AAA Bulleted Life of Roger Williams 1603-1683

 

A Bulleted Life of Roger Williams 1603-1683

Compiled By Marc Kohler July 2019

Corrections and comments are invited marcwkohler@aol.com 

LINK to an older draft: Link: http://www.marcwkohler.com/bulleted-life-of-roger-williams-1603-1683/

In April of this year, Ms. Wendy Nilsson, Director of the Providence Parks and Recreation Department, included me on the committee to set up the 80th Anniversary Re-Dedication of the Roger Williams Memorial at Prospect Terrace.  My assignment was to write a “bulleted” biography of Roger Williams for a poster for the event on June 18th.  I started with a full bulleted biography for Roger’s life.  From these “bullets” I would create the ones for the poster.

Bulleted Life of Roger Williams 1603-1683 Compiled by Marc Kohler with many sitings from Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church State, and the Birth of Liberty by Dr. John Barry and with his permission.  Please note, too, that Dr. Barry thinks that Roger Williams was an very important proponent and exponent for the the core foundaitons of constitutional and the separtions of church and state.  When he read my Bulleted Biogrerpahy, he wrote: “….Also, you do not mention Roger’s impact on England during Cromwell’s time and likely influence on Locke…That’s important.  In my view, his impact on America came direclty from Englan, more than directly from Rhode Island…”  Locke  wrote A Letter Concerning Toleration, 1689. and ALL of his major works on tolerantion were written from that date on. In 1695, he finished  A Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity.  From 1688 to his death in 1704.  In 1688 he moved into a mansion in High Laver, UK, at the invitation of Damaris Cudworth Masham.  She was married to William Masham’s grandson—and Otes was the same mansion where Roger Williams spent years a domestic chaplain.  It is difficult to belive that one of thr 4,000 books that Locke brought with him was a copy Williams’ The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience, Discussed in a Conference between Truth and Peace.

“…From his early manhood, even down to his old age, Roger Williams stands in New England a mighty and benignant form, always pleading for some magnanimous idea, some tender charity, the rectification of some wrong, the exercise of some sort of forbearance toward men’s bodies or souls….”

History of American Literature by Moses Coit Tyler p. 31. New York, 1878

Special Note:  There are issues that occur when I researched different details about Roger Williams life.  For instance, when he was in London in 1643, “…Williams devoted much of that winter in “service of Parliament and City, for the supply of the poor of the City with wood,”4 hoping his efforts would not be forgotten….”   JB Page 300.   Another historians claims that RW did this collecting “…in order to impress Parliament..”.  There are many points in RW studies that are argued about.  When did RW meet John Milton?  Someday, I would like to see this biography posted on the walls of every high school classroom in Rhode Island.  One key and indelible point is that Dr. John Barry belives that

CHILDHOOD 

1562: Father: James Williams 1562-1620 

1564: Mother: Alice Williams (Pemberton) 1564-1634 . 

1587: James joins the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, and is a cloth importer and tailor. 

1598: Catherine Davis (Williams) 1598-1629 St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, sister

1599: Oliver Cromwell born (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) 

1600: Daniel Williams 1600-1668 RW’s brother 

1603: Roger Williams is born at Cow Lane, London, Middlesex, England. His father operates his business out of his home, and he owns an inn/public house called Harrow across street from his house. His Mother, Alice Pemberton, will continue to run the inn after James’ death 1620. Their home is near the Holy Sepulchre Church, Charterhouse school, the Old Bailey Criminal Court, and the Smithfield market, near Tyburn, the place where many religious martyrs and criminals are executed. Roger may have worked in his parent’s businesses. Roger is an avid reader, and he teaches himself stenography. Roger will gain a reputation for being one of the finest linguists of his time.

1603: Queen Elizabeth I dies, and James, King of Scotland, becomes King 1603-4: The Millenary Petition and the Hampton Court Conference (1604) deals with hopes that Puritans have for the future. James I rebuffs all of their pleas, and orders the translation of the Bible. 

