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SAMUELL GORTON 
 
The Rhode Island Series. 
 
 1. Maby Dyer of Bhode Island, the Quaker 
 Martyr that was hanged on Boston Common 
 June 1, 1G60. By Judge Horatio Rogers. 
 
 3. A Summer Visit op Three Rhode Islanders 
 to the Massachusetts Bay in 1651 : its inno- 
 cent PURPOSE AND ITS PAINFUL CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 By Hbney Melville King. 
 
 3. Samubll Gorton : a forgotten pounder of 
 our liberties ; first settler op "warwick. 
 By Lewis G. Janes. 
 
 IN preparation : 
 
 4. Thomas Olnby, Juniob, Town Olbbk. By Ed- 
 ward Field. 
 
 Vitifmin, 13mo.^ ckitli, $1.00 net each. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON: 
 
 A FORGOTTEN FOUNDER OF OUR LIBERTIES 
 FIRST SETTLER OF WARWICK, R. I. 
 
 LEWIS G. JAl^ES 
 
 Author of "A Study of Primitive Christianity,' 
 
 ETC. 
 
 " Moi-e ideas "which have become National, have emanated 
 from the little Colony of Rhode Island, than from all the other 
 American States."— George Bancroft, in Address before the 
 New York Historical Society. 
 
 PROVIDENCE 
 
 PRESTON AND BOUNDS 
 
 1896 
 
A.^^TI'S^ 
 
 Copyright, 1896 
 
 BY 
 
 PRESTON AND ROUNDS 
 
 ALL HISHTS KESERVEl). 
 
 PRESS OF 
 E, L, FREEMAN & SONS, PROVIDENCE, li. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 It has been the misfortune of Rhode Is- 
 land to have had its earlier history written 
 and read under the bias of prejudices engen- 
 dered by the controversies which led to its 
 settlement. Justice has not yet been done 
 to the prescience and statesmanship of the 
 remarkable men who were the builders of 
 the first Commonwealth in the world's his- 
 tory dedicated to Soul Liberty. 
 
 Among these men, none were possessed of 
 a personality more striking and picturesque 
 than the subject of this paper, Samuell Gor- 
 ton. The cordial reception of this brief his- 
 torical sketch by the distinguished audience 
 which gave it a hearing before the Rhode 
 Island Historical Society has induced me to 
 consent to its publication. It has since been 
 carefully revised, and a few doubtful points 
 
VI PREFACE 
 
 have been cleared up as well as the character 
 of all available data will permit. 
 
 I am indebted to Mr. William D. Ely and 
 Mr. Charles Gorton, of Providence, and Mr. 
 Adelos Gorton, of Philadelphia, for valuable 
 aid and suggestion in perfecting this revision. 
 It is hoped that the publication may stimu- 
 late further research in the interesting field 
 of our Colonial history. A native of Rhode 
 Island, the writer traces his ancestry by two 
 distinct lines to the Mayflower, while the 
 first of his family name in America was one 
 of the earliest settlers of the New Haven 
 Colony. He is therefore able to approach 
 the subject without undue bias of ancestral 
 prejudice, and with the sole desire of vin- 
 dicating the truth of impartial history. 
 
 L. G. J. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., May 25, 1896. 
 
SAMUEL L GORTON: 
 
 -A FORGOTTEN FOUI^DER OF OUR LIBERTIES 
 FIRST SETTLER OF WARWICK, R. I 
 
 The town of Warwick, R. I., is not 
 to-day of remarkable interest to the an- 
 tiquary or seeker after the venerable 
 relics of bygone days. It has "come 
 out into the newness" of our nineteenth 
 ceutury life. Its sti'eams respond to 
 the music of the flying shuttle and the 
 turning wheel ^\'ith a dash and hurry 
 ■almost human in their restlessness. Half 
 
« SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 a score of flourishing mamifacturing vil- 
 lages lend their potent aid to make it 
 the sixth town, in population, in the 
 State having a larger number of inhab- 
 itants to the square mile than any other 
 in the American Union. 
 
 The old Colonial and Revolutionary 
 dwellings were lai'gely, doubtless, of a 
 humble sort, and have given place to 
 the more prosperous farm-houses and 
 pretentious mansions of a generation that 
 knows not the ways of the fathers. The 
 busy Pawtuxet and its tributary streams, 
 partly excused from the drudgery of mill- 
 turning by the more potent substitutes 
 of the later day, are pumped away to 
 (j[uench the thirst of the distant city 
 whose contentions a quarter of a mil- 
 lenium ago drove Samuell Gorton* and 
 
 *Both Samuell Gorton, Sr., and his eldest son, spelled 
 their first name with the double "L." 
 
SAMUELL GORTON V 
 
 his colleagues to seek their homes in 
 the Shawomet wilderness, there to be- 
 come the founders of a State. 
 
 Yet the Warwick of to-day, in its 
 summer dress, well repays the visitor 
 who may chance upon its hospitable 
 soil. All along its beautiful shores arise 
 pleasant homes and hostelries for the 
 accommodation of the summer visitor; 
 while inland, the rolling hills, prosper- 
 ous with growing grass and coming har- 
 vests, are not without a quiet and restful 
 beauty which pleases the eye, and sol- 
 aces the mind and heart. In the little 
 hamlet of Apponaug, close by Coweset 
 Bay, the brave new Town Hall, one of 
 the finest in New England, testifies to 
 the enterprise as well as to the prosperity 
 of the people. Its newness is in harmo- 
 nious touch Avith the prevalent appear- 
 ance of the country around it. There is 
 
10 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 nothing old, apparently, in old Warwick 
 but the sub-soil and rocks, and here and 
 there a venerable tree antedating Euro- 
 pean occupation, beneath the branches 
 of which Pomham and Soccononocco,, 
 with their dusky braves, may have sat> 
 and smoked the pipe of peace with the' 
 men of Massachusetts, or taken counsel 
 as to the best means of circumventing 
 the united wiles of the head-sachem of 
 the Narragansetts, Miantonomi, and his 
 persistent allies, the pale-faced "Gorton- 
 oges." 
 
 Yet old Warwick has a history sur- 
 passed in interest by none other of the 
 New England settlements. Its founder 
 was a man of intellectual and moral 
 force, worthy to rank with Roger Wil- 
 liams, William Bradford, and the other 
 noble founders of our liberties. He was 
 a man much misrepresented in his day 
 
SAMUELL GOETON II. 
 
 and generation, and but little remem- 
 bered and understood even in our own 
 time, when history is being studied anew 
 in the light of evolution and a true his- 
 torical method, and reconstructed on the 
 principles of enlightened scholarship and 
 impartial justice. The later history of 
 Warwick also has much of interest for 
 the patriotic American. On its shores 
 the first blow of our Revolutionary 
 struggle was struck, in the capture and 
 destruction of the British schooner Gas- 
 pee; while the heights of Warwick Neck 
 were then crowned with a fort, long" 
 since dismantled, for the protection of 
 the settlements around Coweset Bay 
 from the attacks of the English. 
 
 It is the Warwick of the seventeenth 
 century, not that of the eighteenth or 
 nineteenth, that I would fain call to the 
 minds of my readers, — the Warwick 
 
12 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 whose inland acres were covered witli 
 the primitive wilderness, where wolves 
 and Indians were at home,* and the 
 white man was a stranger; the Warwick 
 which Samuell Gorton sought after be- 
 ing frozen out of Boston, banished from 
 Plymouth and Pocasset, and driven by 
 contentions from Providence and Paw- 
 tuxet. 
 
 Yonder, on Conimicut Point, he built 
 his block-house,f and therein defied for 
 a day and a night the force of Puritans 
 and savages in equal numbers, aggre- 
 gating more than four times his own^ 
 
 * ' ' Beniamin Gorton Killed A woolf e And brought ye 
 head & 8kine to my house ye 21st day of December, 
 1674." — [Unpublished Town Records, of Warwick.] 
 
 f The site of the block -house has usually been placed 
 on the North Side of the Mill Pond, at Old WaiVick. 
 Recent investigations, however, strongly favor the 
 more natural site at Conimicut. I am told that Judge 
 Brayton was convinced that this was the true location, 
 before he died. 
 
