WEBVTT 1 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.440 Hello and Welcome to Western SIEV episode four hundred and 2 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:28.839 fifty three, The Land of Descent. Now, if the New 3 00:00:28.839 --> 00:00:34.320 England forests on Cape Cod echo with scripture doesn't mean 4 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.960 that every single voice sings in the same tune and 5 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:43.479 some were silenced. If the New England patriots valued anything, 6 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:46.960 it was conformity. I think it's important to point out 7 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:52.159 that when the Pilgrims lived and left to found their 8 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:57.560 new colonies, their new Jerusalem, their new Israel, the idea 9 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.600 was never that they would have religious toler that was 10 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.239 in anathema. The idea was that they would practice what 11 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:08.319 they believed was the true faith. And there weren't other options. 12 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:13.359 You were either saved a member of the separatist community, 13 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:19.760 or you were damned. Now some people, though, questioned, and 14 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:24.400 some refused to fall quiet, and this is one of 15 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:32.599 those stories. Out of all these banishments, heresies, visions arose 16 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:37.280 eventually a fragile and defiant little kingdom in the New World. 17 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:42.640 It was carved out between bay and forest, settled on 18 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:45.920 a land that hadn't been granted by the king, had 19 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:50.760 been granted by a company, but had been purchased. Imagine 20 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:55.879 that directly from the native Americans who lived there. It 21 00:01:55.959 --> 00:02:01.599 bore no cross of state religion, no uniform creed, no peace, 22 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:08.319 but it bore the name Rhode Island and Providence plantations. 23 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:15.560 This was no accident of colonial expansion. Rhode Island was 24 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:19.680 founded on purpose, just like Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded 25 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:24.680 on purpose by exiles, but a different kind of exile. 26 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:29.520 And this the story doesn't begin with war or wealth, 27 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:36.759 but with a conflict of conscience. Roger Williams landed in 28 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:41.759 Boston in sixteen thirty one. Who's a man already ill 29 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:45.840 at eased with the company of conformity, A Cambridge educated 30 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:50.840 minister trained in Latin, Hebrew and law. But what made 31 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:55.039 him dangerous wasn't all this scholarship. It was his clarity 32 00:02:55.479 --> 00:03:00.960 of thought. Williams believed that the church must be utterly pure, 33 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:05.599 and that the civil state had no authority whatsoever over 34 00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:10.319 the soul or religion of men. In his view, forcing 35 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:15.840 religious practice in any way violated divine will He also 36 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:21.039 insisted that the Massachusetts Charter, which claimed land by royal grant, 37 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:24.319 was invalid because it had not been purchased by the 38 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:29.120 people who were already there by the native peoples. To 39 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:32.599 Governor John Winthrop in the General Court. These ideas were nonsense, 40 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:36.879 They were intolerable, they were blasphemy, and so in October 41 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:41.599 sixteen thirty five, Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 42 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:46.159 As the warrant was being prepared, Williams slipped away into 43 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.840 the woods in the dead of winter, sheltered only by 44 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.840 the nargetissect people that he had tried to defend, whose 45 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:58.159 property rights he believed him. Years later, he would remember 46 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:01.000 those months in the forest with stark humilie, writing quote, 47 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:04.560 I was sorely tossed for fourteen weeks in a bitter 48 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:09.000 winter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean. 49 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:13.800 End quote. In the spring of sixteen thirty six, william 50 00:04:13.879 --> 00:04:17.439 crossed the Sinkonk River, and with the consent of the 51 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:22.439 Nargassett chiefs sachems, he settled on land along the Mushak River, 52 00:04:22.519 --> 00:04:26.480 in a place that he called Providence, a name that 53 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:32.120 he didn't choose for glory, but for grace. This land 54 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:37.920 was deeded to him, it hadn't been conquered. Williams proudly recorded, quote, 55 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:41.399 I desired to deal justly with the natives and to 56 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:44.680 own their title to their lands. And for this cause 57 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:49.800 I obtained the grant of Providence end quote. Now, in 58 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:54.560 sixteen forty three he sailed back to England to secure 59 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:58.560 billated legal recognition of his colony. Now at this time, 60 00:04:58.600 --> 00:05:00.519 as we'll find out in a couple of episodes down 61 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:04.399 the road here, the English Civil War is fully churning. 