy and chaos involved in the denial of civil government. His position on this issue was expressed clearly and masterfully in a letter written some years later:
What was the name of the island that Anne Hutchinson settled on?
The settlement at Pocasset grew rapidly as other disciples of Anne Hutchinson than those banished or disciplined withdrew from Massachusetts and followed her to Rhode Island. There were probably not less than 100 families at Pocasset in the first year of the settlement. Careful exploration of the island was made, disclosing the landlocked harbor at Newport, with possibilities for commercial development quickly recognized by the alert settlers, some of whom, including Coddington, were merchants, to whom farm life was irksome. On April 28, 1639, an agreement signed at Pocasset by William Coddington, John Clarke, Nicholas Easton, Jeremy Clarke, John Coggeshall, Thomas Hazard, William Brenton, Henry Bull and William Dyer witnessed their agreement to withdraw and found a settlement elsewhere on the island. Newport was chosen as the site for the new settlement. March 12, 1640, the two island settlements reunited, and the name Portsmouth was assigned to the plantation (Pocasset) at the north end of the island.
What river did Roger Williams paddle?
In June, 1636, Roger Williams, with one, or perhaps several, companions paddled a canoe down the Seekonk River, around India Point and Fox Point into the Providence River, and thence into the Moshassuck River, and on the easterly bank of the last, near and convenient to a spring of fresh water that still flows and has since then borne the name of Roger Williams, began a settlement to which he gave the name Providence in recognition of and thankfulness for the Providence of God, which had guided him Ihis was the actual beginning of Providence Plantations and of Rhode Island; it had antecedents that require retrospect into the causes that had induced Roger Williams to venture thus into the Indian country, as well as consequences that made history.
Why did the French Huguenots fail to settle in East Greenwich?
What promised to be a flourishing French Huguenot settlement at Frenchtown in East Greenwich failed because title to land was found to be defective , and settlers were dispossessed. In October, 1686, a number of French Huguenots purchased in London from the Atherton Company a tract of land in the Narragansett country, described as all of what is now the part of Rhode Island west of Narragansett Bay and south of the old town of Warwick. Forty-eight Huguenot families, then refugees in London, were to receive under the contract of purchase 100 acres of upland each, and a share of meadow land. They came originally from La Rochelle, Saint-Onge, Poitou, Guyenne, and Normandy. Prominent members of the group were Ezechiel Carre, their pastor; Pierre Ayrault, a physician, and Pierre Berthon de Marigu of Poitou. Arrived at Frenchtown, the settlers began building shelters against the coming winter. They worked rapidly, and before the cold weather set in had put up about twenty houses, and a few cellars or dugouts were completed. The dugouts, prepared by those who intended to put up durable houses in the following summer, were square pits, about seven feet deep, floored and walled with wood, and roofed with logs and layers of turf. There was nothing pretentious about these little temporary homes, but they were comfortable and kept out the cold. While waiting for the spring farming season to open, the Huguenots busied themselves with clearing their acres of stones, cutting out trees and brush and otherwise preparing the fields for cultivation and planting. Fifty acres of land were set off for the maintenance of a school, and 150 acres were donated to pastor Carre for his support, and plans were made to build a church as soon as weather conditions would permit.
What were the names of the towns in Rhode Island?
Barrington, 1660, Bristol, 1680, and Little Compton, 1674 , held by Massachusetts until 1742 in spite of the clear purport of the definition of boundaries in the King Charles Charter, were settled by Pilgrims from the Plymouth Colony. The names of early inhabitants of these towns include the family names of many who afterward were prominent in the history of Rhode Island. The peninsula at Bristol was sold by the Plymouth Colony to John Walley, Nathaniel Byfield, Nathaniel Oliver and Samuel Burton for £1100, the price indicating the value placed upon this location by the Pilgrims, who planned to make Bristol the seaport of Plymouth Colony. Benjamin Church, the same Captain Benjamin Church who won renown as a resourceful commander in wars with the Indians, was invited by John Almy to visit Little Compton in 1674, and purchased land there with the purpose of settlement. Almost immediately thereafter came the beginning of King Philip’s War and work elsewhere for the Captain, which suggested postponement of the homebuilding project. Other early settlers at Little Compton included Elizabeth Alden Peabody, much better known as Betty Alden, and her husband, whom Roswell B. Burchard, who married a descendant of Captain Church and was later Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island, styled a man honored principally because of his wife. Elizabeth Alden Peabody was born Elizabeth Alden, child of John Alden and Priscilla Mullin, whose romantic love story Longfellow immortalized in the Courtship of Myles Standish.
Where did Roger Williams live?
Roger Williams had grown up in England, only leaving in 1630 with his wife Mary Barnard when the persecution of Puritans and Separatists began increasing. He moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and worked from 1631 to 1635 as a pastor and a farmer.
Who was the founder of Rhode Island?
