Roger Williams

Born in 1603 London England, Roger Williams studied under famous jurist Sir Edward Coke, before completing his education at Pembroke College Cambridge, where his mastery of languages would later help him become proficient at Native American dialects in the colonies. Ordained in the Church of England, during his years at Cambridge, Williams converted to Puritanism, after he became disillusioned with the Church of England’s powerful entrenchment in English politics and governance, encouraging Williams and his wife Mary Bernard to set sail for the colonies in December of 1630.

Fair Treatment for All

Settling in Boston for a time, his tireless push for religious tolerance combined with his descent against the practice of confiscating land from Native Americans, placing him at odds with hardline Puritan clerics and colony officials, leading to his banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Williams landed briefly in Salem before moving to the separatist colony of Plymouth, where he began a successful trading business with the Wampanoag and Narragansett people, at the same time building a strong friendship with Wampanoag Chief Massasoit.

Narragansett Bay

Williams and his separatist followers eventually settled near Narragansett Bay, where they purchased land from the Narragansett people to establish the Providence Plantations and eventually the Colony of Rhode Island. Serving as governor and later president of the Colony of Rhode Island, Williams preached what he called “soul liberty,” founding the first Baptist church in America alongside Dr. John Clarke, maintaining that the liberty of a believer’s conscience was a prerequisite for right Christian thinking, since no one could establish which Christian denomination was the one God had truly intended.

Separation of Church & State

Governing the new colony under principles of religious liberty and separation of church and state, Rhode Island soon became a haven for Baptists, Quakers and other religious minorities. Serving as captain of the Providence militia during King Phillips War of 1675 to 1676, against the once-friendly Narragansetts, Williams passed away in early 1683, at 80 years of age. More than a century later, the founding fathers would incorporate William’s notion of a “wall of separation” between church and state into the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, making the life and beliefs of Roger Williams, an early advocate for religious tolerance in America.