Roger Williams

(noun)

An English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. 

Related Terms

  • Pequot
  • Narragansett
  • Dominion of New England

(noun)

Roger Williams (c. 1603 – between January and March 1683) was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America, the First Baptist Church of Providence. He was a student of Native American languages and an advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans. Williams was arguably the very first European abolitionist in North America, having organized the first attempt to ban slavery in any of the original thirteen colonies.

Related Terms

  • Pequot
  • Narragansett
  • Dominion of New England

Examples of Roger Williams in the following topics:

  • Rhode Island

    • Rhode Island was formed as an English colony by Roger Williams and others fleeing prosecution from Puritans.
    • When dissenters, including Puritan minister Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, challenged Governor Winthrop in Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s, they were banished.
    • Roger Williams questioned the Puritans’ taking of American Indian land and argued for a complete separation from the Church of England, a position other Puritans in Massachusetts rejected, as well as the idea that the state could not punish individuals for their beliefs.
    • In 1644, Roger Williams secured a land patent establishing the Incorporation of Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay.
    • Engraved print depicting Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, meeting with the Narragansett Indians.
  • Evolution of Protestantism

    • Roger Williams, president of the Colony of Rhode Island, was a religious reformer and early Baptist.
  • Separating Church and State

    • Echoing the language of the founder of the first Baptist church in America, Roger Williams—who had written in 1644 of a "hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world"—Jefferson wrote, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."
    • While some prominent individuals, such as Roger Williams who founded Rhode Island, and William Penn who founded the Province of Pennsylvania, ensured protection of religious minorities within their colonies, colonies such as Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay had established churches.
  • English Colonies

    • William Bradford was their main leader.
    • Roger Williams, who preached religious toleration, separation of Church and State, and a complete break with the Church of England, was banished and founded Rhode Island Colony, which became a haven for other refugees from the Puritan community, such as Anne Hutchinson.
    • Roger Williams on land provided by the Narragansett.
  • Acknowledgements

    • The wonderful faculty and staff at Clover Park Technical College—especially Sally Gove and Elaine Holster, but also Mike Wheeler, Dave DeBruyne, Neil Sweerus, LaVerta Schmeling, Lloyd White, Laurie Clary, Dorna Bullpitt, Lori Banaszak, Mathew Williams, Steve Marshall, Scott Blatman, Lucy Dorum, Roger Nix, Jill Gallion, Stan Anderson, Andy Fritz, Dean Lamb, Sherry Nowak, Kathy Hathaway, Tracy Rose Pennisi, Debbie Collins, Barb Rief, Nancy Garcia, and Marilyn Lee.
  • Two Judicial Revolutions: The Rehnquist Court and the Roberts Court

    • William Rehnquist served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, and later as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States.
    • Rehnquist presided as Chief Justice for nearly 19 years, making him the fourth-longest-serving Chief Justice after John Marshall, Roger Taney and Melville Fuller.
  • The Year of Blood

    • In May 1782, Colonel William Crawford led a campaign to destroy enemy Native American settlements along the Sandusky River in the Ohio Country with the hope of ending Native American attacks on American settlers.
    • Peace negotiations between the United States and Great Britain created a temporary respite from the escalation, but in November 1782, Continental George Rogers Clark delivered the final blow of the Year of Blood, destroying several Shawnee towns in the Ohio Country.
  • Rogers' Humanistic Theory of Personality

    • Carl Rogers was a prominent psychologist and one of the founding members of the humanist movement.
    • Both Rogers’ and Maslow’s theories focus on individual choices and do not hold that biology is deterministic.
    • Rogers further divided the self into two categories: the ideal self and the real self.
    • Rogers focused on the idea that we need to achieve consistency between these two selves.
    • Rogers described life in terms of principles rather than stages of development.
  • The Diffusion of Innovation

    • Everett Rogers, a professor of rural sociology, popularized the theory in his 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations.
    • Rogers synthesized research from over 508 diffusion studies and produced a theory for the adoption of innovations among individuals and organizations.
    • Rogers (1962) espoused the theory that there are four main elements that influence the spread of a new idea:
    • The innovation - According to Rogers, an innovation is "an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption. "
    • Time - Rogers wrote that "the innovation-decision period is the length of time required to pass through the innovation-decision process.
  • The Constitutional Convention

    • After the Virginia Plan was introduced, New Jersey delegate William Paterson asked for an adjournment to contemplate the plan.
    • To resolve this stalemate, the Connecticut Compromise, forged by Roger Sherman from Connecticut, was proposed on June 11.
    • It was proposed by delegates James Wilson and Roger Sherman.
Subjects
  • Accounting
  • Algebra
  • Art History
  • Biology
  • Business
  • Calculus
  • Chemistry
  • Communications
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Microbiology
  • Physics
  • Physiology
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Statistics
  • U.S. History
  • World History
  • Writing

Except where noted, content and user contributions on this site are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 with attribution required.