SAMUELL GOBTON 13 
 
 whicli Massachusetts sent against him; 
 finally surrendering to superior battal- 
 ions to prevent blood-shed. Farther 
 south, at the head of Warwick Cove, 
 a quiet arm of the Narragansett, stood 
 his humble homestead, vv^here he passed 
 his declining years in the honorable ser- 
 vice of the Town and Commonwealth 
 which, he helped to found; the land 
 surrounding which has remained in un- 
 broken succession in the hands of his 
 descendants to the present day. Near 
 by, John Greene, John Wickes, Randall 
 Holden and the other men, good and 
 true, who were his colleagues and sup- 
 porters, cleared and tilled their allotted 
 acres, making the wilderness to blossom 
 as the rose. 
 
 Yes, there are after all some remind- 
 ers of these primitive times besides the 
 sub-soil and the ancient cedar by the 
 
14 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 Potowomut River; for yonder, at Rocky 
 Point, the perennial clambake celebrates 
 in aboriginal fashion and in their native 
 haunts, the shore-feasts of the Indians. 
 And down on Potowomut Neck which 
 Warwick won for her own after long 
 and litigious struggles, once the favoiite 
 camping ground of the aborigines, you 
 may still pick up the flint arrow-heads 
 which they fashioned and left behind 
 them three centuries ago. You may 
 paddle up the Pawtuxet, under the 
 over-arching branches of noble trees, 
 into quiet reaches of the river, where 
 the hum of cities and the bustle of civ- 
 ilization seem remote indeed. And in 
 the new Town Hall at Apponaug you 
 may shut out the noises of the day, and 
 curiously con the ancient records of the 
 Town ; — you may see the very pages on 
 which these pioneers of a new civiliza- 
 
SAMTJELL GOKTON 15 
 
 tion bore testimony to their humble be- 
 ginnings, and told, in part, the story of 
 the building of a State. I have searched 
 these records faithfully — here, and in 
 the library of the Historical Society at 
 Providence, where other precious manu- 
 scripts are preserved. Some of these 
 men I have come to knov^r. I have 
 thought their thoughts after them in 
 deciphering their writings. I have felt 
 their throbbing human hearts, laboring 
 to lay the foundations of a Common- 
 wealth wherein liberty should be secure 
 under the protection of law; wherein 
 the civil power should have no control 
 over the consciences of men. Something 
 of this would I lay before the impartial 
 reader; in justice to these men who so 
 labored that we might enter into their 
 labors and reap the ripe fruits thereof; 
 in justice also to ourselves, that we as 
 
 2* 
 
16 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 American citizens may not remain ig- 
 norant of this forgotten chapter in the 
 noble story of the beginnings of our 
 National life. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 17 
 
 II 
 
 SOURCKS OF INFOiniATION 
 
 The story of Samuell Gorton is in a 
 large part the narrative of the begin- 
 nings of the Commonwealth of Rhode 
 Island. If I mistake not, it also con- 
 stitutes an important and hitherto un- 
 recognized chapter in the history of the 
 beginnings of our National life. It is a 
 story but little known to the avei-age 
 American citizen. It has been briefly 
 told by John M. Mackie, in Sparks' 
 American Biography, and by Gov. Ar- 
 nold in his noble volumes of Rhode 
 Island History. Certain phases of it 
 have been discussed and amplified in 
 the interesting monographs of Judge 
 
18 SAMUELL GOBTON 
 
 Staples and Judge Bi'ayton.* William 
 D. Ely has thrown important light upon 
 some salient points in Grorton's history, 
 in reports published in the Proceedings 
 of the R. I. Historical Society.f Pal- 
 frey has touched it lightly and with 
 scant justice in his History of New 
 England, and Fiske, in his Beginnings 
 of New England, has given it inade- 
 quate treatment.;}; Other historians have 
 alluded to Samuell Gorton but to dis- 
 
 *Notea to "Simplicities Defence against Seven- 
 Headed Policie," by Judge W. E. Staples. [22. I. 
 Hist. Soc. Coll.] 
 
 Also "A Defence of Samuel Gorton,'' By George 
 A. Brayton, late Justice of the Supreme Court of 
 Rhode Island. [Providence: Sidneys. Rider.] 
 
 f Report on the Settlement of Warwick, 1642, and 
 the Seal of the R. I. Historical Society, by William D. 
 Ely and John P. Howland, (Proceedings, 1887-88,) and 
 Report of the Committee on the Library, (Proceedings, 
 1890.) 
 
 J Fuller's "History of Warwick " also contains some 
 sympathetic allusions to Gorton's story. The Hon. 
 William P. Sheffield, in an address before the R. I. 
 Historical Society (1893). does him less than justice. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 19 
 
 tort aud misrepresent his actions and 
 •opinions. 
 
 A mere rehash of the narratives of 
 JMackie, Arnold, and Brayton would be 
 unworthy of the attention of this learned 
 Society. To ignore their conscientious 
 ■efforts to do justice to the founder of 
 Warwick and co-worker with Roger 
 Williams in the building of a Common- 
 wealth dedicated to the principle of 
 Soul Liberty, would, on the other hand, 
 be unjust and impossible to one who 
 would rightly sketch the history and 
 estimate the ^\•ork of Samuell Gorton. 
 In the light of all that these just-minded 
 ■sons of Rhode Island have written upon 
 this subject, I have studied it anew and 
 independently, making use of all avail- 
 able printed material, and also of valu- 
 able unpublished manuscripts and town 
 records. I have arrived at certain con- 
 
20 SAMUELL GOBTON 
 
 elusions, quite unexpected when I com- 
 menced my investigations, concerning 
 Gorton's political and religious philoso- 
 phy, which, if correct, will modify pre- 
 viously received opinions of the man 
 and his work, and which seem to me 
 sufficiently vital and important to merit 
 the attention of all students of American 
 history. It is the main object of this 
 paper to set forth the substance of these 
 conclusions, with some reference to the 
 documentary evidence on which they are 
 based. For the instruction of those who 
 have not made this somewhat obscure 
 episode in Rhode Island history a spe- 
 cial subject of investigation, some ac- 
 count of the leading facts of Samuell 
 Gorton's career becomes a preliminary 
 necessity. 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 21 
 
 III 
 
 THE MAN AKD HIS WORK 
 
 Who was Samuell Gorton? What 
 part did he play in our Colonial his- 
 tory? These questions let us briefly 
 answer before we attempt a somewhat 
 careful study of his religious and politi- 
 cal opinions, about which there has been 
 so much misunderstanding. Samuell 
 Gorton was born in the parish of Gor- 
 ton, England, a few miles from the 
 present bustling city of Manchester,^ 
 about the year 1592.* He came of a 
 good family, "not entirely unknown," 
 
 *Mackie, et al. A letter of Gorton's seems to fix 
 this date with reasonable certainty as the year of his. 
 birth. 
 
22 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 saj^s Judge Bray ton, "to the heraldry of 
 England."* Here, as Gorton himself 
 declares, "the fathers of his body had 
 dwelt for generations." 
 
 We know but little about his early 
 life. Though he did not attend any of 
 the celebrated schools or universities of 
 England, his education seems to have^ 
 been carefully conducted by private tu- 
 tors.f As with many other students of' 
 his day, the Bible was his principal text- 
 book. He could read it in the original ;; 
 he was a master of both Greek and 
 Hebrew. And he brought to the read- 
 ing a vigorous intellect and a more orig- 
 inal and independent judgment than is. 
 commonly applied to theological studies.. 
 
 * A Defence of Samuel Gorton and the Settlers of 
 Shawomet, p. 5. 
 
 fin a letter to Nathaniel Morton, Gorton says: "I 
 was not bred up in the Schoole of humane learninge, 
 and I bless God that I never *as." 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 25 
 
 Samuell Gorton probably dwelt in 
 the vicinity of his birthplace until he 
 was about twenty-five years of age.* 
 Here he made the acf|uaintance of a 
 Separatist Elder, afterwards connected 
 with the church in Holland, -svhence 
 came the Mayflower Pilgrims. His mind 
 readily assimilated the spirit of the Pu- 
 ritan revolt against the degenerate for- 
 malism of the times; yet his Puritanism 
 was without taint of dogmatic narrow- 
 ness. He always retained an affection 
 for the church of his fathers. "I drew 
 my tenets," he says, "from the breasts 
 of my mother, the Church of England."f 
 In his early manhood he left Gorton 
 and went to seek his fortune in the great 
 
 * Vide Mackie, and others. Gorton himself refers to 
 his father as "a merchant of London," which would 
 possibly imply an earlier removal. 
 
 f Calendar's Historical Discourse, p. 9. I have not 
 yet found this letter of Gorton's in the original. 
 
