Saints, Sinners, and Subjects: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in Transatlantic Perspective, 1636-1665
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The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
1996
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1377874212 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13778742122021-08-03T06:19:39Z Saints, Sinners, and Subjects: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in Transatlantic Perspective, 1636-1665 Irwin, Raymond D. History The purpose of this study is to explain how a small New England colony survived its first three crucial decades despite being surrounded on all sides by hostile neighbors. Having been founded by dissenters from the ecclesiastical scheme of Puritan Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is known to students of American history as an oddity in a region dominated by "orthodox" men and women, and scholars have thus generally dismissed it. Understanding its early history, however, is vital, since Rhode Island's past underscores the importance of the English context to all North American colonies and suggests how the idea of religious liberty not only survived in the New World, but allowed its proponents to gain political advantage in London, thereby helping the tiny colony survive the onslaughts of Puritan rivals. This dissertation has three main components. Part One shows that the founders of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations represented a cross-section of religious beliefs in early seventeenth-century England, from nonseparating congregationalism to Separatism to General Anabaptism and Anglican mysticism. This Old World diversity was unwelcome in the more homogenous, Puritan colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose leaders sought to construct and maintain ecclesiastical uniformity. Part Two outlines the development of the new "exile" colony on Narragansett Bay. In order to maintain independence from Puritan authoritiesand to keep order, magistrates in the communities of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations instituted several strategies, including their innovative decoupling of religious and governmental spheres, and their exploitation of the changing religious and political situation in civil war and interregnum England, an environment that in fact mirrored the milieu of the tiny colony. Part Three suggests that the use of these strategies extended well into the 1650s and 1660s, and guaranteed England's protection of the Narragansett colony from the territorial ambitions of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut. 1996 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1377874212 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1377874212 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
History |
| spellingShingle |
History Irwin, Raymond D. Saints, Sinners, and Subjects: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in Transatlantic Perspective, 1636-1665 |
| author |
Irwin, Raymond D. |
| author_facet |
Irwin, Raymond D. |
| author_sort |
Irwin, Raymond D. |
| title |
Saints, Sinners, and Subjects: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in Transatlantic Perspective, 1636-1665 |
| title_short |
Saints, Sinners, and Subjects: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in Transatlantic Perspective, 1636-1665 |
| title_full |
Saints, Sinners, and Subjects: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in Transatlantic Perspective, 1636-1665 |
| title_fullStr |
Saints, Sinners, and Subjects: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in Transatlantic Perspective, 1636-1665 |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Saints, Sinners, and Subjects: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in Transatlantic Perspective, 1636-1665 |
| title_sort |
saints, sinners, and subjects: rhode island and providence plantations in transatlantic perspective, 1636-1665 |
| publisher |
The Ohio State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
1996 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1377874212 |
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AT irwinraymondd saintssinnersandsubjectsrhodeislandandprovidenceplantationsintransatlanticperspective16361665 |
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1719434703248818176 |