Essays
In this thoughtful collection, historians and enthusiasts share their perspectives on various topics related to the life and teachings of Roger Williams. Read on to see how Roger Williams stands up to modern-day scrutiny.
What Did the First Rhode Islanders Eat?
It’s no secret that Rhode Islanders love food, and enjoy a wide range of different cuisines. For Roger Williams, the dining options were more limited. ...
Learning from the Land
With help from the Narragansetts, Roger Williams became skillful at living in his unfamiliar new environment. He studied the land and water around Narragansett Bay and used traditional places like waterfalls and large rocks to mark off the boundaries of his settlement. From the Narragansetts, he also learned fishing and farming techniques and their strategies of wise land use....
Learning from Others
The key to Roger Williams's survival was the fact that he was able to adapt to the world of Narragansett Bay, learning from the Narragansett Indians including how to speak their language, and how to see the world from their perspective. Earlier in his life, he mastered five languages: French, Dutch, Hebrew, Greek and Latin. He even maintained a lengthy correspondence with the authorities who had banished him from Massachusetts....
The Common Good
Roger Williams knew that it was not enough to create a colony of free-thinking individuals – for Rhode Islanders to survive, they needed to work together for the common good. Despite his own resistance to authority earlier in his life, he was able to articulate a compelling vision of community and to persuade others to work toward it. With a pragmatic approach and a willingness to set an example, he converted his imagined ideal into a working reality....
Imagination
Williams dared to imagine concepts that did not yet exist. When he arrived here, Rhode Island was a brand new idea, resisted by neighboring colonies and not yet approved by England. With patience and perseverance, he was able to translate his vision into reality. No other American state owes its origin so completely to one person inventing a new community from the ground up....
Freedom of Conscience
Having been banished from Massachusetts Bay, Roger Williams turned his new community into a model of respect for other beliefs, accepting those with whom he did not agree, in religious and political matters, as long as they were good citizens and worked for the good of the colony....
Rhode Island Today: A Melting Pot
Is it realistic to say that the ideas of Roger Williams still shape us? If so, how best can we live up that legacy, in ways that are constructive for new times? ...
What is Narragansett Bay?
Narragansett Bay is the defining feature of Rhode Island, the body of water at the heart of the state, near all of the different islands, pieces of shoreline, and inland areas that make up this unusually-shaped state....
Rhode Island Rocks!
(and a few in Massachusetts) There are many different kinds of historic monuments. Some are built from stone – and some are the actual stones we come across in the woods, silent witnesses to some of the most important negotiations in Rhode Island’s early history. Stone walls, of course, are easy to find in Rhode Island woods, but there are other, larger rocks too. The forests around Southeastern New England still have significant boulders, cliffs, and outcroppings that Roger would recognize immediately. The Narragansett and Wampanoag people considered certain rocks to be very important meeting places and held important conversations about war and peace there. Some of the most important land purchases took place there, as well. In a time of some uncertainty about boundaries, a huge rock could serve as a good permanent marker. And rocks could also be identified with powerful sachems, as King Philip’s Seat still testifies. ...
Native Americans
Who were the indigenous people of Rhode Island? There were several major tribes, related but distinct. Each was part of the Algonguin family and had been in these parts for many thousands of years. Their languages were related, and they could understand each other. In addition to spoken languages, many indigenous peoples could communicate through a sophisticated understanding of sign language. Scholars have not always agreed on how to count them, but estimates usually suggest that about 100,000 indigenous people were living in New England as the English began to settle here. ...
Slavery
We think of Roger Williams as a defender of freedom – especially when it came to “soul liberty,” the essential freedom to worship God in one’s own way. He also defended the freedom of others, allowing people he disagreed with (for example, Quakers) to live in Rhode Island without any of the restrictions they faced in Massachusetts. Then there were all the simple daily freedoms he promoted – he permitted anyone to cross the lands claimed by Rhode Island, and he generally supported the rights of all peoples to live in the way that they chose. He was far closer to the Native peoples of New England than any of the leaders of the neighboring colonies. He traveled with them, lived among them, and offered the hospitality of his home to them whenever they came through Providence. ...