24 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 English metropolis. In London he en- 
 gaged in business, and built for himself 
 a home. In a certain conveyance signed 
 during his residence there, he is de- 
 scribed as "Samuell Gorton, clothier," 
 and also as "Professor of the misteries 
 of Christ." Eeligion and daily occupa- 
 tion were never divorced in his con- 
 sciousness. He V70uld not make a trade 
 of the former, nor could he conduct the 
 latter on a plane inconsistent with those 
 moral and religious principles which 
 dominated his life. His business as a. 
 "clothier," in the phraseology of the 
 day, was that of a branch of manufac- 
 turing — the finishing of cloths after 
 weaving. It is doubtful whether he 
 met with great pecuniary rewards in 
 his chosen industry. His enemies after- 
 wards said that he left London in debt, 
 to avoid imprisonment threatened by his 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 25 
 
 creditors. Of this there is no valid evi- 
 dence; we may dismiss it on the author- 
 ity of his explicit denial* "I left my 
 native country," he said, " to enjoy liber- 
 tie of conscience in respect to faith 
 towards God, and for no other end." 
 
 Samuell Gorton arrived in Boston in 
 March, 1636-7.f A few months before, 
 Roger Williams had been banished from 
 Massachusetts Bay. The Colonial au- 
 thorities were now agitated by the 
 heresies of Anne Hutchinson and John 
 Wheelwright.;]: They, in turn, were 
 shortly compelled to seek other dwell- 
 ing places to secure opportunity for 
 free expression of opinion. Evidently, 
 
 * The fact that he subsequently returned and spent 
 some time in London, unmolested, also militates against 
 this charge. 
 
 1 1636, O. 8. 
 
 :j:The trial of Wheelwright was in progress when 
 Gorton arrived. 
 
26 SAMUBLL GOKTON 
 
 the liberty of conscience which Gorton 
 sought was not to be safely exercised 
 in Boston. He turned his steps toward 
 Plymouth, the home of the Separatist 
 Pilgrims, hoping there to find the goal 
 of his desires. In Plymouth he hired 
 for four years a part of the house of 
 Ealph Smith, formerly the minister of 
 the Plymouth church, of whom Roger 
 Williams for a brief time had been the 
 colleague. Here Gorton first met the 
 founder of Rhode Island, while on a 
 visit to his former home. Gorton dwelt 
 quietly in Plymouth* for a time, with 
 his family; his wife, Mary,f whom he 
 
 *UiMler date of June 7, 1637, his name appears on 
 the roll of a company of volunteers from Plymouth to 
 aid Massachusetts in the Pequot war. He probably 
 saw no service. 
 
 t An early tradition, the origin of which I have not 
 been able to trace, gives the name of Gorton's wife as 
 Elizabeth. In the New England Historical and Genea- 
 logical Register, (Vol. XLIVj however, there is a record 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 27 
 
 married in London, of whom lie says: 
 "She had been as tenderly brought up 
 as any man's wife then in town," his eld- 
 est son Samuell, a boy of six years when 
 
 of the bequest of Mary Mayplett, of London, widow, 
 on Dec. 7, 1646, to her daughter, '■ Mary Gorton, wife 
 of Samuell Gorton, being in New England," of "all 
 the money which her said husband Samuell doth owe 
 me, and a breed of cattle which he hath of mine." In 
 a later volume (XL VI), there is a record of the will of 
 "John Maplett, Doctor of Physicke, of the city of 
 Bath, Somerset," dated April 16, 1670, which contains 
 the following clause: "I give and bequeath unto my 
 dear sister, Mistress Mary Gorton, of New England, 
 the sum of 30s., and to each of her children I give the 
 sum of 10s. apiece." Dr. John Maplett, the brother- 
 in-law of Samuell Gorton, was eminent In letters as 
 well as in medicine, having been for a time the Princi- 
 pal of Worcester College. ( Vide Stevens's Cyc. of Nat. 
 Biography.) Samuell Gorton's oldest child was a 
 daughter named Mary, probably for her mother. His 
 youngest daughter was named Elizabeth, but the late 
 date of Dr. Maplett's bequest to his sister Mary pre- 
 cludes the idea of a second marriage. There appear 
 to have been at least two Instances in the later history 
 of the Gorton family of marriages between Samuells 
 and Elizabeths, and it is probably from this that the 
 confusion has arisen. I am indebted to Mr. Adelos 
 Gorton, of Philadelphia, for important facts bearing 
 on this question. 
 3* 
 
28 SAMUELL GOBTON 
 
 he left England, his daughter Mary, and 
 one or two other children ; and one Mrs. 
 Aldredge, a worthy woman, a widow, 
 and a servant of Mrs. Gorton's. 
 
 It was the latter member of his house- 
 hold who got him into trouble with the 
 Plj^mouth authorities. She committed 
 the unpardonable sin of smiling in meet- 
 ing, on what provocation we know not.* 
 Samuell Gorton defended her before 
 the magistrates, and advised her not 
 to appear in person to answer to their 
 charges, which were based upon no ex- 
 press allegations of the violation of law. 
 He vigorously denounced their action as 
 in opposition to those English prece- 
 dents which the customs of many gen- 
 erations had established for the legal 
 
 * Winslow afterwards vaguely accused her of "hav- 
 ing made some unworthy speeches and carriages." 
 ("Hypocrisy Unmasked"). 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 29 
 
 protection of persons nnjustly accused 
 of violations of the public peace. For 
 his alleged contumacy and mutinous be- 
 havior he -sv'as fined, held under bonds 
 to keep the peace, and sentenced to ban- 
 ishment from the Colony within fourteen 
 days.* 
 
 From Plymouth, he made his way to 
 Pocasset, the new settlement which the 
 followers of Anne Hutchinson had be- 
 gun on the island of Aquidneck, in 
 Narragansett Bay, where he arrived, 
 probably, some time in December, 1638. 
 The weather was cold and the journey 
 perilous. His wife, in delicate health, 
 had an infant at the breast, sick with 
 measles, which "struck in" under the 
 exposure, nearly causing its death. At 
 Pocasset Grorton's name appears as one 
 
 *For an account of Gorton's trial see Plymouth Col- 
 ony Records, Vol. I, pp. 100, 105, under date "5 Nov. 
 1638." 
 
■30 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 of four out of fifty-nine freeholders to 
 whicli the title of "Mr." is prefixed, 
 then an indication of social position and 
 gentle birth.* The government of Po- 
 casset was at first theocratic, a judge 
 and five elders constituting its magis- 
 trates, who were bound to execute jus- 
 tice "according to the laws of God." 
 A majority of the community desired a 
 more democratic form of government; 
 and Coddington, the judge (afterwards 
 Governor of the united Colony), with 
 the elders, and a few other free-holders, 
 emigrated to the southern end of the 
 island, where they founded the town of 
 Newport.f The remaining free-holders, 
 
 * Vide Portsmoutli Records, under date " Aprill the 
 30th, 1639." 
 
 t April 38, 1639, William Coddington was Governor, 
 under the Royal Charter, from May, 1674, to May, 
 1676, and from Aug. 28, 1678, to Nov. 1 of the same 
 year, dying in office. 
 
SAMUELL GOKTON 31 
 
 including Samuell Gorton, tlius forsaken 
 by their magistrates, instituted a new 
 town government, and changed the name 
 of the settlement to Portsmouth. This 
 occurred in the spring of 1639. A year 
 later,* the two settlements were united 
 under one government for the transaction 
 of affairs of common interest, and the 
 influence of Coddington and the New- 
 port magistrates became potent through- 
 out the island. Gorton and his friends 
 regarded this coalition as irregular and 
 illegally constituted. It seems never to 
 have been sanctioned l;y a majority of 
 the free-holders. He appears to have 
 declined to admit allegiance to it, and to 
 have permitted his citizenship to lapse, 
 though still retaining his residence. 
 It was not long before he became 
 
 ♦March 13, 1640. 
 
