Providence, RI…Roger Williams, 21 December 1603 – 15 March 1683. Minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, now the State of Rhode Island. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with Native Americans. His work and positions helped provide an ideological underpinning for many of our founding documents.

“I infer that the sovereign, original, and foundation of civil power lies in the people.” The governments they establish, he wrote, “have no more power, nor for no longer time, than the civil power or people consenting and agreeing shall betrust them with.” Roger Williams, 1603 – 1683