USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Rhode Island was formed as an English colony by Roger Williams and others fleeing prosecution from Puritans. When dissenters, including Puritan minister Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, challenged Governor Winthrop in Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s, they were banished.

Detailed explanation-2: -Among those who found a haven in the religious and political refuge of the Rhode Island Colony were Anne Hutchinson-like Williams, she had been exiled from Massachusetts for religious reasons-some of the first Jews to settle in North America, and the Quakers.

Detailed explanation-3: -In direct violation of Puritan doctrine and church structure, she believed heaven was open to those who worshipped God through a personal connection, without the need of any church intervention. These and other beliefs caused Hutchinson and her family to be banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Detailed explanation-4: -She criticized the beliefs of the Massachusetts Puritans for placing religious observance and the teaching of ministers above the conscience of the individual. After she was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, she became one of the founders of Rhode Island.

Detailed explanation-5: -In 1635, Williams was tried by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and found guilty of holding four dangerous opinions at variance with official policy. His sentence was banishment from the colony. Williams fled Massachusetts before prosecutors could send him back to England.