Roger Williams

            Roger Williams was one of the few people that the Puritans considered a religious fanatic. He felt very strongly about all of his beliefs and wouldn’t change them even when it was in his own best interest. “Williams’ greatness lies in his refusal to keep his head down in a society that prizes nothing more than harmony and groupthink… He cares more about truth than popularity,  respect or personal safety.”(127) Williams believed that God and religion were pure and special things that shouldn’t be mixed with government or politics. “To Williams, however, this liaison means the ministers are dragging the snow-white robes of Christ through the wilderness muck of government.”(138) This concept lead to the separation of church and state. Williams’ thinking wasn’t accepted in Boston at the time. It was considered dangerous to question authority and not conform to social norms, so he was banished. He was charged with “spreading ‘new and dangerous opinions against the authority of magistrates,’ issuing ‘letters of defamation’, and maintaining the aforementioned dangerous opinions ‘without retraction.’”(144)  William’s banishment led to the Rhode Island Charter stating: “No person within the said colony, at any time hereafter shall be any wise molested, punished, disquieted or called in question, for any difference in opinion in matters of religion.”(240) Thanks to Williams, the people of Rhode Island were given religious freedom long before the rest of New England.

Williams forward thinking did not involve only government, he also respected the rights of the Indians  more than the other Europeans (which isn’t saying a lot.) “Williams says that the royal charter that gave Plymouth the rights to Plymouth is illegal because what Plymouth really needed was a deed from the Indians. Williams is under the impression the land belonged to its original inhabitants.”(113) Today, this doesn’t sound far-fetched, but at the time he would have been considered crazy for suggesting that land should belong to “such savages.”  He even went so far as to accuse the colonists of a “national sin”(125)  for claiming the Indian land as their own.

After being banished, Williams is left to fend for himself. The Narragansett tribe took William in and provided him with food and shelter. While he lived with the tribe he  better understood their culture, much like studying abroad. One of the first obvious culture barriers for him was language. He learned enough of the Narragansett’s language to write A Key into the Language of America where he translates common important phrases and words into English and explains different aspects of Narragansett culture. Although his ultimate goal was to convert the Indians to Christianity he intended to do it “gently.” He believed “Imposing Christianity on American Indians is… a rape of the soul.”(160) When converting the bible into the Narragansett language he uses one of their own words for “God” instead of using an English word. “In A Key, Williams’ cushions the blow of making the acquaintance of this new deity by translating ‘God’ as ‘Manit,’ as in Manitou.”(164)  While being sensitive to the Narragansett’s beliefs, he still considered their religion to be the equivalent to worshipping Satan. Williams wrote: “I durst never be an eye witness, spectator or looker on, least I should have been partaker of Satan’s inventions and worship.”(158)

By the end of his time “studying abroad” with the Narragansetts, Williams had developed a higher respect for the Indians, considering them equals. He wrote “Boast not proud English, of thy birth and blood, thy brother Indian is by birth as good.”(156) Although Williams may not have said this as a compliment to the Indians, it could still be considered an early draft of “All men are created equal.” Williams was a successful early revolutionary. He developed ideas like “the separation of church and state” and “all men are created equal” which are aspects of the American constitution, which was written more than 100 years later.