Rhode Island:New England Colony
In 1631, a young minister named Roger Williams began to criticize the Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.He thought that government and religion should be separate and that all people should be able to worship in any way they chose.“Forced worship,” he declared, “stinks in God's nostrils.”The leaders of Massachusetts Bay forced him to leave the colony in 1635.
Williams spent the winter with some American Indians.In 1636, he started a town called Providence,a word meaning “the guidance and care of God.” Providence later became the capital of Rhode Island.Rhode Island welcomed people with different religious beliefs to live in the colony.
Puritan Anne Hutchinson also lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.She, like Williams, spoke out against some Puritan practices and beliefs.In 1637, she was put on trial for her religious ideas.The court found her guilty and forced her to leave the colony.She, too, moved to what became part of Rhode Island, where she could freely practice her beliefs.
Rhode Island’s geography helped colonists build a strong economy.Narragansett Bay and local rivers provided fish and routes for travel and trade.Men trapped animals and traded the furs.The forests supplied timber, and the soil in southern Rhode Island was good for farming.While winters were sometimes harsh, the summer rains helped crops grow.
Many Rhode Island colonists were farmers who raised livestock and grew corn, apples, onions, and many other crops on small farms.Other colonists were traders.Ships from Rhode Island carried goods such as rum, wool, and flax (a plant from which linen cloth and oil are made) to England and theWest Indies.Sea merchants soon discovered the riches that could be made in the slave trade[the business of capturing, transporting, and selling people as slaves].As a result, Rhode Island became one of the largest slave-trading centers in the world.Slave trading helped make the fortunes of some of the wealthiest families in New England, even though few Rhode Island colonists themselves owned slaves.
Rhode Island was one of the most democratic colonies.Men who owned property could vote.