A Puritan minister in Salem. He opposed the decision to establish an official religion and praised the Pilgrims’ separation of church and state. Questioned the Puritans’ seizure of Indigenous land. He was banished by the magistrates in 1636. Later he and his followers settled 50 miles south of Boston, founding the town of Providence on land Purchased from Narragansett Indians. Later in 1644, these settlers obtained a corporate charter rom Parliament for a new colony – Rhode Island – with full authority to rule themselves. In Rhode Island, Plymouth, there was no legally established church and individuals could worship God as they pleased.