Although the Puritan British theologian Roger Williams (1603–1683) is often given the sole role of founder of Rhode Island, the colony was in fact settled by five independent and combative sets of people between 1636 and 1642. They were all English, and most of them began their colonial experiences in Massachusetts Bay colony but were banished for various reasons. Roger Williams ' group was the earliest: In 1636, he settled in what would become Providence on the north end of Narragansett Bay, after he was kicked out of the Massachusetts Bay colony.
When was Rhode Island founded?
The colony of Rhode Island was founded between 1636 and 1642 by five separate and combative groups, most of whom had been expelled or left the Massachusetts Bay colony for disputative reasons. The colony was first named "Roodt Eylandt" by Dutch trader Adriaen Block (1567–1627), who had explored that area for the Netherlands.
What was Rhode Island known for?
Known for fierce independence and the absolute separation of church and state, Rhode Island attracted persecuted groups such as Jews and Quakers. Its government guaranteed freedom of religion for all its citizens and abolished witchcraft trials, imprisonment for debt, most capital punishment, and enslavement of both Black and White people, all by 1652.
Why did Providence evict people?
Providence evicted people for speaking out in meetings ; Portsmouth had to hire two police officials in late 1638 to keep the peace; a small group of people from Shawomet were arrested and brought forcibly to Boston, where they were tried and convicted on various charges.
Who was William Coddington?
William Coddington (1601–1678), a magistrate at Massachusetts Bay, settled first in Pocasset but split from Hutchinson's group and settled in Newport, also on Aquidneck Island, in 1639. In 1642, Massachusetts Bay ex-patriot William Arnold (1586–1676) settled on the mainland in Pawtuxet, now part of Cranston. Finally, Samuel Gorton (1593–1677) ...
Who was the first colonist to get the charter of Rhode Island?
The first charter was validated by British Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell in 1644 and that became the basis of government in Rhode Island colony in 1647. In 1651, Coddington obtained a separate charter, but protests led to the reinstatement of the original charter. In 1658, Cromwell died and the charter had to be renegotiated, and it was on July 8, 1663, that the Baptist minister John Clarke (1609–1676) went to London to get it: That charter united the settlements into the newly named "Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
Why did Roger Williams settle in Providence?
Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island based upon principles of complete religious toleration, separation of church and state, and political democracy (values that the U.S. would later be founded upon). It became a refuge for people persecuted for their religious beliefs.
What religious groups settled in Rhode Island?
Baptists and Quakers who had fled the persecutions of New England Puritans to settle in Rhode Island were joined in 1658 by a Jewish community at Newport, seeking religious freedom. In 1686 a community of Huguenots (French Protestants) was established in the colony.
What group settled in Rhode Island?
Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his radical views, Roger Williams purchased land from the Narragansett Indians and founded the first permanent white settlement in Providence in 1636.
Overview
Further reading
• Barry, John, Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul (New York: Viking Press, 2012).
• Bejan, Teresa, Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017). Addresses Roger Williams' ideas in dialogue with Hobbes and Locke, and suggests lessons from Williams for how to disagree well in the modern public sphere.
Early life
Roger Williams was born in or near London between 1602 and 1606, with many historians citing 1603 as the probable year of his birth. The exact details of Williams' birth are unknown as his birth records were destroyed when St. Sepulchre's Church burned during the Great Fire of London. His father was James Williams (1562–1620), a merchant tailor in Smithfield, and his mother wa…
First years in America
On 5 February 1631, the Lyon anchored in Nantasket, outside of the Puritan settlement of Boston. Upon his arrival, the church of Boston offered Williams the opportunity to serve during the vacancy of Rev. John Wilson, who had returned to England to accompany his wife to the colony. Williams declined the position on grounds that it was "an unseparated church." In addition, he asserted that c…
Settlement at Providence
In the spring of 1636, Williams and a number of others from Salem began a new settlement on land which he had bought from Massasoit in Rumford, Rhode Island. After settling however, authorities of Plymouth Colony asserted that Williams and his followers were within their land grant and expressed concern that his presence there might anger the leaders of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Relations with the Baptists
Ezekiel Holliman baptized Williams in late 1638. A few years later, Dr. John Clarke established the First Baptist Church in Newport, Rhode Island, and both Roger Williams and John Clarke became the founders of the Baptist faith in America. Williams did not affiliate himself with any church, but he remained interested in the Baptists, agreeing with their rejection of infant baptism and most other matters. Both enemies and admirers sometimes called him a "Seeker," associating him wit…
King Philip's War and death
King Philip's War (1675–1676) pitted the colonists against indigenous peoples—including the Narragansett with which Williams had previously maintained good relations. Williams, although in his 70s, was elected captain of Providence's militia. On March 29, 1676, Narragansett warriors led by Canonchet burned Providence; among the structures destroyed were Williams' home.
Separation of church and state
Williams was a staunch advocate of separation of church and state. He was convinced that civil government had no basis for meddling in matters of religious belief. He declared that the state should concern itself only with matters of civil order, not with religious belief, and he rejected any attempt by civil authorities to enforce the "first Table" of the Ten Commandments, those commandments that deal with an individual's relationship with and belief in God. Williams believ…