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Roger Williams

Chapter 2: FOREWORD
By May Emery Hall
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About This Book

A detailed biography traces the life and convictions of a religious dissenter who, after disputes with his colonial neighbors and subsequent banishment, founded a refuge committed to liberty of conscience. It follows his political leadership and legal efforts to secure a charter, his diplomatic and humanitarian dealings with indigenous peoples including language study and protection from violence, and his involvement in frontier conflicts and peacemaking. The portrait highlights persistent advocacy for religious freedom, practical statesmanship, personal sacrifice, and the development of civic institutions, supported by letters, artifacts, and contemporary controversies.

Copyright 1917
By FRANK M. SHELDON

THE PILGRIM PRESS
BOSTON

FOREWORD

For much of the data contained in this biography of Roger Williams, I am indebted to the following authorities:

Narragansett Club Publications;

Memoir of Roger Williams, by James D. Knowles;

Roger Williams: the Pioneer of Religious Liberty, by Oscar S. Straus;

Roger Williams, by Edmund J. Carpenter;

Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations;

History of the State of Rhode Island, by Samuel Greene Arnold;

Rhode Island: Its Making and Its Meaning, by Irving Berdine Richman;

Providence in Colonial Times, by Gertrude Selwyn Kimball;

Annals of the Town of Providence, by William R. Staples;

Winthrop’s Journal.

My sincere thanks are due Mr. Howard M. Chapin, Librarian of the Rhode Island Historical Society, for the illustrations of the Charter House, statue of Roger Williams and the Roger Williams seal, also for permission to photograph the Roger Williams compass, and for other substantial assistance rendered in the preparation of this little volume.

I desire, too, to express my thanks for the story of the Roger Williams watch given by Mr. Henry Russell Drowne of New York City and photograph of the same.

The Author.