John Winthrop Vs Roger Williams Essay

This essay will examine two documents, John Winthrop, Speech to the Massachusetts General Court (1645) and Roger Williams, Letter to the Town of Providence (1655). Both of these documents express opposing views of liberty through the eyes of John Winthrop and Roger William. While both were Puritans who emigrated from England to America in search to worship and govern as God intended, John Winthrop sought to develop a society in which government and people would work together to glorify God, while Roger Williams believed that the only way to bring glory to God was to separate religion and government. During the seventeenth century, religious and social movements began to rise in England as many became dissatisfied with the Church of England. Puritanism emerged and feared that religious authority from the Pope had grown to “an intolerable heights” and “ God’s saints could no longer bear them”(Foner 4th edition, pg. 65). To escape religious corruptions of the English society, Puritans immigrated to New England in hopes to …show more content…
Although Roger Williams shared the same faith of John Winthrop, seeing God in every aspect of life, Williams insisted that the church and state be separated and that individuals should be allowed to follow their conscience, this was known as “Soul liberty”. By separating the church and state, glory to God would rise. Government “corrupted the purity of the Christian faith” and should not be in relationship with God (Foner 4th edition, pg. 72). This strongly attacked the religious and political establishment of Massachusetts and of John Winthrop. Williams denied that Puritans were an elect people on a divine mission to spread the true faith and that God had singled out any group as special. These differences in opinion led to his banishment from