Roger Williams - (1603-1683)
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By Susan Huetteman
I. Background
If there is one influence, one person, that sculpted the independent attitudes of New England, it is Roger Williams, whose selfless dedication to the spiritual and personal freedom of the individual was respected even by his accusers. Williams was intelligent in his perceptions and devoted to God. He was inflexible in his belief that government must never control the soul of its subjects nor claim native lands as their own.
He honored dissenting interpretations and dissimilar heritages, protecting them from invasive controllers and providing them with safe harbors. Although he disagreed with the specific practices of the Quakers, he respected their differences, openly accepting them, the Dutch Jews and other independent thinkers. He knew no hypocrisy.
When Williams was born in London in the early 17th century, it was a time when "heretics" were burned at the stake. He was ordained in the Anglican Church where stringent rules for thinking and behavior were enforced. A dissenting Reverend Williams and his family left England for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There the Puritans for his intellect and devotion to God welcomed him. They too were soon to encounter his defiant will and uncompromising belief in religious and personal freedoms.
The Puritans and Pilgrims of the "New World" were not receptive to his ideas of separation of church and state and the rights of the Indians to keep their land. Williams wrote, "Indians and English feare deceits,/ Yet willing both to be/Deceiv'd and couzen'd of precious soule,/Of heaven, Eternitie." 1
Three days before he was to be brought to trial and returned to England for his rebellious philosophies, Williams fled south to Narragansett Indian country. He and seven followers survived the wilderness surrounding what is now Narragansett Bay, starving until the gentle Narragansett Indians befriended them. "I was sorely tossed for one fourteen weeks in a bitter winter season, not knowing what bed or bread did mean," Williams wrote. 2
Chiefs Canonicus and Miantonomi rewarded Williams' advocacy to the Narragansetts by selling him land at the mouth of the bay. He became their trusted friend. He named his new home in honor of God's "Providence" that permitted the survival of his friends and family. Church and State would forever be separate. It would be a place of freedom of religion and thought—a promise that is honored in our nation's First Amendment and a tone that forever influenced the independent thinking of Rhode Islanders.
William's followers grew, quickly encroaching on the territory of Plymouth Colony. He wanted to ensure the Rhode Island plantations—Providence and nearby islands, Portsmouth and Newport—were a safe haven for free thinking colonists. He would return to England only to seek legal protection. It was during this voyage in 1643 that he wrote A Key into the Languages of America , "A little Key may open a Box, where lies a bunch of Keyes." 3
Williams' honesty and affection for his fellow is the basis for his extraordinary work: "My souls [sic] desire was to do the natives good, and to that end to have their language (understood)...God was pleased to give me a painful Patient spirit to lodge with them...to gain their tongue." 4
The Key opens the reader to the world of 1643, sensitively drawing us into the customs, environment, and archeology of the Narragansetts—a friendly and generous people who trusted and befriended Williams and his small group of followers. The natives believed their ancestors came from "Sackmakan," the Icelandic word for "Indian Prince," but Williams also observed customs and some words that "hold affinitie [sic] with the Hebrew." 5
They anointed their heads, gave dowries for their wives, and practice health customs of the Jews. He also found language similarities with "Greeks and other Nations." The natives talked of "miracles amongst them, and (a man who walked) upon the waters." 6 Their traditions, however, they gained from the Southwest ("Sowaniu"), which gave them their "Corne, and Beans" and where they would go when they die. 7
Williams' personal observations immerse us in the thirty-two categories of native life—family life, travel, fishing, government, and trading, as well as a sampling of his sense of humor: "The whole race of mankind is generally infected with an itching desire of hearing Newes." 8 Interspersed are poems written by Williams, presenting insights of a gentle, loving poet: "The Indians find the Sun so sweet/He is a God they say/Giving them Light, and Heat, and Fruit,/And Guidance all the day." 9
Williams' advocacy and service continued throughout his life. "He left no great estate of worldly goods, but this was his immortal legacy to the freedom of loving people of all the world: separation of Church and State and equality for all men regardless of race or creed." 10
II. Timeline of William's Life
1524: Giovanni Verrazzano first to visit what is now Rhode Island
1603-4: Born in London, England; parents: James Williams, d. 1621, Alice Pemberton Williams, d. 1634; brothers: Sydrach and Robert; sister: Catherine
1614: John Smith charts New England coast; Adriaen Block visits and claims Block Island
1621: Sent to Sutton Hospital (Charterhouse School)
1627: Graduated, Cambridge University, A.B. degree
1629: Church of England orders and post of Chaplain to Sir William Masham at Otes in Essex; married Mary Barnard, December 15
1630: Sail for New England on the ship "Lyon," December 1
1631: Arrive Nantucket Island, February 3; arrive Boston, February 5
1633: In Salem, preached personal liberty and Indian rights; questioned validity of Massachusetts Bay Colony and colony's right to take land from the native Indians; daughter Mary born in Plymouth
1635: General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony threatens banishment; daughter Freeborn born at Salem
1636: Escapes to friendly Narragansett territory and purchases land on Mossahuck River; founds Providence Plantation; welcomes Quakers, Jews, and others fleeing from persecution; is the first to understand and empathize with the Native American culture; believes in spiritual freedom
1638: Anne and William Hutchison and William Coddington found Portsmouth; daughter Providence born at Providence
1639: Founds the first Baptist Church in America; withdraws from Baptist Church to become a Seeker, a separatist. "As hardly any two Rhode Islanders shared the same beliefs," Williams foundered among a number of sects. The only basis could be religious liberty. William Coddington founds Newport.