1603: February 18th W. Anderson executed at Tyburn 

1604 Robert Williams 1604-1680 brother Cow Lane, London, Middlesex, UK

1604: Master Robert Dow of London Merchant Taylor executed at Tyburn 

1605: 4 November: Gun Powder Plot discovered. It is an attempt to assassinate James I and Parliament. Guy Fawkes is arrested and tortured, before he and seven other conspirators are executed. 

1606: Sir Edward Coke becomes directly involved in American adventures when he helps write the charter of the Virginia Company. 

1610: King James declares “that even by God himself [kings] are called gods.”

1611: The King James Bible is published and becomes the leading book sold in English.

1611: December 10. John Roberts, and Thomas Somers, are executed at Tyburn (Circa) 1610 Roger begins to work in his father’s shop 

1612: 18 March Newgate prison. Separatists Bartholomew Legate is burned at the stake, and three weeks later Edward Wightman was burned at Lichfield in April 1612. These are the last two to suffer in this way in England. 

During these years Roger witnesses executions at Tyburn, Smithfield

TIME WITH JUDGE COKE AND EDUCATION 1615-1625

1615: Judge Sir Edward Coke sees Roger doing stenography at the St. Sepulchre’s Church. Roger becomes Coke’s amanuensis, and resides at Coke’s home. He does stenography and final copies for James I, Francis Bacon, and lawyers and litigants of Coke’s courts, and nobles. 

1617: Small pox plague kills 90% of Native Americans in New England. 

1618-1642: Thirty Years War. Eight million people die from the war, from disease, from looting, military violence, famine, and plague. 

1620: Mayflower sails to New England. Settlements are created in Weymouth (1623), Braintree (1623), Winnisimmet, Nantasket, in Boston Harbor (1624), and Naumkeag (1624), Shawmut (1624), and Mishawum (1625) 

1620: Francis Bacon writes Novum Organum, sive indicia vera de Interpretationes Naturae (New organon, or true directions concerning the interpretation of nature), 

1620: Lady Joan Barrington arranges the marriage of Oliver Cromwell to Elizabeth Brouchier, whose father is Sir James Bourchier. He is a successful leather merchant in Essex and Member of Parliament.  “….Elizabeth and Oliver probably became acquainted through a family connection; Elizabeth’s father and Oliver’s aunt, Joan Barrington, were near neighbours and both families were of an equal social standing.

On 22 August 1620 at St.Giles, Cripplegate she married Oliver Cromwell. This was the local church of the Bourchier’s town house…. https://cityoflondonhistory.wordpress.com/st-giles-church/ 

1621: Roger is admitted to The Charterhouse, a school with forty “scholars,” as the students were called. Sir Coke had donated to the school, and supported Roger while he was there. 

1625: Roger graduates from Pembroke College, does not receive his degree until 1627. 

1625: James I dies and Charles I becomes king. June 13 Charles Marries fifteen-year-old Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of England 

1625: Bubonic Plague strikes London 

1625 Useless Parliament meets June until August. Sir William Masham and Sir Francis Barrington serve in this Parliament 

1625: May 1 Portuguese Spanish expedition recaptures Salvador (Bahia), Brazil.

1625 or 1626-1631: Time as Domestic Chaplain

Circa 1626-27: Roger meets Sir William and Lady Elizabeth Masham, and is welcomed into the Rich-Barrington-Hildersham group of Essex County. These are the leading Puritans in England. Lady Barrington “..is considered possibly the wealthiest woman in the county and very likely the most political…” John Barry

1626: John Milton befriends Anglo-American dissident and theologian Roger Williams. Milton tutors Williams in Hebrew in exchange for lessons in Dutch.  (This is a very debated idea.  It is both accepted and rejected by RW historians)

1626: Sir Francis and Sir William are imprisoned for not paying into the King’s forced loan programs. They are not released until January 1628.

1627: Roger subscribes to the three articles of orthodoxy demanded by King Charles I of all candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and he takes the orders of the Church of England.  He cannot receive an appointment to serve in a church. 

