June 10, 2024: Ocean State Histories: Roger Williams

[250years ago this week, Rhode Island bannedthe slave trade. That significant moment was just one of many in this littleststate’s story, so this week I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of Ocean Statehistories, leading up to a special post on works through which you can learnmore about Rhode Island!]

Two inspiringlayers, and one frustrating one, to the life and identity of the founder ofEnglish Rhode Island.

1)     His Progressivism: I think it’s relatively wellknown (at least up here in New England) that Williams’religious beliefs (including the separation of church and state) were tooprogressive for the Puritans, who expelledhim from Massachusetts as a result. But in a 21st century worldwhere public dissent is as easy as signing up for social media or recording aYouTube video, it’s worth remembering just how striking it was for anyinhabitant of tiny, insular, hugely homogeneous early 17th centuryPuritan Massachusetts to express and fight for such alternative, progressiveviews. And Williams’ progressivism didn’t stop there, as he dedicated much ofhis life to advocatingfor Native American rights and a good portion of it to fighting for the abolitionof slavery in New England (a forgotten subject on which a great newscholarly book, WendyWarren’s New England Bound,focuses). Williams might well have been the most progressive 17thcentury European American—and he’s definitely on the short list!

2)     His Writings: Williams’ first and best-knownbook fits directly into that progressivism: A Key into theLanguage of America (1643), the first study of Native Americanlanguages in English and, to my knowledge, one of the most thoughtful andnuanced investigations of Native American cultures and communities published byany European throughout the centuries of contact and settlement. Demonstratingthe breadth of his interests and talents, Williams published in the followingyear The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience, Discussed ina Conference between Truth and Peace (1644), which uses the ideaof individual conscience to argue in opposition to Massachusetts’ religiousuniformity and for the aforementioned separation of church and state. Williamswould go on to publish many more books and pamphlets, espousing and extendinghis religious beliefs and ideas; but to be honest, if he had only publishedthese pioneering first two, he’d still be one of the most unique andsignificant early American writers.

3)     His Last Public Action: In Christopher Nolan’sfilm The Dark Knight, Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dentargues that “you either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourselfbecome the villain.” Villain is far too strong a term for Roger Williams’ finalpublic action, but it was at the very least deeply ironic: during the brutal1675-76 conflict between the English and Native Americans that came to beknown as KingPhilip’s War, the 70-something Williams was elected captain of Providence’smilitia; not only did this mean he had tolead the fight against native communities with which he had been alongstanding friend and ally, but in the course of that fight much ofProvidence, including Williams’ own house, was burned. In a chapter in my secondbook I make the case, through Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative andchanging perspective, that violence and division were not the only—or at leastnot the necessary—endpoints of English and Native American relations in the 17thcentury. But far far too often that is where they ended up, and such was thecase for even the progressive and inspiring Roger Williams.

Next RhodeIsland history tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other Ocean State stories you’d highlight?