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Medieval & Early Modern
Roger Williams
1603–1683 · Liberty of conscience
The garden and the wilderness: the state has no business in souls.
Banished from Massachusetts for dissenting on religion, Williams founded Providence on the principle that civil power reaches only bodies and goods, never conscience. His Bloudy Tenent argued for a wall of separation between church and state when the idea was nearly unthinkable, and unlike most founders of colonies he purchased land from the Native nations rather than claiming it.
Why it matters for freedom
He founded Providence on the principle that the magistrate has no jurisdiction over the soul.
Who they stood against
the Massachusetts theocracy that fined and banished men for conscience