32 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 involved with the Portsmoutli authori- 
 ties in a controversy concerning an al- 
 leged assault of his servant on a woman 
 who had trespassed on his land in pur- 
 suit of a cow which was also a trespasser. 
 Gorton again defended his servant, and 
 denied the legal constitution and juris- 
 diction of the court. "They did not 
 have the choice of the people," he says, 
 "but set up for themselves. I know not 
 ^ny more that was present in their crea- 
 tion but the clergieman who blessed 
 them in their inauguration." His lan- 
 guage was doubtless vigorous and not 
 wholly parliamentary.* His keen sense 
 of justice was outraged by the proceed- 
 ing, and his sympathetic nature led him 
 to severe retorts upon a witness who, in 
 
 ■*He is said to have characterized the magistrates as 
 "just asses," and to have called one of the witnesses 
 a "iack-an-apes." (See charges in Portsmouth Re- 
 ■cords). This occurred in August, 1640. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 35 
 
 Ms opinion, swore falsely, and the mag- 
 istrates who were biased in favor of the 
 prosecution. For his alleged mutinous, 
 behavior he was imprisoned and again 
 sentenced to banishment. His enemies- 
 say that he was also whipped,* but the 
 Portsmoiith records, which are explicit 
 in reciting the charges and the other pen- 
 alties, make no mention of this infliction. 
 There is evidence, also, that he had many 
 friends and sympathizers in the settle- 
 ment. One of these, John Wickes, for 
 refusing to testify and denying the legal- 
 ity and jurisdiction of the court, was 
 placed in the stocks, and with four others 
 was banished and disfranchised.f 
 
 *So Leckford (1641), Winthrop and Morton. Judge 
 Staples questions this. Gorton himself refers to "fines, 
 whippings and banishments out of their jurisdiction," 
 suffered by himself and friends. (Simplicities Defence). 
 See also Edward Winslow's " Sypocrisie Unmasked." 
 
 ^ For charges against Gorton see Portsmouth Town 
 Records. There, also, under date "Mch. 16, 1643," is 
 
34 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 The little circle of congenial and inde 
 pendent souls was growing under perse- 
 cution. From Portsmouth they pressed 
 on to Providence, and though apparently 
 seeking to avoid rather than to encourage 
 controversy, -they soon became involved 
 in disputes which had already divided 
 that settlement into two parties.;]; I 
 shall not enter into the merits of this 
 controversy, which involved civil and 
 not religious qiiestions. As in Ports- 
 mouth, Gorton denied the legality of 
 the self-constituted town government, 
 and held that justice could not be main- 
 tained until the law was administered 
 
 a record of the banishment and disfranchisement of 
 Wickes, Carder. Holden, Shotten and Potter ; an action 
 practically reversed on the 19th of the following Sep- 
 tember. (Portsmouth Records). They had already left 
 Portsmouth before their official banishment. 
 
 JThere is reference to these controversies in Provi- 
 dence Records under date Nov. 17, 1641, in which 
 Gorton's name is mentioned. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 35 
 
 under authority delegated by the Mother 
 Country. He was as anxious as any 
 for liberty, but he would have liberty 
 protected by law. As an Englishman, 
 dwelling in a community of English- 
 men, he claimed the protection of those 
 principles of law and equity, which, 
 since Magna Charta, had been thrown 
 around all British citizens. For a time 
 his vigorous maintenance of this doctrine 
 brought him in conflict even with Roger 
 Williams, who, Winthrop says, accused 
 Gorton of "bewitching and bemadding 
 poor Providence " with his new and rad- 
 ical opinions.* 
 
 Gorton and his friends purchased land 
 and commenced a settlement at Popa- 
 quinepaug, or Pawtuxet, within the 
 jurisdiction of Providence; but certain 
 
 * There are strong reasons for questioning the au- 
 thenticity of this letter. 
 
36 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 of his enemies wlio owned adjoining 
 property determined to pre^^ent his 
 peaceful occupancy. William Arnold 
 and a few others, to insure his expul- 
 sion, gave in their allegiance to Massa- 
 chusetts, and called on the government 
 of that Colony to remove the intruders. 
 This, howevei', is by no means to be 
 regarded as an official action of the 
 town of Providence, or as in accordance 
 with the desires of a majority of her 
 citizens. It is probable, in fact, that a 
 majority were sympathizers with Gor- 
 ton.* Nevertheless, not from mere pu- 
 sillanimity, but out of a desire for peace, 
 and a disinclination to embroil Provi- 
 dence with her more powerful neighbor, 
 the Gortonists moved on, beyond the 
 
 *This is admitted by Knowles, the biographer of 
 Roger Williams. Arnold, certainly, had few sympa- 
 thizers. None of the five "Disposers" of the town 
 took part in this action. 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 37 
 
 jurisdiction either of Providence Plan- 
 tations or of Massachusetts. Gorton 
 purchased of Miantonomi, head sachem 
 of the Narragansetts, and of Pomham 
 and Soccononocco, under-sachems claim- 
 ing local jurisdiction, a tract of land 
 south of Pawtuxet and west of Narra- 
 gansett Bay, then known by the Indian 
 name of Shawomet.* 
 
 *The first deed of land beyond the Pawtuxet was 
 made to John Greene, Oct. 1, 1642, aud signed by 
 Miantonomi and Soccononocco. The deed to Samuell 
 Gorton find others, of the Shawomet lands bears date 
 on the 12th of the following January (1643, O. S.). 
 
38 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 IV 
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES AT SIIAWOMET 
 
 Not yet, however, were the harassed 
 Gortonists to be secure in their posses- 
 sions. Pomham and Soccononocco were 
 induced by the enemies of Gorton to 
 repudiate their signatures to the deed 
 of Miantonomi. They made their sub- 
 mission to the government of Massachu- 
 setts and begged its aid to expel the 
 Gortonists from Shawomet.* There are 
 some reasons to believe that this action 
 ■was not altogether disconnected from a 
 possibly more remunerative offer made 
 them by the Atherton Company, an 
 
 *The submission of Pomliam and Soccononocco to 
 Massachusetts bears date "June 22nd, 1643." 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 39 
 
 organization wliicli had been formed by 
 the astnte Commissioners of the New 
 England Confederation, for the purchase 
 and sale of Indian lands.* 
 
 Gorton and his companions were sum- 
 moned to Boston to make answer to 
 Pomham's claim.f Denying the juris- 
 diction of Massachusetts, in a spicy 
 correspondence, Gorton refused to obey 
 the summons. Increase Nowell, Secre- 
 tary of the Colony, and the Boston 
 Elders, discovered no less than twenty- 
 six instances of blasphemy, "or there- 
 abouts," in the terms of Gorton's epistle. 
 The Gortonists were warned that if they 
 continued contumacious they would be 
 regarded as "fitted for the slaughter," ;f 
 
 * Vide " Narraganaetl Historical Register," Vol. I, 
 pp. 16, 17, et seq. 
 tSept. 12, 1643. 
 
 ^: Reply of Nowell and the Boston authorities to 
 Gorton, vide "Simplicities Defence." 
 
 4* 
 
40 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 and would be peremptorily dealt with 
 by force of arms. A company of twenty 
 wbite men and an equal number of In- 
 dians, under the command of Captain 
 Cook, was dispatched to seize them and 
 bring them to Boston for trial. On 
 their approach, the Gortonists sent their 
 women and children across the baj', 
 retired to their block-house on Conimicut 
 Point, and awaited the invading force of 
 the enemy. A company of peace-makers 
 from Providence* demanded a parley, 
 and proposed the arbitration of the mat- 
 ters in dispute, to prevent the shedding 
 of blood. The Gortonists appealed to 
 the King and were willing to arbitrate, 
 but the proposition was sternly rejected 
 
 *"A11 ministers of the Gospel." (Brayton.) The 
 Providence men were Chad. Brown, Thomas OIney, 
 William Field and William Wickenden. Sheffield says 
 "Brown and Wickenden afterwards became clergy- 
 men.'' {Samuell Oorton, p. 45). 
 
SAMUEIi GORTON 41 
 
 by Gov. Winthrop. "You may do well 
 to take notice," he said, "that besides 
 the title to land between the English 
 and the Indians there, there are twelve 
 ■of the English that have subscribed 
 their names to horrible and detestable 
 blasphemies, who are rather to be jiidged 
 as blasphemous than they should delude 
 us by winning time under pretence of 
 arbitration." 
 
 The Gortonists stood siege for a day 
 and a night,* and repelled the attempt 
 of the men of Massachusetts and their 
 savage allies to set tire to the block- 
 house; then, to save bloodshed, under 
 promise that they would be treated as 
 neighbors, and that their claims would 
 be submitted to fair judgment in Massa- 
 chusetts, they surrendered to superior 
 
 * Sheffield says " for several days." (Address before 
 R. I. Historical Society, February, 1893). 
 