1628: August 23 Lord Buckingham is assassinated.

!628: Although Sir Masham may have spent part of his confinement in Somerset rather than London. In contrast to Barrington, whose health was devastated by lengthy incarceration, he was able to conduct family business from prison as late as November 1628. July Sir Francis dies from the injuries sustained in prison. 

1629: July Meetings of the Massachusetts Bay Company. are held, and Roger attends the meeting at Sempringham castle of the Earl of Lincoln.  He rides to the meeting with Rev. Thomas Hooker and Rev.  John Cotton. Roger is representing the Essex group. The leading orgagnizer of this commercial project is Sir Robert Rich, a close friend of both the Barringions and the Mashams. Tehir protection for Roger will be his shiled in the Bay Colony.

1629: April Roger asks Lady Barrington permission to marry one of her nieces, Jane Walley. Lady Joan refuses, and Roger sends her two angry letters. Roger falls into a deep depression/illness, and he is nursed back to health by Mary Bernard. She is a companion to Lady Masham. Her father is clergyman Richard Bernard, who writes thirty-one pamphlets. 1629: December 15 Roger and Mary Bernard wed. 

1630: On April 8 The Winthrop Fleet of eleven ships led by John Winthrop out of a total of 16 funded by the Massachusetts Bay Company which together carry between 700 and 1,000 Puritans plus livestock and provisions from England to New England over the summer.

1631: The Bay Colony banishes fourteen people—nearly two percent of its entire population. Two hundred die, and two hundred return to England.

BAY COLONY 1631-1636 

1631: December 1, Roger and Mary set sail for Massachusetts. They arrive on February 9, 1631. Roger is “unanimously chosen teacher at Boston” by the congregation there, but he “conscientiously refuses” to join because the church held communion with the Church of England, from which he had just fled. He thought it was his duty to renounce all connection with any church that would stain its hands in the blood of the Lord’s people.

1631: At some time between May and August. Roger and Mary depart the Bay for what was then the entirely separate colony of Plymouth. He sets up trading activities, he farms, and speaks at the local church. 

1631: Roger begins a relationship with the Wampanoags and other tribes in the area. He immerses himself in their culture. He learns Narragansett. (Algonquin) 

1632: In December, Roger Williams writes a lengthy tract that openly condemned the King’s charters and questioned the right of Plymouth to the land without first buying it. No copy exists of this essay.

1632: March 16,- a fire breaks out in Boston in a chimney, and triggers a large fire. And that causes the outlawing of thatch roofs.

1631: May 12th Roger takes the Oath to become a freeman, but the court refuses him. They “ordered and agreed, that for the time to come, no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body politic, but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same.” Roger was a member of no church.

1633 Sometime in the summer or early fall of a little more than two years after leaving Salem, Roger and Mary return to it. 

1633-1635: Roger serves in several positions at the Salem Church, and engenders the ire of the Bay Colony. 

1635: March 4 Endicott goes on trial and the Commission orders an oath requiring “every man of or above the age of sixteen to take an “Oath of Fidelity” to Massachusetts authorities alone. 

1635- July—October 6: 1635,Roger goes through several discussions about his views, and finally brought to a formal trial. He is convicted of sedition and heresy, that he was spreading “diverse, new, and dangerous opinions” that were unacceptable to the Bay Colony. The compliant included:

1st. That we have not our land by Patient from the King, but that the natives are the true owners of it, and that we ought to repent of such receiving it by Pattent.

2d. That it is not lawful to call a wicked person to swear, to pray, as being actions of God’s worship.

3d. That it is not lawful to heare any of the Ministers of the Parish Assemblies in England.

4th. That the civil magistrates power extends only to the Bodies and Goods and outward state of man as stated in the Second Table of the Ten Commandments. 

He advocated total religious toleration, even as other Puritan ministers preached “Tis Satan’s policy, to plead for an indefinite and boundless toleration.” He argued that “all religious sects had the right to claim equal protection from the laws, and that the civil magistrates had no right to restrain the consciences of men or to interfere with their modes of worship or religious belief.” 

