who was the founder of rhode island?
Roger Williams: Lives and Legacies
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 John Clarke ( October 1609 – 20 April 1676 ) was a physician , Baptist minister , co @-@ founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations , author of its influential charter , and a leading advocate of religious freedom in the Americas . 

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 The area that is now Providence was first settled in June 1636 by Roger Williams , and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies of the United States . Williams and his company felt compelled to withdraw from Massachusetts Bay Colony . They were greeted by the Narragansetts on rocks near present @-@ day Gano Street with the greeting , " What Cheer , Netop . " They sought refuge with the Narragansett tribe at a place on the banks of a salt cove , as the chief of the Narragansett , Canonicus , made them welcome . In 1636 , Canonicus gave Williams the large tract of land which became the first nucleus of the colony of Providence Plantation . Williams ' Providence soon became a refuge for persecuted religious dissenters , as he himself had been exiled from Massachusetts . Providence 's growth would be slow during the next quarter @-@ century — the subsuming of its territory into surrounding towns , difficulty of farming the land , and differing of local traditions and land conflicts all slowed development . 

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 Clarke believed that secular government should peacefully coexist with religion , and he became a seminal figure in applying the separation of church and state . Historian Thomas Bicknell , one of Clarke 's most ardent supporters , wrote that at the time of the Puritan settlement of New England that " nowhere on the face of the earth and among civilized men , did civil and soul @-@ liberty exist . Its first clear , full , deliberate , organized and permanent establishment in the world can now be distinctly traced to the Colony of Rhode Island , on the island of Aquidneck , in the Narragansett Bay , under the leadership and inspiration of Dr. John Clarke , the true Founder " . Historian Louis Asher wrote , " It hardly seems arguable that Dr. Clarke was the first one to bring democracy to the New World by means of Rhode Island . " Bicknell also asserted that Clarke was the " recognized founder and father of the Aquidneck Plantations , the author of the Compact of Portsmouth and leading spirit in the organization and administration of the island towns . Historian Edward Peterson wrote that Clarke was a man " whose moral character has never been surpassed , and his piety never been questioned . " Asher made this final assessment of Clarke : " As a man , Clarke lived for others . Like many men of the past , he was selfless and uncomplaining . Despite his sectarian religious views , he gave more for his fellow man than he received . " 

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 Rhode Island – February 7 , 1867 

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 Rhode Island : January 18 , 1870 
