#110 Roger Williams Part 3: Into the Wild
The History of the Americans
Jack Henneman
4.9 • 632 Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2023
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Roger Williams has fled into the freezing New England winter of 1636, steps ahead of the law. He makes his way from Salem to Narragansett Bay, spending fourteen weeks schlepping from one Indian village to another, always just beyond the reach of the Massachusetts Bay authorities. Eventually, he cuts a deal with the Narragansett sachem Canonicus, who grants him land at the site of today’s Providence, Rhode Island. There, Williams establishes the first civil society anywhere in the Christian world devoted to the complete separation of church and state. It would serve as a refuge of last resort for fugitives of conscience, and establish Williams as one of the great “benefactors of mankind,” in the words of the 19th century American historian George Bancroft.
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Selected references for this episode
John M. Barry, Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul
Edmund S. Morgan, Roger Williams: The Church and State
Edmund S. Morgan, The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast, episode 110. |
| 0:10.8 | I'm your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this episode on March 26, 2023, and Austin, Texas. |
| 0:19.2 | We are telling the history of the lands now encompassed by the United States from the beginning without presentism. |
| 0:27.2 | As we say on the homepage of the website, we believe there is dignity in her national story, |
| 0:33.0 | along with tragedy, triumph, brilliance, hypocrisy, magnificence, depravity, corruption, venality, inspiration, oppression, genius, defeat, and glory. |
| 0:50.3 | All of that. For those of you listening in close to real time, on April 11th, I'll be in Washington, D.C. for the evening. |
| 0:59.2 | We've got some interest in doing a meetup at some as yet unspecified venue, probably a bar brewery. |
| 1:06.3 | If you'd like to join a few of us, send me a note at the History of the Americans at gmail.com through the |
| 1:12.2 | contact page on the website or by direct message on Twitter. As we get closer, I'll find |
| 1:19.3 | some place, probably fairly convenient to DuPont Circle or maybe just somewhere in the district, |
| 1:25.0 | and I'll let people know the details via Twitter, |
| 1:29.9 | the Facebook page for the podcast, and the website. |
| 1:37.1 | We're still on our Roger Williams' arc, which has been long on theological and legal matters and short on action. With this episode, we will conclude our time with Williams for now, |
| 1:43.8 | although since he would live another |
| 1:45.1 | 40 plus consequential years, I'm quite sure we will return to him. But we have other matters |
| 1:51.1 | to attend to in New England and beyond, so knowing me, it might take me months to get back to |
| 1:56.3 | him. Anyway, I'm not the prerequisites guy or anything, but I believe your enjoyment of this episode |
| 2:02.8 | would be maximized if you have listened to at least the last two in the timeline related |
| 2:08.5 | specifically to Roger Williams. |
| 2:11.4 | Another thing. The pace and density of the history of the Americans are rapidly accelerating by the mid-1630s. |
| 2:19.6 | And even this podcast won't be able to dig into all of it in the great detail with which we |
| 2:24.1 | have all become accustomed. There will be a lot of new towns and even entire colonies founded |
... |
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