1635: October Henry Vane the Younger and Hugh Peters arrive from England. Hugh takes the position that Roger had in Salem, and Vane is elected Governor of Bay Colony

1635: After his conviction, Roger is allowed to stay in Salem through the winter. Becasue of the winter and his being sick. A Sheriff visits the Williams home, and Roger refuses to go with him. Gov. Winthrop sends a message to him that a military unit is coming to take him back to England. He flees south on foot.

RHODE ISLAND 1636-1643

1636: January Roger leaves Salem.

1636: Henry Vane announces that he is leaving the Bay Colony, but relents and stays.

1636: Roger, with the help of the Narragansett and Wampanoag, makes the walk to Raynham, Massachusetts where the local Wampanoags offered him shelter at their winter camp. Roger collapses in Rehoboth. Rehoboth He is nursed by a Narragansett, now called Margaret. He lies in a cave in a large rock—called “Margaret’s Rock.” It takes fourteen weeks for him to make it to Sowams (Warren), There, Massasoit, the Sachem of the Wampabougs, also known as Ousamequin, arranges for Roger and his friends to settle in Seekonk, Plymouth claims that the land is theirs, so Roger has to move. He acquires land from Canonicus and his nephew, Miantonomi for he knew them well, From Roger’s testimony in 1682: “… and therefore I declare to posterity, that were it not for the favor God gave me with Canonicus, none of these parts, no, not Rhode Island, had been purchafed or obtained, for I never got anything out of Canonicus but by gift…..”

1636: First Agreeent among the residents of Providence, August the 20th “…We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active and passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public good of the body in an orderly way, by the major consent of the present inhabitants, masters of families — incorporated together in a Towne fellowship, and others whom they shall admit unto them only in civil things…” Richard Scott, Edward Cope, William Reynolds, Thomas Angell, by his mark. by his mark, Chad Browne, Thomas Harris, + John Warner, by his mark, John Feild, + Francis Weekes, + by his mark, by his mark, George Rickard, Benedict Arnold, Joshua Winsor, William Wickendon.

1636-1638: The Pequot War occurs. It is an armed conflict in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes. Roger Williams provides information to Massachusetts, and he spent three days negotiating with the Narragansett while Pequot argued against him. In the end, the Narragansett elect to side with the colonialists. Massachsetts considers revoking Roger’s banishment. Seven hundred Pequot die in a burning fort, ending the tribe’s existence. 

1637: Roger Williams opens trading post in the “heart of Narragansett country” in North Kingstown.

1637: Wampum is used as legal tender in New England from 1637 to 1661. 

1637: March 24 William Coddington obtains Aquidneck from a Sachem under Canonicus and Miantonomi. Coddington’s goal is to create his own colony there. 

1637: Samuel Gorton arrives at the Bay Colony, moves to Plymouth, from which he was banished. 

1638: Williams sells the territory (North of the Pawtuxet River, Cranston) to thirteen men for a cow, which was “then dear”—worth the enormous sum of £20 in hard coin

1638: Joshua Verin affair: Verin beats his wife, because she insists on attending services at Roger’s home. He argues that punishment would be a “breach (of) (an) ordinance of God, the subjection of wives to their husbands.” Instead “the major vote of us discard him from our Civill Freedome.” The town voted to disenfranchise Joshua, casting him out of Providence Colony for violating his wife’s freedom of conscience.

1638-39: Samuel Gorton moves to Portsmouth, Aquidneck’s partner. 

1638: Providence Williams (1638-1686) is born to Roger and Mary. 

1638: Anne Hutchinson is expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony three years after arriving in Boston. 

1638: In Providence, Roger meets Baptists who had been banished by Massachsetts. He joins their group, but after only a few months, he voluntarily gives up his membership. Roger calls himself a “Seeker.”

1639: Charles I imposes the Book of Common Prayer, and other aspects of Anglican High Church discipline on Scotland, and triggers The “First Bishops War”.