■42 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 force, and were taken to Boston for 
 trial.* They speedily found, however, 
 that they were regarded as prisoners 
 and not as "friends and neighbors" 
 seeking a just and amicable settlement 
 of civil disagreements. The soldiers, 
 Gorton says, were ordered to knock 
 down any one who should utter a word 
 of insolence, and to run any one through 
 who might step aside from the line of 
 advance. When they arrived in Boston, 
 "the chaplain (of their captors) went 
 to prayers in the open streets, that the 
 people might take notice that what they 
 had done was done in a holy manner, 
 and in the name of the Lord."f 
 
 *The invaders also took acd sold eighty head of 
 cattle belonging to Gorton and his friends. 
 
 f A full account of this contest, with statements of 
 both parties, appears in Gorton's "Simplicities De- 
 fence," (first ed.., London, Aug. 3, 1646.) See also 
 Winslow's " Hypocriaie Unmasked." 
 
SAMUELL GOBTON 43 
 
 There was no pretence of a judicial 
 ■consideration of their rights as settlers 
 at Shawomet. They were regarded as 
 criminal oflEenders, and were examined 
 and convicted on the charge of blas- 
 phemy. Gorton was placed on trial for 
 his life before the General Court and 
 Convocation of Elders. Four queries, 
 referring to statements in his vigorous 
 rejoinder to the summons of the Massa- 
 chusetts authorities, were propounded, 
 and upon his replies the decision of the 
 Court was to be rendered:* 
 
 "1. Whether the Fathers, who died 
 before Christ ^vas born of the Virgin 
 Mary, were justified and saved only 
 by the blood which hee shed, and the 
 death which hee suffered after his in- 
 <;arnation ? 
 
 * Gorton was at first ordered to formulate his answers 
 " wilhi II fifteen minutes," "but on appeal was given until 
 the next mo-rning. 
 
44 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 "2. Whether the ouly price of our 
 redemption were not the death of Christ 
 on the cross, with the rest of his suffer- 
 ings and obediences, in the time of his 
 life here, after hee was born of the 
 Virgin Mary? 
 
 "3. Who was the God whom hee 
 thinks wee serve? 
 
 " 4. What hee means when hee saith, 
 wee worship the starre of our God 
 Remphan, Chion, Moloch?" 
 
 The latter question may well have 
 piqued the curiosity of the elders. The 
 others were evidently framed to secure 
 conviction. His replies were as wise 
 and conciliatory as perfect sincerity 
 would admit, but it was foreordained 
 that they should be unsatisfactory to 
 his judges. All but three of the elders 
 voted for the penalty of death. The 
 Tepresentatives of the people, however, 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 45 
 
 to tte honor of Massacliusetts, refused 
 to assent to this verdict*. Gorton suf- 
 fered imprisonment in Charlestown, with 
 a ball and chain attached to his ankle; 
 the other accused persons" were incar- 
 cerated in irons in other towns of the- 
 Colony. The next General Court, some 
 months later, set them at liberty,f but 
 banished them from all places within 
 the jurisdiction of Massachusetts — the 
 intention being to include the disputed 
 territory a,t Shawomet, which Massa- 
 chusetts claimed under the deed of 
 Pomham. 
 
 As they went forth from their prison 
 houses, the Gortonists recited their 
 wrongs in the public streets in Boston 
 and elsewhere to crowds of willing lis- 
 
 *By two majority ! 
 
 f Gorton was taken to Boston as ' ' prisoner of war, " 
 Oct. 13, 1643. He was sentenced Nov. 8, 1643; re- 
 leased Mch. 7, 1643-44 (1643, O. S.). 
 
46 SAMUELL GOBTON 
 
 teners and ready sympathizers. Palfrey 
 admits that a majority of the people in- 
 Massachusetts were to be counted in 
 this category.* The sufferings of these 
 martyrs were the seeds of a new Com- 
 monwealth, from which the persecuting 
 spirit was at last eliminated. The Indi- 
 ans, also, even in the vicinity of Boston, 
 received them gladly. Cutshamekin, the- 
 chief sachem of the neighborhood, to 
 whose wigwam the liberated men acci- 
 dentally strayed, when asked by Gorton 
 whether Capt. Cook, the commander of 
 their captors, was a good captain, re- 
 plied, "I can not tell; but the Indians 
 regard those as good captains when a. 
 few stand out against many." 
 
 Their chief grievance during imprison- 
 ment seems to have been that they were 
 compelled to attend the Sunday services- 
 
 * History of Ne-w England, Vol. I. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 47 
 
 in the churclies, and be "preached at" by 
 the Puritan ministers. "They brought 
 us forth unto their congregations to hear 
 their ministers," says Gorton, with a 
 gi'im humor, illuminated by some knowl- 
 edge of natural history, "which was 
 meat to be digested, but only by the 
 hearte or stomacke of an ostrich."* 
 Pastor Ward, of Ipswich, who visited 
 one of them — Richard Carder, an old 
 neighbor of his in England — while in 
 prison, and urged him to recant his here- 
 sies, said by way of encouragement, " it 
 shall be no disparagement to you, for 
 here is our revered elder, Mr. Cotton^ 
 who ordinarily preacheth that publickely 
 one yeare, that the next yeare hee pub- 
 lickely repents of, and shows him selfe 
 to bee very sorrowful to the congrega- 
 
 * Bimplidtiea Defence against Seven Headed Polide. 
 5 
 
48 SAMUELL GOET^N 
 
 tion."* As his sly dig at Mr. Cotton 
 would indicate, Pastor Ward was en- 
 tirely sound in his own theology. This 
 appears also in his " Simple Cobbler of 
 Agawam," where, with a spicy use of 
 capitals, and vigorous if not elegant 
 English, he denounces the brains of 
 those who advocate "Libertie of Con- 
 science in matters of Religion," as " par- 
 boiled in impious ignorance." 
 
 *The reference is to Mr. Cotton's championship of 
 Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomian heresy. 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 49 
 
 SHAWOMET BECOMES WARWICK 
 
 After his release, in the spring of 
 1643-44, Gorton returned through Sha- 
 woniet, where he was forbidden to lin- 
 ger, to Portsmouth, where he and his 
 friends were received with open arms, 
 and where he was shortly elected to a 
 magistracy on the very scene of his 
 former persecutions. 
 
 Thus far the Atherton Company ap- 
 peared to have made substantial pro- 
 gress in its efforts to obtain possession of 
 the Shawomet lands, and Massachusetts 
 seemed likely to succeed in throwing a 
 girdle of unfriendly possessions around 
 the Providence Plantations, thereby sep- 
 
50 SAMUELL GOKTON 
 
 arating them from the Aquidneck settle- 
 ments, and securing a permanent control 
 over Narragansett Bay. By the submis- 
 sion of Arnold and the malcontents of 
 Providence, they had obtained a show 
 of authority over the Pawtuxet or Pop- 
 aquinepang territory. Winthrop had 
 secured possession of Prudence Island 
 in Narragansett Bay by purchasing the. 
 half originally ovpned by Koger Wil- 
 liams,* and nov^r with a marvellous in- 
 consistency, held the whole by a title 
 derived solely from Miantonomi, the 
 chief sachem of the Narragansetts. If 
 he could maintain his denial of the 
 rights of Gorton to the Shawomet lands 
 claimed by even a stronger title, he 
 
 * Williams probably sold his half of Prudence to 
 obtain money to pay his expenses to England, when 
 he went to make application for a charter. The pur- 
 chase was in the name of a friend and co-partner of 
 Winthrop, one Parker, a merchant of Boston. 
 
SAMDELL GORTON 51 
 
 would succeed in Ms efforts to divide 
 the Narragansett settlements and estab- 
 lish the claims of Massachusetts. With 
 this end in view, the Massachusetts 
 authorities built a block-house for Pom- 
 ham on Warwick Neck, and temporarily 
 succeeded in excluding the Gortonists 
 from their Shawomet possessions. 
 
 Gorton, however, was not idle. He 
 had no thought of permanently relin- 
 quishing the claim for which he had 
 contended so bravely, and to which he 
 was justly entitled. Within forty days 
 of his release from prison, by a masterly 
 piece of strategy and statesmanship, he 
 inaugurated measures which completely 
 check-mated his opponents, and gave 
 him a permanent advantage in the con- 
 test for supremacy. On the 19 th of 
 April, 1644, by the earnest advice and 
 solicitation of Gorton, the Narragansett 
 
 5* 
 
52 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 Indians, in solemn conclave, constituted 
 their " trusty and well-beloved friends," 
 Samuell Gorton, John Wickes, Kandall 
 Holden and John Warner, commission- 
 ers to convey their submission to the 
 British Government. The deed of sub- 
 mission, signed by the sachems Pessicus, 
 Conanicus, Mixan, Awoshosse and Tom- 
 anick, is preserved in the Historical 
 Cabinet at Providence. The tragical 
 death of the head sachem, Miantonomi, 
 in the previous September, at the hands 
 of his bitter enemies, the Mohegans, 
 with the consent of the Boston elders — 
 a story so well told by Dr. Fiske in his 
 "Beginnings of New England" that I 
 need not repeat it here, — as well as the 
 revolt of Pomham and Soccononocco, 
 were powerful arguments with the Nar- 
 ragansetts in favor of seeking the protec- 
 tion of the British Government; while 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 53 
 
 the return of Grorton and his compan- 
 ions, unscathed, from the prisons of 
 Massachusetts, convinced the Narragan- 
 aetts that the power of the Mother 
 Country was on their side, and had 
 stood between them and their oppres- 
 sors. 
 
