← Explore on the interactive map
Rhode Island Charter
In March 1644 England's Parliament granted Roger Williams and his followers a charter for Providence Plantation and Rhode Island, securing liberty of…
Timeline
- 1643–1644London · EnglandRoger Williams, founder of Providence after religious banishment in Massachusetts Bay, traveled to England to petition Parliament for recognition of the colony's status. Amid the civil war, Parliament bypassed a royal charter, deliberated, and approved a joint grant for Providence and nearby towns.
- 1644London · EnglandParliament formally issued the charter, uniting Providence, Warwick, Portsmouth, and Newport into a colony, explicitly guaranteeing residents freedom from coercion in religious matters, and authorizing an elected legislature and self-government, laying the institutional foundation for Rhode Island as a religious refuge.
Sources
- Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (1644) (1644) https://www.ri.gov/government/history/charter.php
- Roger Williams: The Church and the State — Edmund S. Morgan (2007)