62 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:09.240 It's at this time that Williams also publishes the bloody 63 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:13.800 tenant of persecution. There's a defense, rather fierce one of 64 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:18.639 liberty of conscience. He would write, amongst other things, quote, 65 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.879 it is the will and command of God that a 66 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:26.240 permission of other men's consciousness be allowed in all nations 67 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:31.600 and countries end quote. That same year, Williams secured a 68 00:05:31.639 --> 00:05:35.800 parliamentary patent, finally uniting all the various cities under his name. 69 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:40.199 I'm talking about Providence, new Portsmith, Warwick, under the name 70 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:45.120 of the Providence Plantations. It was the legal foundation for 71 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:49.319 the colony, a fragile document, but one that affirmed their 72 00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:55.240 right to govern independently of Massachusetts Bay. And they would 73 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:00.560 need that source for religious toleration because to the north 74 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:06.879 still other people were attesting the bounds of religious conformity 75 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.319 in New England. That story will be Right after this, 76 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:27.399 while Roger Williams had been building providence, Anna Hutchinson was 77 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:33.879 electrifying and terrifying Boston. Born Anne Marbury in England in 78 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:37.519 fifteen ninety one, she was raised in a household that 79 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:42.079 valued biblical inquiry. Her father had been jailed for criticizing 80 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:48.519 church authorities. She learned her theology early and completely. In 81 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.000 sixteen thirty four, she arrived in Massachusetts with her husband 82 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:55.720 and children and a storm of ideas. As a midwife 83 00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:59.399 and lay minister, she began holding spiritual meetings in her home, 84 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:03.399 drawing crowds to hear her expound on the sermons of 85 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:07.079 John Cotton and to question the spiritual authority of the 86 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:10.519 other ministers. She preached what she called, quote unquote, the 87 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:14.720 Covenant of Grace, insisting that salvation came through God's will, 88 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.000 not human effort. The Puritan clergy, she said, had lost 89 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:22.879 sight of that, preaching a covenant of works which smacked 90 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:27.120 of Catholicism instead. This wasn't just theology, though, this was 91 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:33.600 outright rebellion. She was tried in Massachusetts. Her sixteen thirty 92 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.879 seven trial before the General Court remains a vivid example 93 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:40.639 of how dangerous female agency and spiritual independence were to 94 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:45.199 Puritan order. She was questioned by Governor Winthrop as follows, quote, 95 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:47.800 you have maintained a meeting in assembly, you have joined 96 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:52.199 with them in practice. Quote. Hushinson responded, if you please 97 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:53.879 to give me leave, I shall give you the ground 98 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:58.519 of what I know to be true, which Winthrop asked 99 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:01.240 the famous question, say that which you have to say 100 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:06.399 in your own defense. Hutchinson's reply echoes down to us 101 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:09.600 through the centuries. The Lord knows that I could not 102 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:13.879 open scripture. He must buy his prophetical office open it. 103 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:21.480 Unto me. She was claiming direct relevation from God. In 104 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:26.360 this relevation brought her a quick and swift guilty verdict. 105 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:33.240 Anne Hutchinson was excommunicated and banished. In the spring of 106 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:36.159 sixteen thirty eight, she and her followers followed a path 107 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:39.360 south to Nargace at Bay, where, with advice from Roger Williams, 108 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:43.679 they settled on Aquedect Island, then called Rhode Island. They 109 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:47.200 purchased land from the local Indians and founded the town 110 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:51.080 of Portsmouth. A year later, amid political strife, some left 111 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:57.639 to found Newport. By sixteen forty seven, these settlements Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, 112 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:00.759 and Warwick formed a united colony under the banner of 113 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:05.399 religious freedom and secular governant. Rhode Island's founding charter was 114 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.440 unlike anything in the English colonies. Drafted in sixteen sixty 115 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:13.320 three after a series of earlier patents, it was secured 116 00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:16.080 by Roger Williams and John Clark, and later granted by 117 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.639 King Charles the Second. Its language was startling for its time. 118 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:23.440 Quote no person within the said Colony shall be in 119 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:27.600 any wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for 120 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:31.440 any differences in opinions in matters of religion end quote. 