1640: May— Second Bishop’s War Major-General Robert Monro invades the lands of the Royalist Gordons in the north-east. 

1640: Mercy Williams, (1640-1705) is born to Roger and Mary. 

1640: Agreement Plantation Agreement at Providence Aug. 27- Sept. 6, 1640 “…in the yeare (so called) 1640: Wee, Robert Coles, Chad Browne, William Harris, and John Warner, being freely chosen by the consent of our louing friends and neighbours the Inhabitants of this Towne of Providence, having many differences amongst us, they being freely willing and also bound themselves to stand to our Arbitration in all differences amongst us to rest contented in our determination, being so be trusted we have seriously and carefully indeavoured to weigh and consider all those differences, being desirous to bringe vnity and peace, although our abilities are farr short in the due examination of such weighty things, yet so farre short in the due examination of such weighty things, yet so farre as we conceive in laying all things together we have gone the fairest and equallest way to produce our peace.

1640-1641: Samuel Gorton, having been banished by Portsmouth, arrives at Providence. Gorton is not allowed to open his business, because of the reputation he has from Portsmouth. He and his followers move to Pawtuxet. Gorton is identified as a “sectarian”—a creator of a Christian sect called Gortonists or Gortonites.

1641: February 26, Henry Vane carries from the Commons to the House of Lords articles of impeachment against William Laud. 

1641: Daniel Williams (1641-1712) is born to Roger and Mary. 

1642: January, King Charles and the royal family flee from London following Charles’ disastrous attempt to arrest the five members of Parliament regarded as his leading opponents. 1642: Roger struggles with Benedict Arnold and others over land in Pawtuxet. The Bay Colony was demanding jurisdiction over the area.

1643-1644: Forty soldiers from Massachusetts attack Samuel Gorton and his group at his home. After a few days, Gortonites are overcome, and taken to Boston for trial. They are convicted and imprisoned until March 1644.

1643-1653 Patent and troubles

1643: Roger travels to England, and writes A Key Into the Language of America: or An help to the Language of the Natives in that part of America, called New-England while on the ship. It is the first translation of an American language. He arrives in London, and stays at Henry Vane’s home, and other locations.

1643: Joseph Williams (1643-1724) is born to Mary and Roger. 

1643/44: March 14th  PATENT for Providence, Newport, and Portsmouth is signed by Robert Rich.  Robert was the son of the Robert Rich whio was a close friend of the Barringtons and Mashams.  From gteh Patent” “…And whereas the said Lords have thought fit, and thereby ordained, that Philip Earl of Pembroke, Edward Earl of Manchester, William Viscount Say and Seal, Philip Lord Wharton, John Lord:Rolle, Members of the House of Peers. Sir Gilbert Gerrard, Baronet, Sir Arthur Haslerig, Baronet, Sir Henry Vane, jun. Knight, Sir Benjamin Rudyard, Knight, John Pim, Oliver Cromwell, Dennis Bond, Miles Corbet, Cornelius Holland, Samuel Vassal, John Rolle, and William Spurstow, Esqrs, Members of the House of Commons, should be Commissioners, to join in Aid and Assistance with the said Earl.…In Testimony whereof, the said Robert Earl of Warwick, and Commissioners, have hereunto set their Hands and Seals, the Fourteenth Day of March, in the Nineteenth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign-Lord King Charles, and in the Year of our Lord God, 1643.

ROBERT WARWICK,

PHILIP PEMBROKE, 

LINK to Patent: http://www.marcwkohler.com/patent-for-providence-plantations-march-14-1643/

1643: A Letter of Mr. John Cottons Teacher of the Church in Boston, in New-England, to Mr. Williams a Preacher There by John Cotton

1643-44: July a war breaks out between Mohegans and a tribe related to Miantonomoh. Miantonomoh is captured. In Boston, representatives of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven had formed a confederation known as the United Colonies of New England, and at their first meeting, the Mohegan sachem, Uncas, asks them what he should do with Miantonomi. The Narragansetts had paid a large ransom. The Commissioners ask five ministers from Boston to decide his fate (Sept 5). They decide that he should be executed, and this despite all the aid he had provided the Colonies seven years before during the Pequot war. Miantonomi is murdered by Uncas without ever knowing that he had been condemned.

