Why did Roger Williams start Providence?

Answer 1

Roger Williams was expelled from Massachusetts for favoring religious freedom, ironically, in a place established by those seeking religious freedom. He is considered the founder of Rhode Island.

In 1636, Roger Williams was a dissenting Puritan minister and theologian in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was convicted of heresy and left to found the colony of Providence on the estuaries farther south (east of Long Island Sound), which were later named the Providence River.

Answer 2

After being banished from Massachusetts in 1635, Roger Williams and a few friends fled, and established the area of Providence. This would eventually become the colony of Rhode Island.

Williams was the pastor of the church of Salem (back in Massachusetts). But, his beliefs that the Indians should be paid for the land that the colonists had taken away was bad enough. However, he also believed that his church should be free of evil influence - especially in its contact with the government.

In the spring of 1636, his Salem congregation followed and joined Williams. Soon many other people came to join the settlement.

The climate of freedom attracted new immigrants, among them Jews and Quakers. Both of these groups had been discriminated back in England.

The colony of Rhode Island, became the first to accept the principle of, "Freedom of Religion." Without any discrimination whatsoever, and no interference from the government in the churches.

Answer 3

He wanted a colony with religious freedom.