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{{Short description|English Baptist minister, theologian, author, and founder of Rhode Island}}
{{Other people|Roger Williams}}
{{refimprove|date = March 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|
| name = Roger Williams
| image = Roger_Williams_statue_by_Franklin_Simmons.jpg
| caption = [[Statue of Roger Williams (U.S. Capitol)|''Roger Williams'']] (1872)
| order1 = 9th
| office1 = President of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
| term_start1 = 1654
| term_end1 = 1657
| predecessor1 = [[Nicholas Easton]]
| successor1 = [[Benedict Arnold (governor)|Benedict Arnold]]
| office3 = [[List of colonial governors of Rhode Island#Governor of Providence|Governor of Providence Plantations]]
| term_start3 = 1636
| term_end3 = 1644
| predecessor3 = ''position established''
| successor3 = Himself <small>(as Chief Officer)</small>
| office2 = [[List of colonial governors of Rhode Island#Chief Officer under the Patent of 1643 (Providence and Warwick)|Chief Officer of Providence and Warwick]]
| term_start2 = 1644
| term_end2 = 1647
| predecessor2 = Himself <small>(as Governor)</small>
| successor2 = [[John Coggeshall]] <small>(as [[List of colonial governors of Rhode Island#Presidents under the Patent of 1643|President]])</small>
| birth_date = {{circa|1603}}
| birth_place = [[London]], England
| death_date = between 21 January and 15 March 1683 (aged 79)
| death_place = [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Providence Plantations]]
| occupation = minister, statesman, author
| title =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| parties =
| spouse = Mary Bernard
| children = 6
| relations =
| website =
| footnotes =
| signature = Roger Williams signature.svg
| education = {{nowrap|[[Pembroke College, Cambridge]]}}
}}
{{Baptist}}
'''Roger Williams''' ({{circa|1603}}{{spaced ndash}}March 1683)<ref name=":5">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/biography/Roger-Williams-American-religious-leader|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|title=Roger Williams (American religious leader)|access-date=5 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206105338/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roger-Williams-American-religious-leader|archive-date=6 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> was an English-born [[New England]] minister, theologian, author, and founder of the [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Providence Plantations]], which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the [[Rhode Island|State of Rhode Island]]. He was a staunch advocate for religious liberty, [[separation of church and state]], and fair dealings with the Native Americans.<ref name="history">{{cite web|date=2009|title=Roger Williams|url=http://www.history.com/topics/roger-williams|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127084102/http://www.history.com/topics/roger-williams|archive-date=27 January 2018|access-date=26 January 2018|website=History.com|publisher=A&E Television Networks}}</ref>
Initially a [[Puritan]] minister, his beliefs evolved and he questioned the authority of the Puritan church in enforcing religious conformity. He was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], and he established Providence Plantations in 1636 as a refuge offering what he termed "liberty of conscience" making Rhode Island the first government in the [[Western civilization|Western world]] to guarantee [[Freedom of religion|religious freedom]] in its founding charter. His ideas on [[religious tolerance]] and [[civil government]] directly influenced the principles later enshrined in the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] of the [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barry |first=John M. |date=2012-05-02 |title=Roger Williams, America's First Rebel |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/roger-williams-americas-first-rebel/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |language=en-US |issn=0027-8378}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-07-29 |title=Roger Williams, the First Amendment and the Presidential Campaign |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/roger-williams-the-first_b_114142 |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref> He briefly became a [[Baptist]], and in 1638 he founded the [[First Baptist Church in America]] in Providence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abc-usa.org/what_we_believe/our-history/|title=Our History|website=American Baptist Churches USA|language=en-US|access-date=22 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404140106/http://www.abc-usa.org/what_we_believe/our-history/|archive-date=4 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://loc.gov/pictures/item/ri0188/|title=First Baptist Meetinghouse, 75 North Main Street, Providence, Providence County, RI|website=Library of Congress|access-date=12 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113140006/https://loc.gov/pictures/item/ri0188/|archive-date=13 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> He then moved beyond organized religion, becoming a "seeker" who did not identify with any specific church. Williams studied the language of the New England Native Americans and published [[A Key into the Language of America|the first book-length study of it in English]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lawson|first=Russell M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5nYmCjtMcQC|title=Encyclopedia of American Indian Issues Today [2 volumes]|date=2013-04-02|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-38145-4|pages=181|language=en}}</ref>
Today, Williams' legacy continues to shape debates on religious liberty and the role of government in matters of conscience, with his writings cited in legal arguments and [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] decisions on the separation of church and state.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/330/1/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Justia Law |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/38/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Justia Law |language=en}}</ref>
==Early life==
Roger Williams was born in London, and many historians cite 1603 as the probable year of his birth.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gaustad|first=Edwin S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sjmeBMAiyNMC|title=Roger Williams|date=2005-05-15|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-976053-4|language=en}}</ref> His birth records were destroyed when [[St Sepulchre-without-Newgate|St. Sepulchre Church]] burned during the [[Great Fire of London]] in 1666,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Winslow|first=Ola Elizabeth|author-link=Ola Elizabeth Winslow|url=|title=Master Roger Williams: A Biography|date=1957|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780374986827|language=en}}</ref> and his entry in ''[[American National Biography]]'' notes that Williams gave contradictory information about his age throughout his life.<ref>{{cite book |title=American National Biography |last=LaFantasie |first=Glenn W. |editor-last1=Garraty |editor-first1=John A. |editor-link1=John A. Garraty |editor-last2=Carnes |editor-first2=Mark C. |volume=23 |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |___location=New York |isbn=9780195127966 |url=https://archive.org/details/americannational23garr/page/500/mode/2up |pages=497–501}}</ref> His father was James Williams (1562–1620), a [[Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors|merchant tailor]] in [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]], and his mother was Alice Pemberton (1564–1635).
