"The two Narragansett Indian Sachems that deeded the land for Roger Williams' colony were Canonicus and Miantonomi. No money (or equivalent) for the Providence land was exchanged - the land deed for the Providence colony was essentially a grant from the two Sachems to Roger Williams."

| Top | Primary Works

A Key into the Language of America, 1643; Mr. Cotton's Letter Lately Printed, Examined, and Answered, 1644; Queries of the Highest Consideration, 1644; The Bloody Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, Discussed in a Conference hetweene Truth and Peace, 1644; Christenings Make Not Christians, 1645; Experiments of Spiritual Lzfe and Health, 1652; The Fourth Paper Presented hy Malor Butler, 1652; The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloudy hy Mr. Cotton's Endeavor to Wash it White in the Blood of the Lamhe, 1652; The Hireling Ministry None of Christs, 1652; and George Fox Digg'd Out of His Burrowes, 1676; The Complete Writings of Roger Williams, 6 vols., ed. J. Hammond Trumball, 1866&endash;1874, rpt. with additional vol. by Perry Miller, 1963.

A key into the language of America. Edited with a critical introd., notes, and commentary by John J. Teunissen and Evelyn J. Hinz. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1973. E99 N16 W67

The correspondence of Roger Williams. Glenn W. LaFantasie, editor. Providence, R.I.: Brown UP, 1988. F82 .W64

| Top | Selected Bibliography

Bercovitch, Sacvan. Typology and early American literature. Amherst: U of Massachusetts P, 1972. BS478 B47

Bremer, Francis J. ed. Puritanism: transatlantic perspectives on a seventeenth century Anglo-American faith. Boston: Northeastern UP, 1993. BX9322 .P87

Chupack, Henry. Roger Williams. NY: Twayne Publishers 1969 .F82 .W7264

Covey, Cyclone The Gentle Radical: A Biography of Roger Williams. NY: Macmillan, 1966.

Coyle, Wallace. Roger Williams: a reference guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1977. Z8976.42 C68

Ernst, James E. The political thought of Roger Williams. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat P 1966. J153 .E7

Garrett, John . Roger Williams, Witness Beyond Christendom, 1603-1683. NY: Macmillan, 1970.

Gaustad, Edwin S. Liberty of conscience: Roger Williams in America. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1991. BX6495 .W55 G38

Gilpin, W. Clark. The millenarian piety of Roger Williams. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1979. BX6495 .W55 G54

Greene, Theodore P. Roger Williams and the Massachusetts magistrates. Boston: Heath, 1964. E169.1 .P897 v.40

Hardman, Keith. Issues in American Christianity: primary sources with introductions. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1993. BR514 .H37

Miller, Perry. Roger Williams: his contribution to the American tradition. NY:, Atheneum 1966. F82 .W788

Morgan, Edmund S. Roger Williams: the church and the state. NY:, Harcourt, Brace & World 1967. F82 .W789

Polishook, Irwin H. Roger Williams, John Cotton, and religious freedom; a controversy in new and old England. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall 1967. F82 .W792

Skaggs, Donald. Roger Williams' Dream for America. NY: Peter Lang, 1993.

Spurgin, Hugh. Roger Williams and Puritan radicalism in the English separatist tradition. Lewiston NY: E. Mellon P, 1989. F82 .W7 S68

Winslow, Ola E. Master Roger Williams, a biography. NY: Macmillan, 1957. F82 .W692

| Top | Selected Bibliography: Articles

Davis, Jack L. "Roger Williams Among the Narragansett Indians." Notes and Queries 43 (1971): 593-604.

Felker, Christopher D. "Roger Williams's Uses of Legal Discourse: Testing Authority in Early New England." New England Quarterly 63 (1990): 624-48.

Guggisberg, Hans R. "Religious Freedom and the History of the Christian World in Roger Williams' Thought." Early American Literature 12 (Sprg 1977): 36-48.

Hunsaker, O. Glade. "Roger Williams and John Milton: The Calling of the Puritan Writer." Puritan Influences in American Literature. Ed. Emory Elliot. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1979. 3-22.

Johnston, Thomas E., Jr. "A Note on the Voices of Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Roger Williams, and Philip Pain." Early American Literature 3 (1968): 125-6.

Lovejoy, David S. "Roger Williams and George Fox: The Arrogance of Self Righteousness." New England Quarterly 66.2 (Jun 1993): 199-225.

Murray, David. "Using Roger Williams' Key into America." Symbiosis 1.2 (1997): 237-53.

Myles, Anne G. "Arguments in Milk, Arguments in Blood: Roger Williams, Persecution, and the Discourse of the Witness." Modern Philology 91.2 (Nov 1993): 133-60.

Reinitz, Richard. "The Typological Argument for Religious Toleration: The Separatist Tradition and Roger Williams." Early American Literature 5.1 (1970: 74-110.

Rosenmeier, Jesper. "The Teacher and the Witness: John Cotton and Roger Williams." William and Mary Quarterly 25 (1968): 408-31.

Teunissen, John J., and Evelyn J. Hinz. "Anti Colonial Satire in Roger Williams' A Key into the Language of America." Ariel 7.3 (1976): 5-26.

- - -. "Roger Williams, Thomas More, and the Narragansett Utopia." Early American Literature 11 (1976): 281-95.

Study Questions

(a) What can we infer about Williams's intentions from the fact that he chose to compose A Key into the Language of America as an "implicit dialogue" rather than as a dictionary?

(b) Characterize the persona of the first-person narrator in A Key. What kind of person does Williams present himself as?

(c) How is Williams's book like a key?

(d) How do the various sections of each chapter in A Key relate to one another and to the whole work?

(e) What lessons can a Christian learn from the Indians?

(f) Why might Williams once have objected to Europe and the rest of the West being referred to as "Christendom"?

(g) In what ways was a colony in the New World like a ship at sea?

(h) What did Williams gain from his treaty with the Indians besides legal ownership of some land?

MLA Style Citation of this Web Page:

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 1: Early American Literature to1700 - Roger Williams." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. WWW URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap1/williams.html (provide page date or date of your login). กก

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