Roger Williams National Memorial ⓘ

Charles II was born in London in 1630. Under his grandfather, King James I , and his father, King Charles I, England had seen a growing amount of religious discontent between the people and the church. This led to the Pilgrims and Puritans leaving for the New World in 1620 and 1631 respectively. Along with religious issues, there were also problems between Charles I and Parliament. These issues finally became so severe that the English Civil War broke out in 1642. Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentary forces battled against the King. When the King’s forces became overwhelmed, he sent his son Charles II to mainland Europe. Parliament executed King Charles I in 1649. Eventually Cromwell named himself Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1653 replacing Parliament’s Commonwealth government. After Cromwell’s death in 1658, Parliament was reassembled. Parliament allowed Charles II to return to England in the Declaration of Breda in 1660. In the Declaration, Charles II promised to be a more lenient and tolerant ruler. He would not institute harsh policies for the Anglican Church, and he would not exile past enemies or confiscate their wealth. After the Declaration of Breda, Parliament proclaimed Charles II King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. During the early years of his reign, Charles II dealt regularly with Dr. John Clarke . Clarke petitioned the King for a Rhode Island Charter. Finally, on July 8 th , 1663, King Charles II granted Clarke a Royal Charter for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. This was a profound document which granted Rhode Island self-government, religious freedom, and separation of church and state. Charles’ experiences dealing with the Civil War, living in Europe and his father’s execution deeply affected his decisions and led him to question the idea of a monarch’s divine right. From a young age, the scientific revolution inspired Charles. He even had his own laboratory in his palace. He was constantly experimenting. The “livelie experiment” of Rhode Island, as the King called it in his charter, was one of his own experiments. It was a test to see whether a government run by the people, separate from religious affiliation, could survive. King Charles II would go on to see England through many troubling times. He dealt with issues ranging from deadly diseases to the great fire of London. These events did not tarnish his legacy. He provided stability for England while reinvigorating tradition and welcoming new thought.

I shall at present only propose this case. - There goes many a ship to sea, with many hundred souls in one ship, whose weal and woe is common, and is a true picture of a commonwealth, or a human combination or society. It hath fallen out sometimes, that both papists and protestants, Jews and Turks, maybe embarked in one ship; upon which supposal I affirm, that all the liberty of conscience, that ever I pleaded for, turns upon these two hinges – that none of the papists [Catholics], protestants, Jews, or Turks [Muslims], be forced to come to the ship’s prayers or worship, nor compelled from their own particular prayers or worship, if they practice any. I further add, that I never denied, that notwithstanding this liberty, the commander of this ship ought to command the ship’s course, yea, and also command that justice, peace and sobriety, be kept and practiced, both among the seamen and all the passengers. If any of the seamen refuse to perform their services, or passengers to pay their freight; if any should preach or write that there ought to be no commanders or officers, because all are equal in Christ, therefore no masters nor officers, no laws nor orders, nor corrections nor punishments; - I say, I never denied, but in such cases, whatever is pretended, the commander or commanders may judge, resist, compel and punish such transgressors, according to their deserts and merits. – Roger Williams, letter to the Town of Providence, January 1654

Roger Williams National Memorial was established by Congress in 1965 to commemorate Williams’s “outstanding contributions to the development of the principles of freedom in this country.” The memorial, a 4.5 acre urban greenspace located at the foot of College Hill in downtown Providence, includes a freshwater spring which was the center of the settlement of Providence Plantations, founded by Williams in 1636. It is on this site that Williams, through word and action, fought for the ideal that religion must not be subject to regulation by the government. Instead, that it should be a matter of individual conscience. It was a remarkable journey that brought Williams to a place called Moshassuck (he later named it Providence) where he put his beliefs into practice, giving “shelter for persons distressed of conscience.” For further reading, the staff at the memorial has developed a short bibliography of the most popular and best researched works by and about Roger Williams and the period in which he lived.