[[File:Graduation_Day,_Pembroke_College,_Cambridge.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Williams attended [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]]]]
At an early age, Williams had a spiritual conversion of which his father disapproved. As an adolescent, he apprenticed under Sir [[Edward Coke]] (1552–1634), the famous jurist, and was educated at [[Charterhouse School]] under Coke's patronage. Williams later attended [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1627.<ref>{{acad|id=WLMS623R||name=Williams, Roger}}</ref> He demonstrated a facility with languages, acquiring familiarity with Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Dutch, and French at an early age. Years later, he tutored [[John Milton]] in Dutch and Native American languages in exchange for refresher lessons in Hebrew and Greek.<ref>Pfeiffer, Robert H. (April 1955). "The Teaching of Hebrew in Colonial America". ''The Jewish Quarterly Review''. pp. 363–73</ref><ref>[https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/open-society-biography-roger-williams An Open Society: A Biography of Roger Williams]</ref>
Williams took holy orders in the [[Church of England]] in connection with his studies, but he became a Puritan at Cambridge and thus ruined his chance for preferment in the Anglican Church. After graduating from Cambridge, he became the chaplain to [[Sir William Masham, 1st Baronet|Sir William Masham]]. In April 1629, Williams proposed marriage to Jane Whalley, the niece of [[Joan Barrington|Lady Barrington]], but she declined.<ref>Barry, John M. (2012). Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty. New York: Viking. {{ISBN|978-0-670-02305-9}}. pp. 73-74, pp. 136–139.</ref> Later that year, he married Mary Bernard (1609–76), the daughter of Rev. [[Richard Bernard]], a notable Puritan preacher and author; they were married at the Church of [[High Laver]] in [[Epping Forest District]], Essex, around 20 miles north-east of London.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2007/10/mary-barnard-williams.html |title= Wife of Roger Williams: Founder of Providence Plantation |date= 5 October 2007 |access-date= 5 November 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181106004755/http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2007/10/mary-barnard-williams.html |archive-date= 6 November 2018 |url-status= live |df= dmy-all }}</ref> They had six children, all born in America: Mary, Freeborn, Providence, Mercy, Daniel, and Joseph.
Williams knew that Puritan leaders planned to immigrate to the [[New World]]. He did not join the [[Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640)|first wave of settlers]], but later decided that he could not remain in England under the administration of Archbishop [[William Laud]]. Williams regarded the Church of England as corrupt and false, and he had arrived at [[English Dissenters|the Separatist position]] by 1630; on December 1, he and his wife boarded the [[Boston]]-bound ''Lyon'' in [[Bristol]].<ref>{{Cite book|title="A Brief history of Jacob Belfry" Page 40, 1888|url=http://www.mocavo.com/A-Brief-History-of-Jacob-Belfry-Sen-With-a-Sketch-of-His-Wife-and-Family-and-Their-Descendants-Containing-Also-an-Outline-of-Sherman-Genealogy-and-Biography/103056/48|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305002139/http://www.mocavo.com/A-Brief-History-of-Jacob-Belfry-Sen-With-a-Sketch-of-His-Wife-and-Family-and-Their-Descendants-Containing-Also-an-Outline-of-Sherman-Genealogy-and-Biography/103056/48|archive-date=5 March 2014|access-date=28 February 2014}}</ref>
==First years in America==
=== Arrival in Boston ===
On February 5, 1631, the ''Lyon'' anchored in [[Nantasket Beach|Nantasket]] outside of Boston.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Allison|first=Amy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1b5bAgAAQBAJ|title=Roger Williams|date=2013|publisher=Infobase Learning|isbn=978-1-4381-4450-4|language=en}}</ref> The [[First Church in Boston|church of Boston]] offered him the opportunity to serve during the vacancy of Rev. [[John Wilson (minister)|John Wilson]], who had returned to England to bring his wife back to America.<ref name="smith">{{cite news|last1=Barry|first1=John M.|date=January 2012|title=God, Government and Roger Williams' Big Idea|work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/god-government-and-roger-williams-big-idea-6291280/|url-status=live|access-date=27 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104131844/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/god-government-and-roger-williams-big-idea-6291280/|archive-date=4 January 2018}}</ref> Williams declined the position on grounds that it was "an unseparated church." In addition, he asserted that civil magistrates must not punish any sort of "breach of the first table" of the [[Ten Commandments]] such as idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, false worship, and blasphemy, and that individuals should be free to follow their own convictions in religious matters. These three principles later became central tenets of Williams's teachings and writings.
===Salem and Plymouth===
[[File:Witch_House,_Salem.jpg|thumb|The [[The Witch House|Jonathan Corwin House]] was long purported to be Williams's residence in Salem<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goff|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=at1-CQAAQBAJ|title=Salem's Witch House: A Touchstone to Antiquity|date=2009-09-16|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-1-61423-286-5|language=en}}</ref>]]
As a [[Definitions of Puritanism#Separatist groups|Separatist]], Williams considered the Church of England irredeemably corrupt and believed that one must completely separate from it to establish a new church for the true and pure worship of God. The [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]] church was also inclined to Separatism, and they invited him to become their teacher. In response, leaders in Boston vigorously protested, leading Salem to withdraw its offer. As the summer of 1631 ended, Williams moved to [[Plymouth Colony]] where he was welcomed, and informally assisted the minister. At Plymouth, he regularly preached. Plymouth Governor [[William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor)|William Bradford]] wrote that "his teachings were well approved."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Straus|first=Oscar Solomon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sem-3dTbOwUC|title=Roger Williams; the Pioneer of Religious Liberty|date=1894|publisher=Century Company|page=30|language=en}}</ref>
After a time, Williams decided that the Plymouth church was not sufficiently separated from the Church of England. Furthermore, his contact with the [[Narragansett people|Narragansett Native Americans]] had caused him to question the validity of [[Colonial charters in the Thirteen Colonies|colonial charters]] that did not include legitimate purchase of Native American land. Governor Bradford later wrote that Williams fell "into some strange opinions which caused some controversy between the church and him."<ref>Quoted in Edwin Gaustad,''Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams in America'' Judson Press, 1999, pg. 28.</ref>
In December 1632, Williams wrote a lengthy tract that openly condemned the King's charters and questioned the right of Plymouth to the land without first buying it from the Native Americans. He even charged that [[King James I of England|King James]] had uttered a "solemn lie" in claiming that he was the first Christian monarch to have discovered the land. Williams moved back to Salem by the fall of 1633 and was welcomed by Rev. [[Samuel Skelton]] as an unofficial assistant.
===Litigation and exile===
[[File:The_Banishment_of_Roger_Williams.jpg|thumb|''The Banishment of Roger Williams'' ({{circa|1850}}) by [[Peter F. Rothermel]]]]
The Massachusetts Bay authorities were not pleased at Williams's return. In December 1633, they summoned him to appear before the General Court in Boston to defend his tract attacking the King and the charter. The issue was smoothed out, and the tract disappeared forever, probably burned. In August 1634, Williams became acting pastor of the Salem church, the Rev. Skelton having died. In March 1635, he was again ordered to appear before the General Court, and he was summoned yet again for the Court's July term to answer for "erroneous" and "dangerous opinions." The Court finally ordered that he be removed from his church position.