1643: Joseph Williams (1643-1724) is born to Mary and Roger. 

1644: January 28th Roger completes and publishes The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience, Discussed in a Conference between Truth and Peace.. The Parliament orders the book be burned. Roger and his printer, Gregory Dexter, leave together for New England. Dexter is a friend of John Milton. Parliament also approves a Patent for Rhode Island. During the discussion, may memebers of Parliament make statement about the terrible nature and disgusting charatcer for Rhode Island allowed people of all religious bents welcome.

1644: Roger publishes Mr. Cottons Letters Lately Printed, Examined and Answered. It is a copy of a letter that John Cotton wrote to him, with his answers against Mr. Cotton’s views.

1644: Roger writes Queries of highest consideration, proposed to the five Holland ministers and the Scotch Commissioners (so called) : upon occasion of their late printed apologies for themselves and their churches. In all humble reverence presented to the view of the Right Honourable the Houses of the High Court of Parliament.

1646: Roger writes Christenings make not Christians, or A Briefe Discourse concerning that name Heathen, commonly given to the Indians. As also concerning that great point of their Conversion.

1644-1649: “….Over the next years, Williams’s influence ran both deep and wide. At least sixty pamphlets directly addressed Williams and at least one hundred and twenty more quoted him. Still more indirectly reflected his ideas…..” John Barry Page 339. Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul, Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty

1644: April 19th Gorton obtains all of the Showamet (Warwick and more) lands directly from Canonicus and Miantonomi.

1645: Bishop Laud is beheaded on 10 January

1646: Roger writes Christenings make not Christians, or A Briefe Discourse concerning that name Heathen, commonly given to the Indians. As also concerning that great point of their Conversion.

1647: John Cotton replies to Williams’s book with The Bloudy Tenant, Washed and Made White in the Bloud of the Lambe, after which Williams responded with yet another pamphlet.

1647: 9, 20, 21 of May, Acts and Orders of 1647 is signed “…Made and agreed upon at the General Court of Election, held at Portsmouth, in Rhode Island, for the Colonies and province of Providence…’ This unified the state under one system. John Coggsshell of Newport was chosen by ballot to be President of the Colony, and an Assistant was chosen for each town—Roger Williams for Providence, John Sanford for Portsmouth. William Coddington for Newport, and Randall Holden for Warwick.

1648: Samuel Gorton returns from England, and returns to Showomet. and he changes the name to Warwick.

1648: Presbyterians in Parliament attempted to impose a Presbyterian system on England. They succeed in passing a law punishing blasphemy with death. 

1649: January 30 King Charles is executed. The House of Lords is dissolved. 

1649: March Williams was selected as Deputy-President, and charters of incorporation were granted to the different towns.

1651: Rhode Islanders John Clarke, Obebiah Holmes, and John Crandall are arrested providing prayers for a man in Lynne. Clarke and Crandall pay fines, but Holmes could not. Holmes is beaten mercilessly. This triggers Rhode Island against Massachsetts’ demands in Warwick and against Coddington in Newport. 

1652: Rhode Island passes the first law in America which prohibits slavery.

1652-1683

1652: Roger, John Clarke, and Mr. and Mrs, William Dyer travel to England to stop Coddington’s efforts, and to seek a permanent Charter for Rhode Island. Clarke stays in London.

1653: March-April: The English Council of State agrees with Roger against Coddington, and Roger wrote that he had “the confirmation of the charter.”

1652: Roger writes The Hireling Ministry None of Christ’s, or A Discourse touching the Propagating the Gospel of Christ Jesus.

