Roger Williams: Founder of Economic Development
Most Rhode Islanders know Roger Williams as the founder of the colony, as well as the great advocate for separating church and state. But we can also see him as a leader in economic development, certainly here, and arguably for the entire country. While he had little interest in commerce, he established a form of government that unleashed unprecedented entrepreneurship.
The Preacher’s Journey
Williams certainly was an unlikely champion of economic anything. Born in England in 1603 to a skilled tailor, he preferred his studies, where he excelled enough to become apprentice to the great English judge Edward Coke (pronounced “Cook”). He then entered Cambridge University, where he studied Christian theology and embraced his lifelong vocation as a preacher.
He took on the Puritan perspective, seeing the established Protestant Church of England as corrupted by its movement back toward Catholicism. He and other divines sought to purify the church, but found themselves harshly persecuted by Church of England leaders during the reign of King Charles I. In fear of his life in 1631, Williams, with his wife, fled to the colony of Massachusetts, where earlier Puritan refugees had established Boston and other towns.
Williams came well recommended and was offered a plum position as preacher in a large Boston church. But he declined, having found even this establishment to be insufficiently purified of Catholic influence—perhaps because the authorities feared a full purification risked the colony’s royal charter. For the next few years, he and his young family moved from Boston to Salem to Plymouth and back again, making connections with native tribes along the way.
Eventually Massachusetts authorities, despite their respect and affection for Williams, decided he was a dangerous influence in their fledgling divine commonwealth. In January 1636, they sent officers to arrest him and put him on the next ship back to England, which for Williams in his home country likely meant torture and death in prison. Williams, getting advance word, fled through the snowy wilderness and found refuge in a Wampanoag village. Eventually he and a few followers made their way across the Seekonk River and founded Providence, outside of Puritan jurisdiction.