This latest controversy welled up as the town of Salem petitioned the General Court to annex some land on [[Marblehead, Massachusetts|Marblehead Neck]]. The Court refused to consider the request unless the church in Salem removed Williams. The church felt that this order violated their independence, and sent a letter of protest to the other churches. However, the letter was not read publicly in those churches, and the General Court refused to seat the delegates from Salem at the next session. Support for Williams began to wane under this pressure, and he withdrew from the church and began meeting with a few of his most ardent followers in his home.
Finally, the General Court tried Williams in October 1635 and convicted him of sedition and heresy. They declared that he was spreading "diverse, new, and dangerous opinions"<ref>LaFantasie, Glenn W., ed. ''The Correspondence of Roger Williams,'' University Press of New England, 1988, Vol. 1, pp.12–23.</ref> and ordered that he be banished. The execution of the order was delayed because Williams was ill and winter was approaching, so he was allowed to stay temporarily, provided that he ceased publicly teaching his opinions. He did not comply with this demand, and the sheriff came in January 1636, only to discover that he had slipped away three days earlier during a blizzard. He traveled 55 miles on foot through the deep snow, from Salem to [[Raynham, Massachusetts]], where the local [[Wampanoag people|Wampanoags]] offered him shelter at their winter camp. Sachem [[Massasoit]] hosted Williams there for the three months until spring.
==Settlement at Providence==
[[File:Alonzo_Chappel_-_The_Landing_of_Roger_Williams_in_1636_-_43.003_-_Rhode_Island_School_of_Design_Museum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.34|''The Landing of Roger Williams in 1636'' (1857) by [[Alonzo Chappel]] depicts Williams crossing the [[Seekonk River]]]]
In the spring of 1636, Williams and a [[list of early settlers of Rhode Island|number of others]] from Salem began a new settlement on land which he had bought from Massasoit in [[Rumford, Rhode Island|Rumford]]. After settling, however, Plymouth Governor William Bradford sent him a friendly letter which nonetheless warned him that he was still within jurisdiction of Plymouth Colony and concerned that this might antagonize the leaders in Boston.
Accordingly, Williams and Thomas Angell crossed the [[Seekonk River]] in search of a new ___location suitable for settlement. Upon reaching the shore, Williams and Angell were met by [[Narragansett (tribe)|Narragansett people]] who greeted them with the words "What cheer, Netop" ({{Translation|Hello, friend}}). The settlers then continued eastward along the [[Providence River]], where they encountered a cove and freshwater spring. Finding the area suitable for settlement, Williams acquired the tract from sachems [[Canonicus]] and [[Miantonomoh|Miantonomi]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cady|first=John Hutchins|author-link=John Hutchins Cady|url=https://archive.org/details/civicarchitectur00cady|title=The civic and architectural development of Providence, 1636-1950|date=1957|publisher=Providence, R.I. : Book Shop|others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center}}</ref> Here, Williams and his followers established a new, permanent settlement, convinced that divine providence had brought them there. They named it [[Providence Plantations]].<ref>''An Album of Rhode Island History'' by Patrick T. Conley</ref>
[[File:Rhode Island statehood Tercentenary, 3c, 1936 issue.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|In 1936, on the 300th anniversary of the settlement of Rhode Island in 1636, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, depicting Roger Williams]]
Williams wanted his settlement to be a haven for those "distressed of conscience," and it soon attracted a growing number of families who did not see eye-to-eye with the leaders in Massachusetts Bay. 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 the [[Providence Civil Compact]] formally restricted the government to civil things. In 1640 this was superseded by the [[Providence Combination of 1640|Providence Combination]], signed by 39 freemen (men who had full citizenship and voting rights) who 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.
[[File:First_Baptist_Church_in_America_from_Angell_St_3.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|[[First Baptist Church in America]] which Williams co-founded in 1638]]
In November 1637, the General Court of Massachusetts exiled a number of families during the [[Antinomian Controversy]], including [[Anne Hutchinson]] and her followers. [[John Clarke (Baptist minister)|John Clarke]] was among them, and he learned from Williams that [[Aquidneck Island]] might be purchased from the Narragansetts; Williams helped him to make the purchase, along with [[William Coddington]] and others, and they established the settlement of [[Portsmouth, Rhode Island|Portsmouth]]. In spring 1638, some of those settlers split away and founded the nearby settlement of [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], also situated on Rhode Island (now called Aquidneck).
In 1638, Williams and about 12 others were baptized and formed a congregation. Today, Williams's congregation is recognized as the [[First Baptist Church in America]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=King|first1=Henry Melville|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MylOAQAAMAAJ|title=Historical Catalogue of the Members of the First Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island|last2=Wilcox|first2=Charles Field|date=1908|publisher=Townsend, F.H., Printer|language=en}}</ref>
===Pequot War and relations with Native Americans===
In the meantime, the [[Pequot War]] had broken out. Massachusetts Bay asked for Williams's help, which he gave despite his exile, and he became the Bay colony's eyes and ears, and also dissuaded the Narragansetts from joining with the [[Pequots]]. Instead, the Narragansetts allied themselves with the colonists and helped to defeat the Pequots in 1637–38.
Williams formed firm friendships and developed deep trust among the Native American tribes, especially the Narragansetts. He was able to keep the peace between the Native Americans and the [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]] for nearly 40 years by his constant mediation and negotiation. He twice surrendered himself as a hostage to the Native Americans to guarantee the safe return of a great [[sachem]] from a summons to a court: Pessicus in 1645 and [[Metacom]] ("King Philip") in 1671. The Native Americans trusted Williams more than any other Colonist, and he proved trustworthy.
[[File:Roger Williams and Narragansetts.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A mid-19th century depiction of Williams meeting with Narragansett leaders]]
== Securing Charters ==
Williams arrived in London in the midst of the [[English Civil War]]. Puritans held power in London, and he was able to obtain a charter through the offices of [[Sir Henry Vane the Younger]] despite strenuous opposition from Massachusetts's agents. His book ''[[A Key into the Language of America]]'' proved crucial to the success of his charter, albeit indirectly.<ref>Gaustad, Edwin S.,''Liberty of Conscience'' (Judson Press, 1999), pg. 62</ref><ref>Ernst, ''Roger Williams: New England Firebrand'' (Macmillan, 1932), pp. 227-228</ref> It was published in 1643 in London and combined a phrase-book with observations about life and culture as an aid to communicate with the Native Americans of [[New England]]. It covered everything from salutations to death and burial. Williams also sought to correct the attitudes of superiority displayed by the colonists towards Native Americans:
{{Blockquote|text=Boast not proud English, of thy birth & blood;
Thy brother Indian is by birth as Good.
