Roger Williams (1603-1683) an English clergyman who was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for his teachings and, in 1636, became the founder of Providence, Rhode Island's first white settlement. Williams' pioneering views included religious liberty, complete separation of church and state, and fair treatment of the Native Americans. In 1643 he published "A Key into the Language of America", the first English language dictionary and ethnography of an American Indian people.
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