1640: Daughter Mercy born at Providence
1641: Son Daniel born
1643: Returns to England; asks Cromwell to grant Charter for Providence, joining with Warwick, Newport, and Portsmouth; writes Key to the Indian Languages during voyage;Samuel Gorton founds Warwick; Son Joseph born at Providence
1644: Charter, a Colonial Patent, was granted; writes The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, Peace and Truth Speak
1651: Returns to England to confirm Charter; publishes Experiments of Spiritual Life, and Health and Their Preservation
1652: Writes: The Bloudy Tenent Yet More Bloudy, after experiencing opposition by John Cotton; argues that a government that controls religion wants control of "all areas of human endeavor"
1653: Charter confirmed
1654-8: Elected president of the combined colonies of Providence, Newport, Narragansett and Warwick
1655: Elected Freeman
1657: Quakers and Antinomians establish meeting house
1658: Newport Jewish congregation established
1658-61: Elected Commissioner
1660: Royal Charter necessary due to Stuart Restoration in England
1663: Royal Charter granted, serving as basic law until 1843
1670-80: Elected Deputy
1675-76: Served on Town Council
1675: Great Swamp Fight and the burning of Providence. "For Williams, who witnessed the event, it represented the destruction of four decades of hard-earned progress." Newport was spared.
1676: Providence burned in King Philip's War, but because Williams was "an honest man, not a hair of his head would be harmed." Writes George Fox Digg'd out His Burrows, attacking Quaker's "inner light"; wife Mary dies.
1683: Roger William actively served Rhode Island until his death
1686: French Huguenot Calvinists settle
1700: Religious liberty more accepted
1936: Williams grave moved twice, finally resting in the base of his monument on Prospect Terrace in Providence
1964: Cardinal Cushing of Boston proposes "religious liberty as a principle"
III. Footnotes
1. Williams, Roger. A Key into the Language of America, An help to the Language of the Natives in that part of America, called New-England. Together, with brief Observations of the Customs, Manners and Worships, etc. of the aforesaid Natives, in Peace and War, in Life and Death. On all which are added Spiritual Observations, General and Particular by the Author, of chief and special use (upon all occasions) to all the English Inhabiting those parts; yet pleasant and profitable to the view of all men: by Roger Williams of Providence in New-England.Bedford, Massachusetts: Applewood Books. With introduction by Howard M. Chapin (Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Tercentenary Committee, Inc. 1936), p. 167
2. Sam Behling, ed., 1997. Biographical essay on Roger Williams's life (5 pages)
3. Op.Cit., Williams, p. A24. Ibid., Introduction, HMC
5. Ibid., To the Reader
6. Ibid., To the Reader
7. Ibid., To the Reader
8. Ibid., Ch. VIII, p. 61
9. Ibid., Ch. IX, p. 64
10. Essay, RI Early History, Indians And Explorers, available at
IV. Other Sources
American Heritage Magazine, ed. American Heritage New Pictorial Encyclopedic Guide to the United States. Nevada through Wyoming, Washington, DC, Territories. NY: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1965, pp. 987-88
Bradbury, Malcolm and Mottram, Eric, ed. The Avenel Companion to English & American Literature, United States of America, vol. II. NY:Penguin Books Ltd., 1981, p. 269, 1635-1643 Commanger, Henry Steele, ed.
Documents of American History, 5th Edition. NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1949. #17. Plantation Agreement at Providence, August 27,
1640, (Articles of human rights and orders of government for the settlement of Providence and lands from Massachusetts Bay to Narragansett Bay) pp.24-26; #18., The New England
Confederation, May 19, 1643 (excluding RI from the union of New England Confederation), pp.26-28; #104. State Replies to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, 1799, Article 1. The
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to Virginia, February, 1799, (concerns judicial powers), pp.184-5 Levy, Judith S. and Greenhall, Agnes, ed. The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia. NY: Avon Books, 1983, p.922
Martinez, Marta V., ed. Rhode Island Boundaries, 1626-1936, Rhode Island History, Vol.56, No.4, November, 1998. RI: The Rhode Island Historical Society, pp.91-120 Miller, Marilyn and Faux, Marian, ed.
The New York Public Library American History Desk Reference. NY: A Stonesong Press Book, Macmillan, 1997, pp.39,58,91,211,398,419 Morison, Samauel Eliot. The Oxford History of the American People. NY:Oxford University
Press, 1965, pp.68,110,126,129,132 V. From the Web Essay "Life with Liberty Series, Separation of Church and State"produced by Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs:
Roger Williams National Memorial:
http://www.nps.gov/rowi
Short history of Rhode Island:
http://rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/history.html
Essay and biographical points covering defense of freedom of religion and freedom of speech:
http://www.uark.edu/depts/comminfo/freespeech/williams.html
Roger Williams Family Association:
http://www.mouseworks.net/rogerwilliams/biography.htm
Also, try Internet searches (Williams, Roger; Narragansett Indians + Roger Williams; Roger Williams author ) to locate additional information. Here are some places to start: http://www.yahoo.com
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.lycos.com
http://search.msn.com
http://encarta.msn.com
http://goto.com
VI. Miscellaneous The Roger Williams National Memorial is located one block from the Rhode Island State House, 282 North Main Street, Providence, RI 02903.
This essay was submitted by Susan Huetteman, a retired teacher in Rhode Island.