Of one blood God made Him, and Thee and All,
As wise, as fair, as strong, as personal.}}
[[Gregory Dexter]] printed the book, which was the first book-length study of a Native American language. In England, it was well received by readers who were curious about the Native American tribes of the New World.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Warren|first=James A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-n-aDwAAQBAJ|title=God, War, and Providence: The Epic Struggle of Roger Williams and the Narragansett Indians against the Puritans of New England|date=2019-06-18|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-5011-8042-2|pages=150|language=en}}</ref>
Williams secured his charter from Parliament for Providence Plantations in July 1644, after which he published his most famous book ''[[The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience]]''. 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. By this time, however, Williams was already on his way back to New England where he arrived with his charter in September.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Return of Roger Williams.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Return of Roger Williams from England with the First Charter from Parliament for [[Providence Plantations]] in July 1644]]
It took Williams several years to unify the settlements of Narragansett Bay under a single government, given the opposition of William Coddington. The settlements of Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick 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. However, Coddington disliked Williams and did not enjoy his position of subordination under the new charter government. He sailed to England and returned to Rhode Island in 1651 with [[William Coddington#Coddington commission|his own patent]] making him "Governor for Life" over Rhode Island and [[Conanicut Island]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}
As a result, Providence, [[Warwick, Rhode Island|Warwick]], and Coddington's opponents on the island dispatched Williams and John Clarke to England, seeking to cancel Coddington's commission. Williams sold his trading post at Cocumscussec (near [[Wickford, Rhode Island]]) to pay for his journey even though it had provided his primary source of income. He and Clarke succeeded in rescinding Coddington's patent, with Clarke remaining in England for the following decade to protect the colonists' interests and secure a new charter. Williams returned to America in 1654 and was immediately elected the colony's president. He subsequently served in many offices in town and colonial governments.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}
=== Slavery ===
Williams did not write extensively about slavery. He consistently expressed disapproval of it, though generally he did not object to the enslavement of captured enemy combatants for a fixed duration, a practice that was the normal course of warfare in that time.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=J. Stanley|first=Lemons|date=2002|title=Rhode Island and the Slave Trade|url=http://www.rihs.org/assetts/files/publications/2002_Fall.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.rihs.org/assetts/files/publications/2002_Fall.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=Rhode Island History|volume=60| issue = 4}}</ref> Williams struggled with the morality of slavery and raised his concerns in letters to Massachusetts Bay Governor [[John Winthrop]] concerning the treatment of the [[Pequots]] during the [[Pequot War]] (1636–1638).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Slavery - Roger Williams Initiative|url=http://www.findingrogerwilliams.com/essays/slavery|access-date=2021-04-20|website=www.findingrogerwilliams.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Newell |first=Margret Ellen |date=2015 |title=Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/57597 |___location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=28|isbn=978-0-8014-5648-0 }}</ref> In these letters, he requested Winthrop to prevent the enslavement of Pequot women and children, as well as to direct the colonial militia to spare them during the fighting.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Roger|date=May 15, 1637|title=Letter to Sir Henry Vane and John Winthrop from Roger Williams- May 15, 1637|url=http://www.masshist.org/publications/winthrop/index.php/view/PWF03d328|access-date=August 5, 2021|website=Massachusetts Historical Society}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Roger|date=June 21, 1637|title=Letter to John Winthrop from Roger Williams- June 21, 2021|url=http://www.masshist.org/publications/winthrop/index.php/view/PWF03d341#sn=4|access-date=August 5, 2021|website=Massachusetts Historical Society}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Roger|date=July 15, 1637|title=Letter to John Winthrop from Roger Williams- July 15, 1637|url=http://www.masshist.org/publications/winthrop/index.php/view/PWF03d341#sn=4|access-date=August 5, 2021|website=Massachusetts Historical Society}}</ref> In another letter to Winthrop written on July 31, 1637, Williams conceded that the capture and indenture of remaining Pequot women and children would "lawfully" ensure that remaining enemy combatants were "weakned and despoild", but pleaded that their indenture not be permanent.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Roger|date=July 31, 1637|title=Letter to John Winthrop from Roger Williams- July 31, 1637|url=http://www.masshist.org/publications/winthrop/index.php/view/PWF03d359#sn=12|access-date=August 5, 2021|website=Massachusetts Historical Society}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Roger|date=February 28, 1638|title=Letter to John Winthrop from Roger Williams- February 28, 1638|url=http://www.masshist.org/publications/winthrop/index.php/view/PWF04d018#sn=23|access-date=August 5, 2021|website=Massachusetts Historical Society}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Newell |first=Margret Ellen |date=2015 |title=Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/57597 |___location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=32|isbn=978-0-8014-5648-0 }}</ref>
Despite his reservations, Williams formed part of the colonial delegation sent to conduct negotiations at the end of the Pequot War, where the fates of the captured Pequots were decided upon between the [[New England Colonies|colonists of New England]] and their Native American allies the [[Narragansett people|Narragansetts]], [[Mohegan Tribe|Mohegans]], and [[Niantic people|Niantics]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Gallay|first=Alan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HT69BbA3Is8C|title=Indian Slavery in Colonial America|date=2009-01-01|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-2200-7|pages=40–42|language=en}}</ref> Williams reported to Winthrop that he and Narragansett sachem [[Miantonomoh]] discussed what to do with a group of captured Pequots; initially they discussed the possibility of distributing them as slaves among the four victorious parties, which Miantonomoh "liked well", though at Williams's suggestion, the non-combatants were relocated to an island in Niantic territory "because most of them were families".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Roger|date=July 10, 1637|title=Letter to John Winthrop From Roger Williams July 10, 1637 (2)|url=http://www.masshist.org/publications/winthrop/index.php/view/PWF03d351|access-date=August 3, 2021|website=Massachusetts Historical Society}}</ref> Miantonomoh later requested an enslaved female Pequot from Winthrop, to which Williams objected, stating that "he had his share sent to him". Instead, Williams suggested that he "buy one or two of some English man".<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Roger|date=August 12, 1637|title=Letter to John Winthrop From Roger Williams- August 12, 1637|url=http://www.masshist.org/publications/winthrop/index.php/view/PWF03d364|access-date=August 3, 2021|website=Massachusetts Historical Society}}</ref>
