USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -From its earliest settlement, Rhode Island was a refuge for people persecuted for their religious beliefs. King Charles II’s 1663 charter for the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations explicitly established religious toleration for all inhabitants.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Royal Charter guaranteed religious freedom for Rhode Islanders. It was the first colony to have this freedom.

Detailed explanation-3: -Rhode Island became the first colony with no established church and the first to grant religious freedom to everyone, including Quakers and Jews.

Detailed explanation-4: -Roger Williams, Founder of Rhode Island, Arrived in Boston. Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island based upon principles of complete religious toleration, separation of church and state, and political democracy (values that the U.S. would later be founded upon).

Detailed explanation-5: -Only in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania was toleration rooted in principle rather than expedience. Indeed, Pennsylvania’s first constitution stated that all who believed in God and agreed to live peacefully under the civil government would “in no way be molested or prejudiced for their religious persuasion of practice.”