1652: Roger writes: The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody: By Mr Cottons endevour to wash It white in the Blood of the Lambe Roger argues that government control of religion eventually meant government control of all areas of human endeavor; after experiencing opposition by John Cotton; he argues that a government that controls religion wants control of “all areas of human endeavor” 

1652: Zeal Examined: or A Discourse for Liberty of Conscience in Matters of Religion. Upon an occasional Question concerning the punishment of Idolaters By Henry Vane the younger, a friend to both Oliver Cromwell and Roger Williams.

1652: Roger writes Experiments of spiritual life & health, and their preservatives in which the weakest child of God may get assurance of his spirituall life and blessednesse

1652: Roger writes The Examiner defended, in a Fair and Sober Answer to the Two and twenty Questions which lately examined the Author of Zeal Examined The original edition of The Examiner Defended was published anonymously in London in about September of 1652. The author was probably Roger Williams, who was then in England. It replied to an anonymous publication, The Examiner Examined, that was a response to Zeal Examined, which was an anonymous publication that was probably written by Sir Henry Vane. Williams and Vane were good friends, and Vane’s Zeal Examined: or A Discourse for Liberty of Conscience followed Williams’s principles of separation of church and state and the liberty of conscience.

1652: Roger writes: The Bloody Tenent yet more Bloody: 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. This work reiterated and amplified the arguments in Bloody Tenent; but it has the advantage of being written in answer to Cotton’s elaborate defense of New England persecution, A Reply to Mr. Williams his Examination

1652-53:  While Roger is still in London, he sends letters to Sir Edward Coke’s daughter, Anne Sadlier.  They exchnge several letters, and while she praises Roger for is work with hier father, she does conclude that his veiws require him to make a visit to Tyburn, the execution place: “…By what I have now writ, you know how I ftand affected. I will walk as directly to heaven as I can, in which place, if you will turn from being a rebel, and fear God and obey the king, there is hope I may meet you there ; howfoever, trouble me no more with your letters, for they are very troublefome to her that wifhes you in the place from whence you came…

…..full little did he(her father) think that he would have proved fuch a rebel to God, the king, and his country. I leave his letters, that, if ever he has the face to return into his native country, Tyburn may give him welcome.”

1652: Rhode Island passes the first law in America which prohibits slavery.

1653-1658: Oliver Cromwell becomes the Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.  His Instrument of Government or Constitution has the order that their be fereedom of religion except for Popery and Prelacy.  These are the core beliefs and aims of all that Roger Williams had worked for, and the Popery became legal, too, at a later date.

“…Article XXXVII. That such as profess faith in God by Jesus Christ (though differing in judgment from the doctrine, worship or discipline publicly held forth) shall not be restrained from, but shall be protected in, the profession of the faith and exercise of their religion; so as they abuse not this liberty to the civil injury of others and to the actual disturbance of the public peace on their parts: provided this liberty be not extended to Popery or Prelacy, nor to such as, under the profession of Christ, hold forth and practise licentiousness….”

1654-8: Roger is elected president of the combined colonies of Providence, Newport, Narragansett and Warwick 

1653: March-April   The Council of State submits a report favoring Rhode Island to Parliament. On April 1, Roger writes to the town of Providence to remind them that they had already achieved “the confirmation of the charter.” 

1657: Quakers and Antinomians establish a meeting house in Rhode Island.1658: The Rhode Island General Assembly votes to refuse joining the United Colonies, because they require physical repression of Quakers.  1658: Roger loses election for President, and Benedict Arnold (Father of Benedict Arnold of Revolutionary Times) takes the office. 

1658: Jews, traveling from Brazil through Barbados, Curaçao and Jamaica, make their way to Newport.   There are no more than fifteen in the first group.