In July 1637, Winthrop gave Williams a Pequot boy as an indentured servant. The child had been captured by [[Israel Stoughton]] in Connecticut.<ref>{{cite book |last=Newell |first=Margret Ellen |date=2015 |title=Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/57597 |___location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |pages=68–69|isbn=978-0-8014-5648-0 }}</ref> Williams renamed the child "Will."<ref>{{cite book |last=Newell |first=Margret Ellen |date=2015 |title=Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/57597 |___location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=74|isbn=978-0-8014-5648-0 }}</ref>
Some of the Native American allies aided in the export of enslaved Pequots to the [[West Indies]], while others disagreed with the practice, believing that they should have been given land and provisions to contribute to the wellbeing of colonial settlements.<ref name=":3" /> Many enslaved Pequots frequently ran away, where they were taken in by surrounding Native American settlements.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" /> Williams aided colonists in distributing and selling Pequot captives and fielded requests from colonists to track down and return runaways,<ref name="Newell 2015 37">{{cite book |last=Newell |first=Margret Ellen |date=2015 |title=Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/57597 |___location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=37|isbn=978-0-8014-5648-0 }}</ref> using his connections with Miantonomoh, Ayanemo, and other Native leaders to find escapees.<ref>{{cite book |last=Newell |first=Margret Ellen |date=2015 |title=Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/57597 |___location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=104|isbn=978-0-8014-5648-0 }}</ref> Williams recorded experiences of abuse and rape recounted by the Natives he apprehended, and [[Margaret Ellen Newell]] speculates that Williams's letters encouraging Winthrop to limit terms of servitude were informed by his acquaintance with escapees.<ref name="Newell 2015 37"/>
In 1641, the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed laws sanctioning slavery.<ref>PBS. ''Africans in America: the Terrible Transformation.'' "[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr3.html From Indentured Servitude to Racial Slavery]." Accessed September 13, 2011.</ref> In response, under Williams's leadership, Providence Plantations passed a law in 1652 restricting the amount of time for which an individual could be held in servitude and tried to prevent the importation of slaves from Africa.<ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref name=":1" /> Upon the unification of the mainland and island settlements, residents of the island refused to accept this law, ensuring that it became dead legislation.<ref>McLoughlin, William G. ''Rhode Island: A History'' (W. W. Norton, 1978), p. 26.</ref>
Tensions escalated with the Narragansetts during [[King Philip's War]], despite Williams's efforts to maintain peace, during which his home was burned to the ground.<ref name=":2" /> During the war, Williams led the committee responsible for processing and selling Rhode Island's Native American captives into slavery.<ref>{{cite book |last=Newell |first=Margret Ellen |date=2015 |title=Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/57597 |___location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=151|isbn=978-0-8014-5648-0 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Clark-Pujara|first=Christy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yK84DwAAQBAJ&q=providence+slave+population+1750&pg=PA24|title=Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island|date=2018|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=978-1-4798-5563-6|language=en|page=32|id={{Project MUSE|49199|type=book}}}}</ref> Williams's committee recommended that Providence allow residents to keep Native American slaves in spite of earlier municipal statutes. The committee appraised the prices of various Native American captives and brokered their sale to residents. Williams's son transported additional captives to be sold in Newport. Williams also organized the trial and execution of a captured Native American man who had been a ring leader in the war.<ref>{{cite book |last=Newell |first=Margret Ellen |date=2015 |title=Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/57597 |___location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |pages=170–171|isbn=978-0-8014-5648-0 }}</ref>
== 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.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.redwoodlibrary.org/notables/clarke.htm | title = Newport Notables | publisher = Redwood Library. | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927062252/http://www.redwoodlibrary.org/notables/clarke.htm | archive-date = 27 September 2007 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> 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 with a heretical movement that accepted [[Socinianism]] and [[Universal Reconciliation]], but Williams rejected both of these ideas.<ref>Clifton E. Olmstead (1960): ''History of Religion in the United States''. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., p. 106</ref>
==King Philip's War==
{{Multiple image
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| image1 = Roger Williams statue at Propect Terrace Park (cropped).jpg
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| caption1 = Williams's final resting place in [[Prospect Terrace Park]]
| image2 = Roger Williams statue at Propect Terrace Park - Side View.jpg
| alt2 = Side view of Roger Williams statue at Prospect Terrace Park
| caption2 = Side view (1974).
| image3 = Roger Williams Root.jpg
| caption3 = The "Roger Williams Root"
}}
[[King Philip's War]] (1675–1676) pitted the colonists against the Wampanoags, along with some of the Narragansetts with whom Williams had previously maintained good relations. Williams was elected captain of Providence's militia, even though he was in his 70s. On March 29, 1676, Narragansetts led by [[Canonchet]] burned Providence; nearly the entire town was destroyed, including Williams's home.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mandell|first=Daniel R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_aDvP0d19rAC|title=King Philip's War: Colonial Expansion, Native Resistance, and the End of Indian Sovereignty|date=2010-09-01|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-9948-5|pages=100|language=en}}</ref>
==Death and memorialization==
Williams died sometime between January 16 and March 16, 1683<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roger Williams Biography |url=https://www.rogerwilliams.org/biography.html |access-date=2023-07-12 |website=www.rogerwilliams.org}}</ref> and was buried on his own property.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Today in History - February 5 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/february-05/ |access-date=2023-07-12 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref> Fifty years later, his house collapsed into the cellar and the ___location of his grave was forgotten.<ref name=":6" />
Providence residents were determined to raise a monument in his honor in 1860; they "dug up the spot where they believed the remains to be, they found only nails, teeth, and bone fragments. They also found an apple tree root," which they thought followed the shape of a human body; the root followed the shape of a spine, split at the hips, bent at the knees, and turned up at the feet.<ref name="nps">Sparkle Bryant, [https://web.archive.org/web/20180408144524/https://www.nps.gov/rowi/learn/news/the-tree-root-that-ate-roger-williams.htm "The Tree Root That Ate Roger Williams"], National Park Service website, archive date April 8, 2018; access date April 3, 2025.</ref><ref>[https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2210 "The Tree Root That Ate Roger Williams"], ''Roadside America'' website, accessed April 8, 2018.</ref>
The [[Rhode Island Historical Society]] has cared for this tree root since 1860 as representative of Rhode Island's founder. Since 2007, the root has been displayed at the [[John Brown House (Providence, Rhode Island)|John Brown House]].<ref>Rhode Island Historical Society, "Body, Body, Who's Got the Body? Where in the World IS Roger Williams", ''New and Notes,'' (Spring/Winter, 2008), pg. 4.</ref>
The few remains discovered alongside the root were reinterred in [[Prospect Terrace Park]] in 1939 at the base of a large stone monument.
