The colonial history of Rhode Island truly begins in the mind of Roger Williams, a noted theologian who arrived in Boston shortly after finishing his studies at Cambridge University in England in 1631. Like most settlers who left England in the early 1600s, Williams lost hope in the state of his home nation, and wanted to live, with his wife, in a land where he would be free to practice religion through other means than the Church of England. He was warmly received upon his arrival, although the colonial governments sediments towards Williams soon turned sour when he began using his sermons to preach his own ideas, instead of the Bible.
These ideas included Williams' disagreement that the court magistrates should not punish its citizens that violate the Ten Commandments, such as not observing the Sabbath, believing that those people would, in the end, be punished by God. Williams did not buy into the idea that the colonists had to submit a patent to the King in order to settle a piece of land, instead, he held the idea that colonists should consult with the natives, for they were the rightful owners of the land.
It was these ideas that Williams consistently held, and preached, that lead him to his banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636. He was to be sent back to England, but made an escape to the southeast, where he bought lands at the head of Narragansett Bay from the Narragansett Indians, and founded the town of Providence. Williams was now able to freely preach his ideas, free to practice his own religion, free from persecution, as were others who made their way to the new colony, Rhode Island.
In nearly all sources read, there is one clear hero, Roger Williams, who is viewed as a colonist who was far ahead of his time, and there is one clear villain, the colonial government of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Plymouth Colony. One can understand Williams frustration upon his arrival, discovering that those who were persecuted routinely in England, had transformed themselves into persecutors during their voyage across the Atlantic. The Puritan way, as men such as John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts Bay, wanted people to think, was the only way. And if someone did not follow that way, they were labeled as heretics and sinners. Williams saw through what the Puritan leaders were casting on the colonists, and wanted a colony of his own where no theocracy would exist, where people were free to think, act, and believe whatever they wanted.
Clearly, Puritans in Massachusetts thought the idea of a colony where its citizens would be free from theocratic control was ludicrous. In their minds, Rhode Island quickly turned into the sewer of New England. But in the minds of Rhode Islanders, and present day scholars, the colony became a guiding light for democracy in the New World.
The freedom from a government regulated by religion allowed Rhode Islanders to pursue other worldly interests, including trade, namely maritime trade. Within a few short years after Williams purchase of Providence from the Narragansett, Rhode Island catapulted itself to the forefront of maritime trade in the Atlantic world.
What's the difference between Rhode Island, and the Providence Plantations?
The Providence Plantations were the settlements located at the head, of the most northern location of Naragansett Bay. They may also be described as the settlements located on the mainland of Rhode Island. These settlements included Providence, and Warwick (settled in 1643). Rhode Island was, in the 17th century, the name used from Aquideck Island, located to the southeast of the Providence Plantations in Naragansett Bay. The two main settlements on Rhode Island were Portsmouth(settled in 1638), and Newport(settled in 1639). Rhode Island to this day is officially known as Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------Sources
Conforti, Joseph A. Saints and Strangers:New England in British North America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 2005. 90-95.
Knowles, James D. Memoir of Roger Williams. Boston, MA: Lincoln, Edmands and Co., 1834.
Richman, Irving. Rhode Island: A Study in Separatism. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1905.
Picture from The Navy and Rhode Island: A History, http://www.nuwc.navy.mil/hq/history/0002.html
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