 In August, 1645, the Commissioners 
 of the United Colonies, in session in 
 Boston, declared war against the Narra- 
 gansetts, and dispatched a military force 
 to Rhode Island ; at the same time warn- 
 ing the General Assembly of Providence 
 Plantations, then in session at Newport, 
 that if they adhered to their declared 
 determination of maintaining a position 
 of neutrality they would be regarded 
 as enemies. They also forbade them 
 to exercise the powers of government 
 under the charter obtained by Roger 
 Williams. 
 
■54 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 In response to this threatening action 
 of "the Massachusetts," Gorton, Greene 
 and Holden set sail, after vexatious 
 delays, under authority of Providence 
 Plantations, from the Dutch settlement 
 at Manhattan for Holland, whence, after 
 more delay, they obtained transportation 
 to England. The exact time of their 
 arrival at London is unknown, but they 
 had been preceded by the agents of 
 Massachusetts, and were compelled to 
 meet the charges already formulated by 
 their enemies. Their answer, prepared 
 by Gorton in "Simplicities Defence," 
 was published in London on the 3d of 
 August, 1646. Soon after,* a patent 
 was issued to Gorton and his colleagues 
 which granted the Shawomet lands to 
 
 *The date ordinarily assigned to this patent, "Aug. 
 19, 1644," must be erroneous. It was probably granted 
 two years later, when Gorton was in England. 
 
SAMUBIJj GORTON 55 
 
 them and their successors forever, and 
 guaranteed them protection against all 
 other claimants. In the troublous times 
 between the King and Parliament' the 
 formal submission of the Narragansetts 
 which Gorton had conveyed to England, 
 could not be delivered to King Charles 
 in person, and Gorton accordingly caused 
 it to be published in London. By this 
 admirable piece of strategy and states- 
 manship he forever blocked the move- 
 ments of Massachusetts Bay for the 
 control of the Narragansett country. 
 Gorton received safe-condnct from the 
 Earl of Warwick, on his return, through 
 the domains of the enemy.* 
 
 *Tiie manner in which the authorities of Massachu- 
 setts Bay recognized tliis safe-conduct was character- 
 istic. Under date of " 13th May, 1648," the following 
 entry appears in the Colonial Records : ' ' Vppon the 
 request of the Earle of Warwicke, the Court allowes 
 Samuell Gorton, now a shipboard, one full weeke after 
 the .date hereof, for the transportatio of himselfe & 
 
■56 SAMUELL GOKTON 
 
 Roger Williams, who had finally ac- 
 cepted Gorton's theory of the true 
 foundations of the new government, 
 had preceded him to England, and on 
 the Uth of March, 1643-44, had ob- 
 tained a charter for the Colony which 
 united the northern and southern towns 
 in one Commonwealth. Owing to the 
 opposition of the Coddington faction, 
 government was not completely organ- 
 ized under this charter until May, 1647.t 
 In the same year, town government was 
 organized at Shawomet, the Town, in 
 honor of its patron, receiving the name 
 
 Ms goods tlirougli or iurisdictio to the place of his 
 dwelling, he demeaning himselfe inoffensively, accord- 
 inge to the contents of the Sd carle's I're, & that the 
 marshals or some of them shall shew him a coppie of 
 this order, or fix it to the maine mast of the shippe in 
 which he is." — Mass. Records, Vol. Ill, p. 1S7. 
 
 f Warwick was not named in the Charter, as the 
 town was not organized when it was granted ; but it 
 united with the other towns in 1647, in the first Gen- 
 eral Assembly of the entire Colony. 
 
SAMTJELL GORTON 57 
 
 of Warwick. Some further futile at- 
 tempts were made by Massachusetts to 
 enforce her claims, but the Gortonists 
 thereafter retained possession, which 
 gave them "nine points of the law," 
 and finally complete victory. Pomham, 
 for whom Massachusetts had erected a 
 block-house on Warwick Neck, lingered 
 in the neighborhood a few years, but at 
 last saw that the "Gortonoges" had 
 triumphed in their long contest with 
 the " Wattaconoges," * and in 1665 sold 
 out his dishonored claim for £30 in 
 peage,f paid him by Gorton and his 
 
 * These were the names given the contesting parties 
 of white men by the Indians. The latter, Eoger Wil- 
 liams says, means "coat wearers," which leads Dr. 
 Fiske to query whether the Gortonists habitually went 
 in their shirt sleeves ! 
 
 fPeage, or wampum, was legal tender in Rhode 
 Island until 1662, and doubtless still passed current 
 among the Indians. The bill of sale bears the name of 
 Pomham's son, but in its terms binds Pomham as well 
 as his heirs. 
 
58 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 associates. The new Commonwealtb 
 was fairly launched upon the sea of 
 Histoiy; the town of Warwick and its 
 founder were to play an honorable part 
 in the story of its beginnings. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 59- 
 
 VI 
 
 SAMUELL GOETOn's LATEE CAREER 
 
 During the succeeding quarter of a 
 century Samuell Gorton was active and 
 influential in shaping the destinies of 
 the growing State. He occupied the 
 highest places of honor and responsi- 
 bility at the gift of his fellow-citizens, 
 and was habitually called into service 
 when sound judgment, prompt and 
 courageous action, and literary ability 
 were requisite. He represented Ports- 
 mouth in the Assembly at Nevrport in 
 1645. He was chosen one of the Com- 
 missioners of the town of Warwick to 
 the General Assembly on his return 
 
60 SAMUEUi GOBTON 
 
 from England, and served therein a 
 greater part of the time for the next 
 two or three decades. He was placed 
 on the most important committees, and 
 his pen was frequently called into requi- 
 sition to prepare State papers, and letters 
 to the magistrates of other Colonies, and 
 to the representatives of the new Com- 
 monwealth in England. Though absent 
 in the Mother Country during the first 
 year of Colonial Government under the 
 charter of 1643-44, his political views 
 were embodied in the remarkable Code 
 of 1647, passed by the first General 
 Assembly of the United Colony, one of 
 the earliest compilations of law in Amer- 
 ican history. In the construction of this 
 Code, care was taken to avoid the errors 
 of which Gorton had complained, in the 
 judicial procedure of the other Colonies, 
 by making each section conform to exist- 
 
SAMTJEU; GORTON 61 
 
 ing English law,* reference to the cor- 
 responding English statute being placed 
 at the end thereof.f 
 
 The provision respecting witchcraft is 
 especially noteworthy as indicating a 
 prevailing scepticism in Rhode Island at 
 a time when Massachusetts was under 
 the spell of the delusion, soon to break 
 forth in an appalling epidemic of perse- 
 cution. The object of its introduction 
 is evidently the set purpose of conform- 
 ing to English precedents rather than a 
 conviction of the legislators that the 
 statute was demanded by any real pub- 
 lic necessity. The section reads : 
 
 *The Charter of 1643-44 provided "that the laws, 
 constitutions, punishments for the civil government 
 of the said Plantation be conformable to the laws of 
 England so far as the nature and constitution of that 
 place would admit." 
 
 f Gorton's legal acquirements were evidently supe- 
 rior to those of any other man in the Colony. He was 
 one of the first Judges of the Colony. 
 
62 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 "Witchcraft is forbidden by this pres- 
 ent Assembly to be used in this Colonic; 
 and the Penaltie imposed by the auihori- 
 tie that wee are subjected to, is felanie of 
 death.— I Jac. 12."* The Code of 1647 
 also forbade imprisonment for debt, and 
 is otherwise in advance of most contem- 
 porary legislation. The temper of the 
 Colony on the subject of witchcraft is 
 still further evidenced in the testimony 
 of their opponents,f who complained in 
 an anonymous letter addressed to the 
 agent of Massachusetts in England a few 
 years later, that the new government was 
 ignoring the English law. This epistle 
 especially stigmatized "some of them at 
 Shawomet that cryeth out much against 
 them that putteth people to death for 
 witches, for they say there be no other 
 
 * Historical Records, Vol. I, p. 166. 
 
 f William Arnold and the Pawtuxet malcontents. 
 