==Separation of church and state==
Williams was a staunch advocate of the [[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 believed that the state must confine itself to the commandments dealing with the relations between people: murder, theft, adultery, lying, honoring parents, etc.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hall|title=Separating Church and State: Roger Williams and Religious Liberty|publisher=University of Illinois Press|url=https://archive.org/details/separatingchurch00hall|url-access=registration|year=1998|page=[https://archive.org/details/separatingchurch00hall/page/77 77]}}</ref> He wrote of a "hedge or wall of Separation between the Garden of the Church and the Wilderness of the world." [[Thomas Jefferson]] later used the metaphor in his 1801 ''[[Baptists in the history of separation of church and state#American Baptists|Letter to Danbury Baptists]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/god-government-and-roger-williams-big-idea-6291280/ |title=God, Government and Roger Williams' Big Idea |last=Barry |first=John M. |date=January 2012 |website=Smithsonian |language=en |access-date=15 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215221553/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/god-government-and-roger-williams-big-idea-6291280/ |archive-date=15 December 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2009/05/14/shifting-boundaries4/ |title=''Everson'' and the Wall of Separation |date=14 May 2009 |work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |publisher=Pew Research Center |language=en-US |access-date=13 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214071354/http://www.pewforum.org/2009/05/14/shifting-boundaries4/ |archive-date=14 December 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Williams considered the state's sponsorship of religious beliefs or practice to be "forced worship", declaring "Forced worship stinks in God's nostrils."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.providenceri.com/archives/roger-williams-champion-of-religious | author = Lemons, Stanley | title = Roger Williams Champion of Religious Liberty | publisher = Providence, RI City Archives. | access-date = 28 May 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140529052810/http://www.providenceri.com/archives/roger-williams-champion-of-religious | archive-date = 29 May 2014 | url-status = live | df = dmy-all }}</ref> He also believed [[Constantine the Great]] to be a worse enemy to Christianity than [[Nero]] because the subsequent state involvement in religious matters corrupted Christianity and led to the death of the first Christian church and the first Christian communities. He described laws concerning an individual's religious beliefs as "rape of the soul" and spoke of the "oceans of blood" shed as a result of trying to command conformity.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chana B. Cox|title=Liberty: God's Gift to Humanity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2r2UBGf1nT4C&pg=PA26|year=2006|publisher=Lexington Books|page=26|isbn=9780739114421|access-date=13 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227064015/https://books.google.com/books?id=2r2UBGf1nT4C&pg=PA26|archive-date=27 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The moral principles in the Scriptures ought to guide civil magistrates, he believed, but he observed that well-ordered, just, and civil governments existed even where Christianity was not present. Thus, all governments had to maintain civil order and justice, but Williams decided that none had a warrant to promote or repress any religious views. Most of his contemporaries criticized his ideas as a prescription for chaos and anarchy, and the vast majority believed that each nation must have its national church and could require that dissenters conform.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}
==Writings==
[[File:A_Key_into_the_Language_of_America.jpg|thumb|In 1643, Williams published ''[[A Key into the Language of America]],'' the first published study of a Native American language.]]
Williams's career as an author began with ''[[A Key into the Language of America]]'' (London, 1643), written during his first voyage to England. His next publication was ''Mr. Cotton's Letter lately Printed, Examined and Answered'' (London, 1644; reprinted in ''Publications of the Narragansett Club'', vol. ii, along with [[John Cotton (minister)|John Cotton]]'s letter which it answered). His most famous work is ''[[The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience]]'' (published in 1644), considered by some to be one of the best defenses of liberty of conscience.<ref>James Emanuel Ernst, Roger Williams, New England Firebrand (Macmillan Co., Rhode Island, 1932), pg. 246 [https://books.google.com/books?id=IsgMAAAAYAAJ&q=bloudy+tenent+of+persecution+vigor+style+roger+williams] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104135551/http://books.google.com/books?id=IsgMAAAAYAAJ&q=bloudy+tenent+of+persecution+vigor+style+roger+williams&dq=bloudy+tenent+of+persecution+vigor+style+roger+williams&pgis=1|date=4 January 2014}}</ref>
An anonymous pamphlet was published in London in 1644 entitled ''Queries of Highest Consideration Proposed to Mr. Tho. Goodwin, Mr. Phillip Nye, Mr. Wil. Bridges, Mr. Jer. Burroughs, Mr. Sidr. Simpson, all Independents, etc.'' which is now ascribed to Williams. These "Independents" were members of the [[Westminster Assembly]]; their ''Apologetical Narration'' sought a way between extreme Separatism and Presbyterianism, and their prescription was to accept the state church model of Massachusetts Bay.
Williams published ''The Bloody Tenent yet more Bloudy: by Mr. Cotton's Endeavor to wash it white in the Blood of the Lamb; of whose precious Blood, spilt in the Bloud of his Servants; and of the Blood of Millions spilt in former and later Wars for Conscience sake, that most Bloody Tenent of Persecution for cause of Conscience, upon, a second Tryal is found more apparently and more notoriously guilty, etc.'' (London, 1652) during his second visit to England. This work reiterated and amplified the arguments in ''Bloudy Tenent'', but it has the advantage of being written in answer to Cotton's ''A Reply to Mr. Williams his Examination''.<ref>''Publications of the Narragansett Club'', vol. ii</ref>
Other works by Williams include:
* ''The Hireling Ministry None of Christ's'' (London, 1652)
* ''Experiments of Spiritual Life and Health, and their Preservatives'' (London, 1652; reprinted Providence, 1863)
* ''[[George Fox Digged out of his Burrowes]]'' (Boston, 1676) (discusses Quakerism with its different belief in the "inner light," which Williams considered heretical)
A volume of his letters is included in the Narragansett Club edition of Williams's ''Works'' (7 vols., Providence, 1866–74), and a volume was edited by [[John Russell Bartlett]] (1882).
