Roger Williams From The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience, in a Conference between Truth and Peace

          The text is from The Writings of Roger Williams, vol.3 (1866-1874). This excerpt was written by Williams when he was in London trying to get a patent for Providence Plantation in Rhode Island. Williams was a separatist minister and had an education at Cambridge University in 1627. Between then and 1629 he became a chaplain at Otis in the county of Essex to Sir William Masham. It was in this work when Williams' ideas of church reform started to grow. He said that it was years later when Archbishop Laud compelled him "out of this land" (193). This was likely due to Laud's requirement for all clerics to give an oath of loyalty to the Church of England. As well as that, Williams refused a call to minister at the First Church of Boston, shortly after his arrival in America, because he felt that the people there were not separatist enough and he could not officiate to anyone who was this way. In fact, Williams believed that a majority of the people in Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony were not separatist enough. This is his reason for writing a letter to Plymouth colony, in which he points out his main concerns towards the Puritans and the king himself.  

            In this letter that Williams wrote to Plymouth, he addressed the main problems he has concerning King Charles and the Plymouth Bay Colony. Mainly, Williams is calling out the king on whether or not he has the right to give away this land that the Narragansetts are settled on. He claims that King Charles is giving royal charters that give away land the king does not own. Williams is interested in how the English settlers are going to deal with the natives who are already occupying this land that the king has been giving away. He believes that this is unjust and illegal to do so. Williams then moves on to write a letter to the town of Providence in which he explains that he does not believe in "an infinite liberty of conscience." He believes that this idea is unchecked and crooked. To delve into his explanation, he uses a metaphor of a ship. Williams sets up the metaphor where the ship is filled with "many hundred souls" who all share similar happiness and sadness in a realistic view of society. The ship is filled with Catholics, Protestants, Jews, people of the Islamic religion, and basically any religion that could be represented. Williams pulls into question what the captain has the right to control and what he would not have the right to control. He believes that the captain should control the common laws and orders put in place to maintain the ship and its journey, but should not have the right to order the people of the ship to follow his own personal religious beliefs. In this metaphor, the ship is in place of the State and its involvement with forcing its people to worship a religion and belief that they have no right enforce. Williams is explaining one of the first ideas of the separation of church and state. He holds just as much importance to civil laws and liberties as he does to religious liberties. He believes that the government should focus on making and enforcing laws that are in no way enforced with someone's religious beliefs. He explains how the practice of one's conscience cannot be compelled, and the fact that if you don't believe what the State is forcing people to practice, then there's absolutely no value in it.                    

            This excerpt plays a role in John Winthrop's journals A Model of Christian Charity When this letter was seen by the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, he immediately intervened because he saw it as one of his subjects "rocking the boat". The ministers of Mass. Bay Colony also examined his letter and came to the conclusion that Williams was very presumptuous due to his lack of title and completely in error within his claims. They then sent for someone to arrest Williams and have him shipped back to Boston, but when they arrived at his livings, Williams had already fled three days prior to a place that was unknown to them. Williams' letter to Plymouth completely violated the Puritan's important belief of a covenant where the group's welfare trumps the individual's. This letter that Williams has written to Plymouth led to the first colony that enforced the separation of church and state, which was Providence Plantation in Rhode Island. There, the first Baptist church was founded and many different peoples from all sorts of religions came seeking this new religious freedom. This letter essentially paved the way for the separation of church and state. I would say that by understanding Williams and his beliefs of how society should function, you would also be understanding the roots of America's religious freedom. 

References  

Baym, Nina, Jerome Klinkowitz, and Patricia B. Wallace. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. 8th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. Print.