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Soul Liberty for the persecuted religious free thinkers.
As New England grew and the hand of the Church of England and the English government seemed less heavy on the planters shoulders, a strict adherence to a single form of religious belief took hold here. Anyone with differing views could be hauled before the courts and prosecuted in any number of ways for their descent. At the height of the persecution the ministers and magistrates were putting non-conformists to death. Quakers were particularly despised and singled out.
Roger Wlliams arrived on the Lyon in 1631, was condemned to banishment in fall of 1635, and by June of 1636 had obtained a grant of land in what would become Rhode Island, from Ousamequin, whom he had befriended while living in Plymouth. Roger's main offense boiled down to his belief that civil power has no control over the religious opinions of men. This line of thought was in total opposition to the way in which the government here and in Old England was run and presented a huge threat to the Ministers, Governor, and Assistants.
In a short period of time the Soul freedom of the Rhode Island plantation proved a safe haven for many of the persecuted and banished in New England. Free thinkers from the Old World wishing to immigrate to the new, Quakers, Baptists (and their variants), and Jews found a safe harbor in Rhode Island. As long as the civil laws were adhered to, no man was molested for his religious beliefs.
Over time, this policy caused many problems for Rhode Island and at the height of the Quaker persecution, Mass. did all it could to absorb the plantation and bring it under its authority, (Conn also joined in the battle for RI land). Borders wars ensued, property and people seized, charters and patents disputed, revoked and regained. In the end, Rhode Island won the day and when our united government was formed after the revolution, it's policy of religious tolerance and Soul-Freedom became the model for our own present day religious freedom.
A good number of the families listed below were free thinkers, some started the first churches of their kind in New England and helped protect the rights of the spiritually oppressed. |
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Denison
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Welch
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Denison
Stonington, Mystic, New London, Con. & Westerly RI |
Wilbur
Boston MA, Portsmouth RI |
Crandall
Providence, Newport, & Westerly, RI |
Taylor
Boston MA, Portsmouth RI |
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Clark
Boston Ma, & Newport, RI
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Potter
Portsmouth, RI |
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Lanphere
Westerly, RI
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Hiscox
Newport & Westerly, RI |
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Minor
Westerly, RI. , & Stonington Con. |
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Gorham
Westerly RI, & Plymouth Mass. |
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Hubbard
Springfield Mass. & Westerly RI |
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