Rhode Island

Roger Williams founded the state of Rhode Island after being kicked out of Massachusetts for his religious beliefs. He had come to America believing he could avoid persecution for his beliefs, but it was more of the same here. He left Massachusetts in the middle of the night, leaving his wife and family behind and walked for 13 days until he arrived in the Rhode Island area.

He had a good relationship with the Indians in the area because he took time to get to know them, their culture and traditions. He wrote books about the Indian's language, beliefs and how we shouldn't be taking their land.

Williams went to England a few times to get an official document to make it a colony with religious freedom. He was finally granted his charter and this was the first separation of church and state.

No one knows what he looked like- there aren’t any pictures of him so each artist that has portrayed him has used their own interpretation. One of the statues in the park has the face of baseball player Ted Williams because the artist assumed the two were related. The date of his birth and death aren't documented anywhere either.

Rhode Island was the last state to sign the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was included to provide for freedom of religion.

Rhode Island maybe the smallest state, but it has the longest official name of all the states-State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.