* ''The Correspondence of Roger Williams,'' 2 vols., Rhode Island Historical Society, 1988, edited by Glenn W. LaFantasie
[[Brown University]]'s [[John Carter Brown Library]] has long housed a 234-page volume referred to as the "Roger Williams Mystery Book".<ref>{{cite web|last=Mason-Brown|first=Lucas|title=Cracking the Code: Infant Baptism and Roger Williams|url=https://blogs.brown.edu/jcbbooks/2012/07/11/cracking-the-code/|work=JCB Books Speak|date=July 11, 2012 |access-date=16 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618180720/http://blogs.brown.edu/jcbbooks/2012/07/11/cracking-the-code/|archive-date=18 June 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> The margins of this book are filled with notations in handwritten code, believed to be the work of Roger Williams. In 2012, Brown University undergraduate Lucas Mason-Brown cracked the code and uncovered conclusive historical evidence attributing its authorship to Williams.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fischer|first=Suzanne|title=Personal Tech for the 17th Century|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/personal-tech-for-the-17th-century/255609/|work=The Atlantic|date=9 April 2012|access-date=16 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910025030/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/personal-tech-for-the-17th-century/255609/|archive-date=10 September 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> Translations are revealing transcriptions of a geographical text, a medical text, and 20 pages of original notes addressing the issue of [[infant baptism]].<ref>{{cite news|last=McKinney|first=Michael|title=Reading Outside the Lines|url=https://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/images/Reading%20outside%20the%20lines.pdf|access-date=16 September 2012|newspaper=The Providence Journal|date=March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710004658/http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/images/Reading%20outside%20the%20lines.pdf|archive-date=10 July 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> Mason-Brown has since discovered more writings by Williams employing a separate code in the margins of a rare edition of the ''[[Eliot Indian Bible]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mason-Brown|first=Lucas|title=Cracking the Code: Infant Baptism and Roger Williams|url=https://blogs.brown.edu/jcbbooks/2012/07/11/cracking-the-code/|work=JCB Books Speak|date=July 11, 2012 |publisher=Brown University|access-date=16 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618180720/http://blogs.brown.edu/jcbbooks/2012/07/11/cracking-the-code/|archive-date=18 June 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Legacy==
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| caption1 = [[Roger Williams University]] in [[Bristol, Rhode Island]]
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| caption2 = Statue of Williams at Roger Williams University
| image3 = Roger Williams monument, Roger Williams Park, Providence, Rhode Island.jpg
| caption3 = Memorial statue in [[Roger Williams Park]]
| image4 = Roger_Williams_national_park2.jpg
| caption4 = [[Roger Williams National Memorial]] in [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]]
| image5 = Roger Williams Middle School.jpg
| caption5 = Roger Williams Middle School in Providence
}}
Williams's defense of the Native Americans, his accusations that Puritans had reproduced the "evils" of the Anglican Church, and his insistence that England pay the Native Americans for their land all put him at the center of many political debates during his life. He was considered an important historical figure of religious liberty at the time of [[United States Declaration of Independence|American independence]], and he was a key influence on the thinking of the [[Founding Fathers]].
===Tributes===
Tributes to Williams include:
* The 1936 commemorative [[Rhode Island Tercentenary half dollar]]
* [[Roger Williams National Memorial]], a park in downtown Providence established in 1965
* [[Roger Williams Park]], [[Providence, Rhode Island]], and the [[Roger Williams Park Zoo]]
* [[Roger Williams University]] in [[Bristol, Rhode Island]]
* Roger Williams Dining Hall at the [[University of Rhode Island]]
* Roger Williams Inn, the main dining hall at the American Baptists' Green Lake Conference Center founded in 1943 in [[Green Lake (town), Wisconsin|Green Lake, Wisconsin]]
* [[Roger Williams Medical Center]], a hospital in Providence
* [[Roger Williams (Simmons)|Rhode Island's representative statue]] in the [[National Statuary Hall Collection]] in the United States Capitol, added in 1872
* A depiction of him on the [[Reformation Wall|International Monument to the Reformation]] in [[Geneva]], along with other prominent reformers
* Roger Williams Middle School, a public school in Providence
* [[Pembroke College in Brown University]] was named for Williams's alma mater
===Slate Rock===
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| image1= Slate Rock, from a painting by Edward L. Peckham, 1832.jpg
| caption1 = 1832 painting of Slate Rock by Edward L. Peckham
| image2= Roger Williams Landing Place monument in Slate Rock Park east facade.jpg
| caption2 = Memorial in Roger Williams Square
}}
Slate Rock is a prominent boulder on the west shore of the Seekonk River (near the current Gano Park) that was once one of Providence's most important historic landmarks.<ref name="Quahog" /><ref name="Sowams" /><ref name="RIHS" /> It was believed to be the spot where the Narragansetts greeted Williams with the famous phrase "What cheer, netop?" The historic rock was accidentally blown up by city workers in 1877.<ref name="Quahog" /><ref name="Sowams" /> They were attempting to expose a buried portion of the stone, but used too much dynamite and it was "blasted to pieces."<ref name="Quahog" /> A memorial in Roger Williams Square commemorates the ___location.<ref name="Quahog">{{cite web |title=Roger Williams's Landing Place Monument |url=https://www.quahog.org/attractions/index.php?id=68 |website=Quahog dot org |access-date=23 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526145444/https://www.quahog.org/attractions/index.php?id=68 |archive-date=26 May 2021}}</ref><ref name="RIHS">{{cite web |last1=Shamgochian |first1=John |title=Slate Rock, The Landing Place of Roger Williams |url=https://www.rihs.org/slate-rock-the-landing-place-of-roger-williams/ |website=Rhode Island Historical Society |access-date=23 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223163312/https://www.rihs.org/slate-rock-the-landing-place-of-roger-williams/ |archive-date=23 December 2021 |date=3 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Sowams">{{cite web |title=Slate Rock Park |url=http://sowamsheritagearea.org/wp/slate-rock-park/ |website=Sowams Heritage Area |access-date=23 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508111614/http://sowamsheritagearea.org/wp/slate-rock-park/ |archive-date=8 May 2021 |date=14 January 2019}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]]
* [[List of early settlers of Rhode Island]]
* [[John Cotton (puritan)]]
* [[John Winthrop]]
* [[Joseph Kinnicutt Angell]]
* [[Roger Williams National Memorial]]
* [[Roger Williams Park]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* Barry, John, ''Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul'' (New York: Viking Press, 2012). {{ISBN?}}
* [[Teresa Bejan|Bejan, Teresa]], ''Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017). Addresses Roger Williams's ideas in dialogue with Hobbes and Locke, and suggests lessons from Williams for how to disagree well in the modern public sphere. {{ISBN?}}
* Brockunier, Samuel. ''The Irrepressible Democrat, Roger Williams'', (1940), popular biography {{ISBN?}}
* Burrage, Henry S. "Why Was Roger Williams Banished?" ''[[American Journal of Theology]]'' 5 (January 1901): 1–17.
* Byrd, James P. Jr. ''The Challenges of Roger Williams: Religious Liberty, Violent Persecution, and the Bible'' (2002). 286 pp.
* Davis. Jack L. "Roger Williams among the Narragansett Indians", ''[[New England Quarterly]]'', Vol. 43, No. 4 (Dec. 1970), pp. 593–604 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/363134 in JSTOR]
* Davis, James Calvin. ''The Moral Theology of Roger Williams: Christian Conviction and Public Ethics''. (London: Westminster John Knox, 2004).