1658-61: Roger is Elected Commissioner

1660: Royal Charter necessary due to Stuart Restoration in England 

1663: Royal Charter granted, serving as basic law until 1843 

1670-80: Roger is elected Deputy 

1675-76, and Roger serves on the Providence Town Council 

1675-76: King Philip’s war is the a disaster that occurs in seventeenth-century New England. In the space of little more than a year, twelve of the region’s towns are destroyed and more were damaged. The economy of Plymouth and Rhode Island Colonies are all but ruined and their population is decimated, losing one-tenth of all men available for military service. Metacomet and by his adopted English name King Philip, was chief to the Wampanoag people and the second son of the sachem Massasoit. According to Dr. Barry, during the King Philip’s War, Roger meets with chiefs, and tries to dissuade the Narragansett from going to war against Providence, and fails. Many buildings are burned to the ground, including Roger’s home. Roger serves in a local militia, and after the war, he participates in the sale of tribal survivors into slavery. He also takes an Indian boy home with him, and he when the boy is permitted to return to his family, he decides to stay with Roger’s family.

1676: Roger writes George Fox Digg’d out of his Burrowes, or, An offer of disputation on fourteen proposals made this last summer 1672 unto G.Fox  It attacks Quaker’s “Inner Light”.   Roger Williams bases his beliefs on the words of the Bible, and not the thoughts of any particular Christian.

1676: Mary Williams dies.

Circa 1676-1683: Roger writes An Answer to a Letter Sent from Mr. Coddington of Rode Island, To Governour Leveret of Boston in what concerns R. W. of Providence Circa 

1678: Roger works as a toll taker at Weybosset bridge, where the bridge still stands today at the bottom of College Hill.  

1682: Roger writes his last political letter

1682: Roger writes his last political letter to Joseph DudleyGovernor of Massachusetts, and saved in Memoir of Roger Williams; The Founder of the State of Rhode-Island by James Davis Knowles. Testimony of Roger Williams relative to his first coming into the Narragansett country, dated Narragansett, June 18, 1682. 

I testify, as in the prefence of the all-making and all-seeing God, that about fifty years fince, I coming into this country, I found a great conteft between three Sachems, two, (to wit, Canonicus and Miantonomo) were againft Oufamaquin, on Plymouth fide, I was forced to travel between them three, to pacify, to fatisfy all their and their dependents’ fpirits of my honeft intentions to live peaceably by them. I teftify, that it was the general and conftant declaration, that Canonicus his father had three fons, whereof Canonicus was the heir, and his youngeft brother’s Ton, Miantonomo, (becaufe of youth,) was his marfhal and executioner, and did nothing without his uncle Canonicus’ confent ; and therefore I declare to pofterity, that were it not for the favor God gave me with Canonicus, none of thefe parts, no, not Rhode Ifland, had been purchafed or obtained, for I never got any thing out of Canonicus but by gift. I alfo profefs, that very inquifitive of what the title or denomination Narraganfett would come, I heard that Narraganfett was for named from a little ifland between Puttiquomfcut and Mufquomacuk on the fea and frefh water iide. I went on purpofe to fee it ; and about the place called Sugar Loaf Hill, I faw it, and was within a pole of it, but could not learn why it was called Narraganfett. I had learned, that the Maifachufetts was called fo, from the Blue Hills, a little ifland thereabout ; and Canonicus’ father and anceftors, living in thefe fouthern parts, transferred and brought their authority and name into thole northern parts, all along by the feaiide, as appears by the great deftruction of wood all along near the lea-fide and I defire posterity to fee the gracious hand of the Moft High, (in whofe hands are all hearts) that when the hearts of my countrymen and friends and brethren failed me, his infinite wifdom and merits ftirred up the barbarous heart of Canonicus to love me as his son on his laft gafp, by which means I had not only Miantonomo and all the loweft Sachems my friends, but Oufamaquin alfo, who becaufe of my great friendship with him at Plymouth, and the authority of Canonicus, confented freely, being alfo well gratified by me, to the Governor Winthrop and my enjoyment of Prudence, yea of Providence itfelf, and all the other lands I procured of Canonicus which were upon the point, and in effect whatfoever I defired of him ; and I never denied him or Miantonomo whatever they defired of me as to goods or gifts or ufe of my boats or pinnace, and the travels of my own perfon, day and night, which, though men know not, nor care to know, yet the all-feeing Eye hath feen it, and his all-powerful hand hath helped me. Blelfed be his holy name to eternity.

Signed: Roger Williams