Roger Williams

          In 1603, Roger Williams was born in England.  He was a Christian. In December, 1629, he married Mary.

         When he was 26 years old, he became a minister. During that time, Charles I was the king of England and he did not like ministers thinking for themselves about religion. Charles wanted the Church of England to be more Catholic and ordered that anyone that spoke against him would be thrown in jail or executed.

        In 1631, Roger and Mary left England and landed in the colony of Massachusetts, which was owned by England. Roger and Mary thought that there was religious freedom there. However, they were wrong. Roger was sent to trial and the jury’s verdict was guilty of heresy and he was banished from Massachusetts.

        Roger decided to make a new colony in the land of Rhode Island. He left for it but Mary stayed in Massachusetts until Roger built the colony. In 1636, he founded the colony of Providence. Providence in the present day is located in the city of Providence, which is the capital of Rhode Island.

        Roger asked the King of England for permission for him to be governor of the colony and the King said, “Yes.”  Williams decided to put religious freedom in his colony so the people can have whatever religion they want. Roger was a minister but made little money ministering so he got money by trading with Indians.

        The people of Massachusetts thought that Providence wasn’t going to last long, but instead it was never destroyed. Once 3000 people landed in Massachusetts and most of them went to Providence.

In 1683, he died in Providence. Roger Williams was a great man. He built the colony of Rhode Island and made the first colony in America with religious freedom.