SAMUELL GOBTON 63 
 
 witches upon earth, nor devils, but your 
 own pasters and ministers, such as they 
 are."* There was apparently never a 
 prosecution in Rhode Island under the 
 statute against witchcraft. 
 
 Samuell Gorton's literary style is clear- 
 ly evident in the remarkable statute 
 against negro slavery, passed by the 
 General Assembly in 1652 — the first 
 legislative edict of emancipation ever 
 adopted in America. This statute was 
 passed during the Coddington secession 
 of 1651-54, and consequently voices of- 
 ficially only the sentiment of Providence 
 and "Warwick, Roger Williams was in 
 England at the time of its passage, and 
 there can be little doubt that Samuell 
 Gorton was its author and principal 
 advocate. Though it subsequently be- 
 
 * Hazard's State Papers, p. 555. Quoted in E. I. 
 Colonial Records, Vol. I, p. 235. 
 6* 
 
64 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 came a dead letter, it was apparently 
 never repealed, and merits perpetuation 
 in the annals of the anti-slavery conflict. 
 It reads as follows: 
 
 " Whereas there is a comon course 
 practised amongst English men to buy 
 negers, to the end that they may have 
 them for service or slaves forever; for 
 the preventinge of such practices among 
 us, let it bee ordered, that no blacke 
 mankinde or white, being forced by 
 covenant bond or otherwise, to serve 
 any man or his assigns longer than ten 
 yeares, or untill they come to bee twen- 
 tie four yeares of age if they bee taken 
 in under fourteen, from the time of their 
 cominge within the liberties of this Col- 
 lonie. And at the end or terme of ten 
 yeares to sett them free as the manner is 
 with the English servants. And that 
 man that will not let them goe free, or 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 65 
 
 shall sell them away elsewhere to that 
 end that they may bee enslaved to others 
 for a long time, hee or they shall forfeit 
 to the Colonie forty pounds." * 
 
 Samuell Grorton was elected General 
 Assistant, a position corresponding with 
 that of Lieutenant Governor, in 1649, 
 and in 1651, during the Coddington 
 secession, he was chosen to the highest 
 position at the gift of the Common- 
 wealth — he became its President. Diir- 
 ing the following year, he was Moderator 
 or Speaker of the General Assembly, 
 and he several times subsequently served 
 as General Assistant. He was also ac- 
 tive in the affairs of the Town of War- 
 wick, being for many years a member of 
 the Town Council, and holding other 
 positions of honor and responsibility. 
 "After the venerable founder of Provi- 
 
 * Colonial Records (May 19, 1652). 
 
"66 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 dence," says his biogi-aplier,* "no man 
 was more instrumental in establishing 
 the foundations of equal civil rights and 
 ■* soul liberty ' in Rhode Island than Sam- 
 uell Gorton." He was especially active in 
 assuring the protection of the Colony for 
 the persecuted Quakers.f He sent them 
 messages of sympathy when they were in 
 prison in Massachusetts, and was author- 
 ized by the General Assembly to reply 
 to the epistles of the Massachusetts au- 
 thorities protesting against their finding 
 an asylum in Rhode Island. When Mas- 
 sachusetts appealed to England, Samuell 
 Gorton was designated to prepare a letter 
 on behalf of the Rhode Island Govern- 
 ment to John Clarke, the representative 
 
 *JohnM. Mackie. 
 
 \Vide "Certain Letters which Passed between the 
 Penman of this Treatise and certain men newly come 
 out of Old England into New." By Samuell Gorton. 
 
SAMUELL GOKTON 67 
 
 of the Colony in the Mother Country, 
 to be presented to the Lord Protector, 
 Oliver Cromwell. He requests Clarke 
 *'to plead our case in such sorte as wee 
 may not bee compelled to exercise any 
 civill power over men's consciences, so 
 long as humane orders in poynt of civil- 
 ity are not corrupted and voyalated, 
 which our neighbors aboute us doe fre- 
 quently practise, whereof many of us 
 have large experience, and doe judge it 
 to bee no less than a poynt of absolute 
 crueltie."* 
 
 On the collapse of the Puritan Com- 
 monwealth in England, Samuell Gorton 
 was appointed on a Committee to select 
 agents of the Colony in England, and 
 prepare an address to his Majesty, King 
 Charles the Second.f As a result of 
 
 * Colonial Records, 1658. 
 fibid, 1665. 
 
68 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 this action, and of the wise intercession 
 of John Clarke, then representing the 
 Colony in England, the Charter of 1663 
 was secured, in which Samuell Gorton 
 was named as one of the incorporators 
 of the new Commonwealth. In 1663 
 he was also appointed by the Town 
 Council "overseer" of the will of John 
 Smith, Deputy from Warwick, under the 
 curious provision by which the towns in 
 Rhode Island made vnlls for persons 
 ■dying intestate, dividing their property 
 according to the communal sense of jus- 
 tice. In 1666, after the purchase of 
 Pomham's claim, Mr. Gorton was as- 
 signed ten shares in Warwick Neck, 
 ^nd was still further recognized in 
 a,nother division in the following year.* 
 In 1675, during the storm and stress of 
 King Philip's war, tradition says that 
 
 * Records of the Town of Warwick (unpublislied). 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 69^ 
 
 Samuell Gorton's life was saved by 
 friendly Indians, who rowed him across 
 the Bay to a place of safety. He was. 
 always on amicable terms with the 
 aborigines, treating them justly, teach- 
 ing and exhorting in their settlements, 
 and msely advising them in various 
 emergencies. 
 
 Warwick suffered severely in the con- 
 test with King Philip, which would 
 doubtless have been prevented had the 
 policy of Roger Williams and Samuell 
 Gorton in dealing with the Indians been 
 generally adopted. The town Avas de- 
 populated, the houses and barns ^vere 
 burned, and the cattle driven into the 
 wilderness. A pitched battle was fought 
 in an open cedar swamp in Warwick 
 between the Indians under Canonchet 
 and a company of men from Plymouth.* 
 
 * Greene's Short History of Rhode Island, p. 76. 
 
70 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 Many of the colonists took refuge orn 
 Aquidneck, the waters around which 
 were patrolled night and day by a flotilla, 
 of four boats, filled with armed men. 
 
 Judge Staples tells us that John 
 Wickes, the friend and colleague of 
 Samuell Gorton, trusting too implicitly 
 to the friendship of the savages, remained 
 and was slain; his head being set upon 
 a pole as a warning to others. In this 
 he must be mistaken, however, since the 
 will of John Wickes, dated the second 
 day of March, 1688, and signed by him- 
 self, though written and witnessed by 
 8amuell Gorton, the younger, may be 
 seen to-day in the library of the 
 Historical Society in Providence. Thisi 
 interesting document also contains the 
 signatures of two others of the founders 
 of Warwick, — Randall Holden, the jus- 
 tice before whom it was proved, and 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 71 
 
 John Greene, who signs in behalf of 
 himself and the other members of the 
 Town Council. 
 
 On the fourth day of June, 1677, 
 probably the year of his death, Samuell 
 Gorton, Senior, was elected "to the 
 Towne Counsell for the ensuing yeare," 
 as the ancient records tell us, and his 
 son, Capt. Samuell Gorton, was at the 
 same time chosen Town Treasurer. On 
 the 20th of July the father signed a 
 deed of lands owned by him in the Nar- 
 ragansett Country to his sons, his six 
 daughters and their husbands also being 
 remembered in the disposition of this 
 property; and on the 27th of November 
 of the same year, by another deed, he di- 
 vided his entire remaining estate among 
 his three sons, Samuell, John and Ben- 
 jamin.* To the former, who was evi- 
 
 * Unpublished Town Records. 
 
 7 
 
72 SAMUELL GOKTON 
 
 dently a man after his own heart, and 
 who had aided in supporting the family, 
 he gave his homestead at Old Warwick, 
 his household furniture, library and most 
 precious literary possessions. He also 
 committed to him the care of his mother 
 during her widow-hood, providing that 
 she should be maintained with conven- 
 ient housing and necessaries, and that 
 means should be furnished for her "rec- 
 reation in case she desires to visit her 
 friends."* His lands at Coweset, be- 
 yond the boundaries of the Shawomet 
 grant, he gave in equal possession, undi- 
 vided, to his three sons. The document 
 attesting the final division of these lands 
 by the surviving sons, Samuell and John, 
 bears date on the town records, Dec. 4, 
 
 * Yide Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Ehode 
 Island. See, also, unpublished Town Records of War- 
 wick. 
 
