Episode 1 | Roger Williams, the Lone Radical

Roger Williams arrives in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and begins advocating for religious freedom.

22 minutes | 1631 - 1632

Hear About:

📜How Roger Williams' relationship drastically changed with the Puritan leaders of Massachusetts

📜Roger Williams' initial fight for religious freedom

📜Roger Williams' relationship with the Pokanoket and Narragansett Nations

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Key Historical Figures Introduced
RW AT COL

Roger Williams

A radical separatist minister who is eventually banned from Massachusetts after vehemently advocating for religious freedom.
john winthrop

John Winthrop

The Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and a devoted member of the Puritan movement.  He's vowed that Massachusetts will be a "city upon a hill", a colony that perfectly exemplifies what it means to be a Christian nation.

Picture source: Frédéric, wiki creative commons

massasoit-1

Ousamequin

Sachem, or Massasoit, of the Pokanoket Nation.  Their people ruled over about 60 sub-tribes and their territory encompassed most of present-day eastern Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.

Maps & Images
the lyon

The Lyon

The Lyon made four voyages from England to New England in the early 1630s.  On one of those voyages was a young, radical minister who would change the way people thought about religious freedom in the western world. 

Picture source: CarolFollow, The Lyon IMG_1701, 2015, flickr

Sowams 1600s

Sowams

In the early 1600s, the land within the red lines was known as Sowams.  Everything to the east of Providence was ruled by the Pokanoket Nation, bitter rivals of the powerful Narragansett Nation to the west.  It was on this land where Roger Williams developed his friendship with the Pokanoket's Sachem, Ousamequin.  

Taunton River

Taunton (aka Titicut) River

Tribes of the Pokanoket Nation used the Taunton River, or what they called the Titicut River, as a major highway for travel and trade.  Their primary mode of transportation was via a birch canoe or a dugout log. Roger Williams also used a canoe to travel throughout southern New England. 

new tribe lands
Territory of New England Tribes in early 1600s


This picture of New England shows how the land was divided between the tribes of southern New England before the arrival of Europeans.  The Pokanokets are sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Wampanoags, a name they only used after King Philip's War when it became illegal for somebody to say they were part of the Pokanoket Nation. 

What This Episode Doesn't Tell You
Roger Williams was a religious conservative

 

While living in Massachusetts, Roger Williams was extremely conservative when it came to his religious views.  Williams had no problem with people creating their own Churches but he would only minister at Churches that he believed were a true Christian Church.  Before anyone could be accepted into the Church they had to prove to the congregation that they were a "truly saved" individual.  In fact, his obsession with a pure church is partially where his radical belief in religious freedom originated from.  He believed that the Church was a sacred garden that had to be protected from man-made institutions, such as the state, as they were tainted by human sin.  

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