* Elton, Romeo. ''Life of Roger Williams, the earliest Legislator and true Champion for a Full and Absolute Liberty of Conscience'' (G.P. Putnam).
* Field, Jonathan Beecher. "A Key for the Gate: Roger Williams, Parliament, and Providence", ''New England Quarterly'' 2007 80(3): 353–382
* Fisher, Linford D., and J. Stanley Lemons, and Lucas Mason-Brown. ''Decoding Roger Williams: The Lost Essay of Rhode Island’s Founding Father.'' (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2014).
* Gammell, William. ''Life of Roger Williams, the Founder of the State of Rhode Island'' (Gould and Lincoln, 1854).
* Goodman, Nan. "Banishment, Jurisdiction, and Identity in Seventeenth-Century New England: The Case of Roger Williams", ''Early American Studies, An Interdisciplinary Journal'' Spring 2009, Vol. 7 Issue 1, pp. 109–139.
* [[Edwin Gaustad|Gaustad, Edwin, S.]] ''Roger Williams'' (Oxford University Press, 2005). 140 pp. short scholarly biography stressing religion
* Gaustad, Edwin, S. ''Roger Williams: Prophet of Liberty'' (Oxford University Press, 2001).
* Gaustad, Edwin, S., ''Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams in America''. (Judson Press, Valley Forge, 1999).
* Gray, Nicole. "Aurality in Print: Revisiting Roger Williams's A Key into the Language of America". Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 131 (2016): 64–83.
* Hall, Timothy L. ''Separating Church and State: Roger Williams and Religious Liberty'' (1998). 206 pp.
* Johnson, Alan E. ''The First American Founder: Roger Williams and Freedom of Conscience'' (Pittsburgh, PA: Philosophia Publications, 2015). In-depth discussion of Roger Williams's life and work and his influence on the US Founders and later American history. {{ISBN?}}
*Knowles, James D. ''Memoir of Roger Williams the Founder of the State of Rhode-Island'' (Lln, Edmands and Co., 1834).
* Miller, Perry, ''Roger Williams, A Contribution to the American Tradition'', (1953). much debated study; Miller argues that Williams thought was primarily religious, not political as so many of the historians of the 1930s and 1940s had argued. {{ISBN?}}
* Morgan, Edmund S. ''Roger Williams: the church and the state'' (1967) 170 pages; short biography by leading scholar
* Mudge, Z. A. ''Foot-Prints of Roger Williams: A Biography, with sketches of important events in early New England History, with which he was connected'', (Carlton & Lanahan, 1871).
* Neff, Jimmy D. "Roger Williams: Pious Puritan and Strict Separationist", ''[[Journal of Church and State]]'' 1996 38(3): 529–546 in [[EBSCO Information Services|EBSCO]]
* Phillips, Stephen. "Roger Williams and the Two Tables of the Law", ''Journal of Church and State'' 1996 38(3): 547–568 in [[EBSCO Information Services|EBSCO]]
* Rowley, Matthew. "'All Pretend an Holy War: Radical Beliefs and the Rejection of Persecution in the Mind of Roger Williams', ''The Review of Faith & International Affairs'' 15.2 (2017):66–76.
* Skaggs, Donald. ''Roger Williams' Dream for America'' (1993). 240 pp.
* Stanley, Alison. "'To Speak With Other Tongues': Linguistics, Colonialism and Identity in 17th Century New England", ''Comparative American Studies'' March 2009, Vol. 7 Issue 1, p. 1, 17 pp
* Winslow, Ola Elizabeth, ''Master Roger Williams, A Biography''. (1957) standard biography
* Wood, Timothy L. "Kingdom Expectations: The Native American in the Puritan Missiology of John Winthrop and Roger Williams", ''[[Fides et Historia]]'' 2000 32(1): 39–49
===Historiography===
* Carlino, Anthony O. "Roger Williams and his Place in History: The Background and the Last Quarter Century", ''Rhode Island History'' 2000 58(2): 34–71, historiography
* Irwin, Raymond D. "A Man for all Eras: The Changing Historical Image of Roger Williams, 1630–1993", ''Fides Et Historia'' 1994 26(3): 6–23, historiography
*[[Edmund Morgan (historian)|Morgan, Edmund S.]] " Miller's Williams", ''New England Quarterly'', Vol. 38, No. 4 (Dec. 1965), pp. 513–523 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/363219 in JSTOR]
* Moore, Leroy Jr. "Roger Williams and the Historians", ''Church History'' 1963 32(4): 432–451 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3163291 in JSTOR]
* Peace, Nancy E. "Roger Williams: A Historiographical Essay", ''Rhode Island History'' 1976 35(4): 103–113,
===Primary
* Williams, Roger. ''The Complete Writings of Roger Williams'', 7 vols. 1963
* Williams, Roger. ''The Correspondence of Roger Williams'', 2 vols. ed. by Glenn W. LaFantasie, 1988
==
*
* George, James W., ''The Prophet and the Witch: A Novel of Puritan New England'', Amazon Digital Services (2017).
==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Williams, Roger}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{DNB-Portal|118807471}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=52197 |name=Roger Williams}}
* {{BBKL|w/williams_r}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Roger Williams |birth=1604 |death=1683 |sopt=t}} <!-- birth=1604 on IA -->
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120311223913/http://rogerwilliamsfellowship.squarespace.com/ Side of the US-American Roger Williams circle of friends]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur8gTAsGETI Documentary about Roger Williams life: Roger Williams – Freedom's Forgotten Hero (Part 1 to 7)]
* [https://www.uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=11996 Lecture by Martha Nussbaum: Equal '''Liberty of Conscience''': Roger Williams and the Roots of a Constitutional Tradition]
* [http://www.sovereignredeemerbooks.com/views/books/book-list.php?author=roger-williams Roger Williams Hireling Ministry None of Christ's]
* [http://www.quahog.org/factsfolklore/index.php?id=40 Chronological list of Rhode Island leaders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402010637/http://www.quahog.org/factsfolklore/index.php?id=40 |date=2 April 2021 }}
*''[[iarchive:keyintolanguageo02will/page/n5|A Key into the Language of America]]'' – digitization of a first edition copy held at the [[John Carter Brown Library]]
{{Colonial Governors of Rhode Island}}
{{Rhode Island settlers}}
{{Hall of Fame for Great Americans}}
{{Portal bar|Reformed Christianity|Christianity|Rhode Island|New England|United States|Biography|British Empire}}
{{Authority control}}<!--LC gives birth year as 1604? [the question mark is part of the heading]-->
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