Roger Williams, a 17th-century English immigrant to New England, was famously banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 for his “new and dangerous opinions” on religious freedom, the separation of church and state, and Indigenous land rights. Following his banishment, Williams settled the town of Providence with the permission of the Narragansett Sachems, creating a colony that was arguably the freest in the western world. This collection draws together a wide range of primary sources by and about Williams in order to make this history accessible to a broad audience.
Comments
“Roger Williams and His World is a book we have needed for a long time. With clarity and humanity, Charlotte Carrington-Farmer brings us back into that world, explaining how many peoples inhabited it and how ground-breaking their ideas could be. At the same time, as she explains, they often fell short of their highest standards. For Roger Williams, his family, and his many neighbors, life was full of contention as well as hope—still the motto of Rhode Island. Thanks to this book, we have a far richer sense of that struggle, and its legacy for all of us.” — Ted Widmer, City University of New York, author of Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington
“In Roger Williams and His World, Carrington-Farmer exposes the complexities of Roger Williams—both the man himself and the cataclysmic world and time in which he lived.” — Lorén Spears, enrolled Narragansett, Executive Director of the Tomaquag Museum
“This eagerly awaited collection of primary sources and historical commentary will soon be considered the authoritative work on the life and times of Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island. Carrington-Farmer has compiled a diverse array of documents offering multiple perspectives on Williams’s actions and beliefs on topics such as religious toleration, ‘soul liberty,’ Indigeneity, and enslavement. This is not a hagiography but rather a primer for historians and students alike on how lauded figures from the past must be examined critically via primary sources.” — Kathryn Lamontagne, Boston University
“Following Williams from England to America, this excellent reader presents him in all his messy complexity. We see a religious fanatic who championed toleration, and a self-proclaimed friend of the Natives who furthered their dispossession. Perfect for the undergraduate classroom, this book gives a thorough portrait not just of one important character in colonial America, but of the wider world he inhabited.” — Owen Stanwood, Boston College
“Carrington-Farmer does more than assemble the words to, from, and about Rhode Island's most famous ‘founder.’ She situates him in a context that is made comprehensible for Williams students and scholars of all ages and disciplines. For those just getting to know Williams, this is an accessible text with annotations and follow up questions to provide explanation and depth. Williams becomes far more than words on a page: rather, he is a man in and of his times as we are immersed in the personal, political, and spiritual world he acted in and upon.” — C. Morgan Grefe, Executive Director, The Rhode Island Historical Society
“This a wonderfully enlightening collection that examines religion, politics, personal relationships, and conflicts, shedding light on a period of history that is often over-simplified. Carrington-Farmer explores how the ideals that Williams embodied and expressed helped shape some of the values that Americans strive for today.” — John McNiff, historian and former National Park Ranger at Roger Williams National Memorial
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
- Religious Persecution in England
- New England Calling
- Building New Providence
- Indigenous Peoples
- Religious Freedom
- Chronology
Part I: Religious Persecution in England
- 1: Map of London as Roger Williams knew it, Civitas Londinum (1633)
- 2: Religious turmoil and the execution of heretics at Smithfield
- 3: Roger Williams on his decision to leave England, from letters to Lady Joan Barrington (1629) and Anne Sadleir (1652)
- Questions to Consider
Part II: New England Calling
- 4: The Vision for Massachusetts Bay (1629–30)
- 5: Roger Williams reflects on his conflict with Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth in a letter to John Winthrop, and William Bradford examines the conflict in Of Plymouth Plantation (1632–33)
- 6: John Winthrop and Nathaniel Morton examine Roger Williams’ escalating conflict in Plymouth and Salem in Winthrop’s Journal (1631–36) and New England’s Memorial (1669)
- 7: Roger Williams’ banishment decree (1635) and Sir William Martin expresses his concerns about Roger Williams in a letter to Governor John Winthrop (1636)
- 8: Roger Williams reflects on his banishment, from letters to Major John Mason and Governor Thomas Prence (1670) and John Cotton, Jr. (1671)
- Questions to Consider
Part III: Building New Providence
- 9: Land Evidence for Providence, from the Narragansett Sachems Canonicus and Miantonomi (1636/38)
- 10: Establishing a Civil Authority in Providence, from a letter to John Winthrop (1636)
- 11: Parliamentary patent for Providence (1644)
- 12: Rhode Island Charter (1663)
- 13: Map of Providence town lots from tax list (1650)
- 14: Mary Williams’ role in managing the colony
- 15: Conflict with William Harris
- Questions to Consider
Part IV: Indigenous Peoples
Language, Culture, and Diplomacy
- 16: Roger Williams, A Key into the Language of America (1643)
- 17: Traditional Indigenous Wetu (home), from Plimoth Patuxet Museums (n.d.)
- 18: Roger Williams’ diplomacy following the murder of Penowanyanquis (1638)
- 19: Narragansett “Submission” to King Charles I (1644)
- 20: Roger Williams to the General Court of Massachusetts on issues of diplomacy (1654)
- Questions to Consider
Conversion
- 21: Roger Williams, Christenings make not Christians (1645)
- 22: John Eliot’s translation of the Bible into Wôpanâak, Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God (1663)
- 23: Roger Williams on Indigenous baptism and conversion in “code” (ca. 1680)
- Questions to Consider
Pequot War
- 24: Roger Williams to John Winthrop and Henry Vane about battle tactics (1637)
- 25: Roger Williams to Governor John Winthrop in the wake of the Mystic massacre (1637)
- 26: Roger Williams claims an unfree Indigenous child in letters to John Winthrop (1637)
- 27: Roger Williams to Governor John Winthrop on Pequot captives (1638)
- 28: Roger Williams reflects on his diplomatic efforts during the Pequot War in a letter to Major John Mason and Governor Thomas Prence (1670)
- Questions to Consider
King Philip’s War
- 29: Roger Williams on the outbreak of conflict, in a letter to John Winthrop, Jr. (1675)
- 30: Roger Williams to Governor John Leverett on the progression of the conflict, and Joshua Tift’s account of his captivity (1676)
- 31: Roger Williams to [Robert Williams?] on the burning of Providence (1676)
- 32: Roger Williams et al., sale of Indigenous captives into slavery (1676)
- Questions to Consider
Part V: Religious Freedom
Debates with John Cotton on Soul Liberty
- 33: Roger Williams, The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution (1644)
- 34: John Cotton, The Bloudy Tenent Washed and Made White in the Bloud of the Lamb (1647)
- Questions to Consider
Framing Religious Freedom and Separation of Church and State
- 35: Letters between Roger Williams and Anne Sadleir discussing issues of religious freedom and the Church of England (1652–53)
- 36: Roger Williams on religious freedom and separation of church and state, in a letter to the town of Providence (1655)
- 37: Roger Williams on issues of religious freedom, in a letter to Major John Mason and Governor Thomas Prence (1670) 166
- Questions to Consider
Conflict and Controversy
- 38: Roger Williams to John Winthrop regarding the Jane and Joshua Verin freedom of worship and domestic violence controversy (1638)
- 39: Roger Williams on the Samuel Gorton controversy, in a letter to John Winthrop (1641)
- 40: Roger Williams on the persecution of Quakers, from George Fox digg’d out of his burrows (1676)
- Questions to Consider
Select Bibliography
Permissions Acknowledgements
Charlotte Carrington-Farmer is Professor of History at Roger Williams University.
