WILLIAMS, ROGER (c. 1604-1684), founder of the Col ony of Rhode Island in America and pioneer of religious liberty, son of a merchant tailor, was born about 1604 in London. It seems reasonably certain that he was educated, under the patron age of Sir Edward Coke, at the Charter House and at Pembroke college, Cambridge, where he received his degree in 1627. He devoted himself to theology, and in 1629 was chaplain to Sir William Masham of Otes, High Laver, Essex, but from conscien tious scruples, in view of the condition of ecclesiastical affairs in England at the time, refused preferment. He soon decided to emigrate to New England, and, with his wife Mary, arrived at Boston early in Feb. 1631. In April he became teacher of the church at Salem, Mass.
Owing to the opposition of the ecclesiastical authorities at Boston, with whose views his own were not in accord, he removed to Plymouth in the summer, and there remained for two years as assistant pastor. In Aug. 1633, he again became teacher at Salem. Here he incurred the hostility of the authorities of the Massachu setts Bay Colony by asserting, among other things, that the civil power of a State could properly have no jurisdiction over the consciences of men, that the King's patent conveyed no just title to the land of the colonists, which should be bought from its right ful owners, the Indians, and that a magistrate should not tender an oath to an unregenerate man, an oath being, in reality, a form of worship. For the expression of these opinions he was formally tried in July 1635 by the Massachusetts general court, and at the next meeting of the general court in October, he not having taken advantage of the opportunity given to him to recant, a sentence of banishment was passed upon him, and he was ordered to leave the jurisdiction of Massachusetts within six weeks. The time was subsequently extended, conditionally, but in Jan. 1636, an attempt was made to seize him and transport him to England. Fore warned, he escaped and proceeded alone to Manton's Neck.
At the instance of the authorities at Plymouth, within whose jurisdiction Manton's Neck was included, Williams, with four companions, who had joined him, founded in June 1636 the first settlement in Rhode Island, to which, in remembrance of "God's merciful providence to him in his distress," he gave the name Providence. He immediately established friendly relati6ns with the Indians in the vicinity, whose language he had learned, and, in accordance with his principles, bought the land upon which he had settled from the sachems Canonicus (c. 1565-1647) and Miantonomo. His influence with the Indians, and their implicit confidence in him, enabled him in 1636, soon after arriving at Providence, to induce the Narragansetts to ally themselves with the Massachusetts colonists at the time of the Pequot War, and thus to render a most effective service to those who had driven him from their community. Williams and his companions founded their new settlement upon the basis of complete religious tolera tion, with a view to its becoming "a shelter for persons distressed for conscience." (See RHODE ISLAND.) Many settlers came from
Massachusetts and elsewhere, among others some Anabaptists, by one of whom in 1639 Williams was baptized, he baptizing others in turn and thus establishing what has been considered the first Baptist Church in America. Williams, however, maintained his connection with this church for only three or four months, and then became what was known as a "Seeker," or Independent.
In 1643 he went to England, and there in 1644 obtained a charter for Providence, Newport and Portsmouth, under the title "The Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay." He re turned to Providence in the autumn of 1644 and in 1646 removed from Providence to a place now known as Wickford, R.I. He was president, or governor, in and an assistant in 1664, 5667 and 167o. In 1651, with John Clarke (1609-66), he went to Eng land to secure the issue of a new and more explicit charter. He returned in the summer of 1654, having enjoyed the friendship of Cromwell, Milton and other prominent Puritans. Williams died at Providence in March 5684; the exact date is unknown.
Williams was a vigorous controversialist, and published, chiefly during his two visits to England, A Key into the Language of the Indians of America, written at sea on his first voyage to England (1643) ; reprinted in vol. i. of the Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society (1827), and in series i. vol. iii. of the Massachusetts Historical Society Collections; Mr. Cotton's Letter Examined and Answered (1644) ; The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience (1644) ; Christenings make not Christians ; Queries of Highest Consideration (1644) ; The Bloudy Tenent yet more Bloudy (1652) ; Experiments of Spiritual Life and Health and Their Preserva tives (1652) ; The Hireling Ministry none of Christ's (1652) ; and George Fox Digged out of his Burrowes (1676) ; Something in answer to a Letter . . . of John Leverat Governor of Boston . . . (1678).
His writings were republished in the Publications of the Narra gansett Club (Providence 1866-74). Letters and Papers of Roger Williams, 1629-82 (limited to 18 copies, photostatic reproductions, Boston, 1924) contained manuscripts discovered since. The best biographies are those by Oscar Straus (1899) and E. J. Carpenter (Iwo). See also J. D. Knowles, Memoir of Roger Williams (Boston 1834) ; Elton, Life of Roger Williams (London 1852 ; Providence 1853) ; A. B. Strickland, Roger Williams, Prophet and Pioneer of Soul Liberty (1919) ; New England Hist. and Gen. Register, July and Oct. 1889, and Jan. 1899; M. C. Tyler, History of American Liter ature, 1607-1765 (1878). "Letters, concerning Colonial History of Rhode Island," written by Benedict Arnold, Roger Williams and others, Newport Hist. Soc. Bull. (1926). For the best apology for his expulsion from Massachusetts, see H. M. Dexter's, As to Roger Williams and his "Banishment" from the Massachusetts Plantation (Boston, 1876).