Roger Williams

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1603-1683

Rhode Island

Roger Williams was a Puritan minister, and the founder of Rhode Island. He came to America in 1630 to find religious freedom & escape the Church of England. In 1636 he was threatened with deportation when he protested the Massachusettes colony for forcing their Puritan belifs on all colonists. Williams and a few followers fled to Rhode Island with the ideals of fair treatment of natives & religious liberty in mind. Puritans tried to take over Rhode Island, but stopped when Williams got a charter from King Charles I in 1644. Here he achieved complete seperation of church & state.

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