Roger Williams Founds Providence, Rhode Island - Timeline Event
Founder
Roger Williams
Time Period
06-01-1636
Description
Roger Williams, Baptist theologian and jurist, founded Providence in June 1636 as a haven for religious and political refugees from the Puritan-ruled Massachusetts Bay Colony, including Anne Hutchinson as well as many Anabaptists who disagreed with the Puritans on infant baptism. Williams himself had been banished by the Puritan authorities in late 1635 for supporting Indian land rights and the separation of civil and ecclesiastical authority. The Narragansett tribe sheltered Williams during the winter of 1635-36 and sold him the land for the town. Providence became a symbol of religious freedom and the separation of church and state, but it would be nearly two hundred years before the last of the New England states finally ended the establishment of religion in 1833. Jews, Baptists, Quakers, and Catholics were welcomed as long as they did not violate the civil peace.
Interactive Timeline(s)
Browse Related Timeline Entries
Religious Groups
Baptist Family: Other ARDA LinksBaptist Family: Religious Family Tree
Biographies
Winthrop, JohnWilliams, Roger
Related Dictionary Terms
Massachusetts Bay Colony, Williams, Roger (1603-1683)Photographs
The Landing of Roger Williams in Rhode Island- US History Images
Roger Williams and the Narragansetts- Internet Archive- from The Story of Roger Williams and the Founding of Rhode Island by Etta V. Leighton
Providence, Rhode Island original deed- English Wikipedia
Rhode Island old state seal- Internet Archive- from History of Rhode Island by Edward Peterson
Book/Journal Source(s)
Larson, Timothy and David Bebbington and Mark Noll, 2003. Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois.Web Page Contributor
Paul MatzkoAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in History