121 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:36.240 This was real religious toleration for the first time in 122 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:40.240 the New World. The colony operated with an elected governor 123 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:43.320 and a general Assembly, but no state church at all. 124 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:48.600 Towns governed themselves and often developed their own codes. Dissent 125 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:52.720 was not merely tolerated, it was foundational. In Rhode Island. 126 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:57.320 In a letter to John Winthrop Junior, Roger Williams Wright, quote, 127 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:00.440 the sovereign original and foundation of civil power lies in 128 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:05.879 the people, not in kings or priests end quote. Now 129 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:09.519 Rhode Island's economy in the seventeenth century was as unconventional 130 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:12.919 as its politics. It was scrappy, marin time, and oftentimes 131 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:17.720 just shape. By necessity, Rhode Island didn't have rich farmland 132 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:22.799 or a centralized economy like New England. It turned to 133 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:27.039 what it had. It had water, timber, and trade. Agriculture 134 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:30.240 remained a small scale. The rocky terrain of the mainland 135 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:34.240 was poorly suited to large plantations, though Aquineck Island offered 136 00:10:34.279 --> 00:10:39.720 more fertile ground. Farmers grew corn, rye and beans. Livestock, 137 00:10:39.799 --> 00:10:43.200 especially cattle and hogs, became key exports to Boston and 138 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:48.480 the Caribbean. Shipbuilding and maritime trade soon became the cornerstone 139 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:52.879 of Rhode Island's economy. Its long coastline, natural harbors, and 140 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.480 access to the nargas At Bay made it a haven 141 00:10:55.559 --> 00:10:59.519 for coastal shipping. By mid century, Newport had become a 142 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:06.000 bustling trading with New York, Boston, and the West Indies. Molasses, rum, fish, 143 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:11.440 and livestock were common exports. The colony also became notorious 144 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:17.120 for its tolerance of irregular trade. Its independence made a 145 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:22.720 magnet for merchants, smugglers, and dissenters from elsewhere. Boston Puritans 146 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:25.960 often accused Rhode Island of harboring quote heretics and pirates 147 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:32.519 end quote, partially true. Land acquisition was also economic. Towns 148 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:35.960 often negotiated directly with the Nargacet and wampan Odd leaders. 149 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:40.200 While some purchases were fair, others became entangled in disputes. 150 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:44.320 The colony's more liberal land policies attracted settlers from Connecticut 151 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:47.919 and Massachusetts, heading to its growth and it's friction with 152 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:53.600 its neighboring colonies. Labor was mixed. Family farming predominated, but 153 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:57.840 indentured servants were common. Slavery, though not as entrenched as 154 00:11:57.879 --> 00:12:01.120 in the South, did exist, particularly by the end of 155 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:04.639 the century as Rhode Island entered the Transatlantic slave trade 156 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:08.840 via Newport. Rhode Island was a colony of edges. It 157 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:11.320 was on the edge of orthodoxy, the edge of legality, 158 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:16.519 and even on the edge of the Atlantic world. Roger 159 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.080 Williams and Ann Hutchinson did not set out to found 160 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.200 a new kind of society. They were just driven out 161 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:25.000 of the old one. But in their flight they carried 162 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:28.840 with them something rare, the belief that truth required liberty, 163 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:34.960 and that liberty could survive, even flourish, without uniformity. From exile, 164 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:39.039 they built a place where conscience was unchained, where faith 165 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:44.519 was free, and where difference difference of opinion was embraced, 166 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:50.480 not stamped out. Rhode Island wasn't orderly, wasn't always peaceful, 167 00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:56.120 but it was principled. Roger Williams would once famously say, 168 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:59.679 the greatest crime in the world is to fear a 169 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:03.799 man more than to fear God. Hutchinson would saying similar, 170 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:07.039 better to be cast out of the church than to 171 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:11.840 deny the word of God. And so they were, both 172 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:16.080 of them cast out, and in their casting though, they 173 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:20.240 laid the foundation for a freedom of conscience that would 174 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:24.879 centuries later become part of the soul of a nation.