Roger Williams

"Roger Williams" c.1603-1683, clergyman, advocate of religious freedom, founder of Rhode Island b. London. A protégé of Sir Edward Coke, he graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1627 and took Anglican orders. He early espoused Puritanism and emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1631. Williams became teacher and, after a stay at Plymouth, minister of the Salem church. However, his radical religious beliefs and political theories-he denied the validity of the Massachusetts charter, challenged …

…by John Cotton who was answered with The Bloudy Tenent Yet More Bloudy. Other works include Queries of Highest Consideration, an argument for complete separation of church and state; The Hireling Ministry None of Christ's; and George Fox Digg'd Out of His Burrowes, a polemic against Quaker teachings. Of great personal charm and unquestioned integrity, Williams was admired even by those who, like both the elder and the younger John Winthrop, abhorred his liberal ideas.