8AMUELL GOETON 73 
 
 1699, being executed, as it says, "accord- 
 ing to the expressed wish of our Ancient 
 and Honored fEather, Mr. Samuell Gor- 
 ton, one of the first settlers of this Plan- 
 tation of Warwick in New England." 
 His son Benjamin, then deceased, had 
 been one of the founders of the new 
 town of East Greenwich, the organiza- 
 tion of which dates from the year of 
 the original bequest. 
 
74 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 VII 
 
 SAMUELL Gorton's political philosophy 
 
 The enemies of Samuell Gorton 
 charged that he was a practical an- 
 archist — a denier of all governmental 
 authority. As the indictment of the 
 Massachusetts magistrates reads : " Upon 
 much examination & serious considera- 
 tion of yo' writings, & with yo' answers 
 about them, wee doe charge yo"^ to bee a 
 blasphemous enemy of the true religion 
 of o'' Lord Jesus Christ and his holy 
 ordinances, & also of all civil authority 
 among the people of God, perticulerly 
 in this iurisdiction." * To the impartial 
 
 * Massachusetts Kecords, Vol. II, p. 51. 
 
SAMDELL GORTON 75 
 
 student of this history, his entire career 
 offers a sufficient answer to this accusa- 
 tion. Even Grov. Arnold, his lineal de- 
 scendant and strenuous defender in 
 many things, who regarded him as "one 
 of the most remarkable men who ever 
 lived,"* falls into the error of stating 
 that "he denied the right of a people to 
 self-government." f What Bamuell Gor- 
 ton really denied was the dogma of 
 "squatter sovereignty," that false con- 
 ception of popular government which 
 holds that a majority of the actual set- 
 tlers in any given locality have a right 
 to legislate and govern as they please, 
 without regard for the claims of the 
 minority, the law of civilized commu- 
 nities, or the principles of equity and 
 
 * History of Rhode Island. By Samuel 6. Arnold. 
 flWd. 
 
76 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 justice. Had he lived a generation ago 
 he would have stood with Lincoln and 
 Sumner and Garrison in denouncing this 
 mischievous dogma. His doctrine Avas 
 identical mth that of the defenders of 
 the Union against the alleged right of 
 secession. In his own day he held, sim- 
 ply, that no Englishman expatriated 
 himself by becoming a colonist in the 
 possessions of the Mother Country; that 
 he did not by emigration to America 
 forfeit the rights of an Englishman, or 
 the protection guaranteed by the long 
 line of statutes, decisions and prece- 
 dents, beginning with Magna Charta, 
 which had become the heritage of Eng- 
 lishmen everywhere. 
 
 Samuell Gorton held that as subjects 
 of Great Britain the Colonial govern- 
 ments should conform in their legislation 
 and judicial action to the principles of 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 77 
 
 Englisli common and statute law.* If 
 chartered, they were bound to do this 
 by the terms of their charters. If not 
 chartered, each individual had the right 
 to claim the protection of English law, 
 and any denial thereof was a usurpation 
 of authority. This was the head and 
 front of his alleged anarchism. It was 
 not anarchism, but the conviction that 
 liberty is a chimnera save under the pro- 
 tection of the sacred majesty of law. 
 This is good English and American doc- 
 trine to-day. It is distinctively Rhode 
 Island doctrine. No one two hundred 
 and fifty years ago saw it more clearly 
 than Samuell Gorton. His political 
 vision was more lucid and prescient 
 than that of Roger Williams, though 
 the latter soon saw the force of Gorton's 
 
 * This is substantially the conclusion of Judge Bray- 
 ton. (Defence of Samuel Gorton). 
 
78 SAMUEIi GOETON 
 
 position, and adhered to it the rest of 
 his life. Had Gorton lived until the 
 time of Andros and James the Second 
 he would have beheld the Colonies 
 fighting for their charters as the very 
 foundation of their liberties. His posi- 
 tion was already justified.* 
 
 In defence of "soul liberty" and the 
 limitation of the functions of govern- 
 ment solely to civil affairs, Grorton and 
 Williams stood side by side from the 
 beginning. Authority, he says, cannot 
 safely be entrusted to magistrates "if 
 their place and office bee not bounded 
 within the compass of civill things." 
 He argues clearly and logically in the 
 introduction to his "Incorruptible Key, 
 Composed of the CX Psalme," that if 
 
 *That Gorton believed in civil government also 
 clearly appears in his correspondence relating to the 
 Quakers, where he expressly dissents from their views 
 about government. 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 79 
 
 miagistrates are permitted to extend their 
 authority to things spiritual they are 
 coasistently bound to enforce their own 
 convictions of religious duty, and to 
 persecute all who dissent therefrom. 
 The only safety is in forbidding them 
 *'to intermeddle between God and the 
 consciences of men. * * In that way 
 only is the preservation and honour of 
 all States, in their several ways of rule 
 and government." 
 
 This theory, for the first time in the 
 world's history, was clearly proclaimed, 
 ■embodied in constitutional law, and prac- 
 tically tested, in the Commonwealth 
 founded by Roger Williams and Sam- 
 uell Gorton. The Puritan theocracy and 
 the doctrine of "soul liberty" for a time 
 maintained a competitive existence, side 
 by side in the New England Colonies. 
 The latter began in relative weakness — 
 
so SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 -almost in anarchy — but it survived, 
 and iiltimately obtained recognition in 
 ■our Federal Constitution. The former 
 failed, and was practically discarded 
 in less than two generations. Connec- 
 ticut, an ofEshoot from Massachusetts 
 Puritanism, under the leadership of 
 Hooker reversed the Massachusetts the- 
 ory that citizenship should be condi- 
 tioned on church membership, and ab- 
 sorbed the theocratic Colony of New 
 JHaven. Ehode Island gained, in num- 
 bers and in internal cohesion, and 
 Massachusetts lost, with every attack 
 which she made on heresy. The idea 
 that intolerance and persecution were 
 necessary to insure the survival of the 
 ■community — to prevent its disintegra- 
 tion — broached by apologetic writers, 
 is therefore disproven by the palpable 
 facts of history. Disintegration and 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 81 
 
 secession were ever the products of in- 
 tolerance. The story of the Saracens. 
 in Spain, the Huguenots in France and 
 the Puritans in England, was repeated in 
 Massachusetts. Internal schisms were- 
 promoted rather than prevented by the- 
 policy of persecution. 
 
 In the end, local public opinion was a 
 powerful aid to the compulsion of the 
 Mother Country in compelling the ces- 
 sation of persecution. The policy of 
 intolerance failed on its own chosen 
 ground, and Massachusetts became a. 
 powerful and united State only when 
 she followed the example of her despised 
 Little Sister and became a Common- 
 wealth of Ideas as well as a Common- 
 wealth of Goods. 
 
82 SAMUEIi GOETON 
 
 VIII 
 
 SAMUELL Gorton's ebligious ooNviCTioisrs 
 
 Samuell Gorton was a man of a pro- 
 foundly religious nature. His views, 
 have been little studied, and have been 
 greatly misunderstood, both by his con- 
 temporaries and the historians of later 
 generations. John Fiske dismisses him 
 with a sentence, in his admirable School 
 History of the United States, as "a man 
 of queer ideas." The more extended 
 reference of this fair-minded historian^ 
 in his "Beginnings of New England," 
 hardly does justice either to Gorton's 
 political sagacity, or to the remark- 
 able character of his religious opinions. 
 Charles Francis Adams, in his mono- 
 
SAMUELL GOBTON 83 
 
 grapli on " Massachusetts, its Historians 
 and its History," alludes to Samuell Gror- 
 ton as a "crude and half-crazy thinker." 
 
 His contemporaries in Massachusetts 
 assailed him ■\^ath a choice collection of 
 opprobrious epithets in the place of 
 arguments : he was an " arch-heretic," a 
 "beast," a "miscreant," a "proud and 
 pestilent seducer," a "most prodigious 
 minter of exorbitant novelties." * 
 
 Edward Rawson, some time Secretary 
 of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 
 and the ancestor of my own children, — 
 a man capable of making vigorous use of 
 the sturdy Anglo-Saxon of the period, 
 albeit not always grammatically, de- 
 nounces him as "a man whose spirit 
 was stark drunk with blasphemies and 
 insolences, a corrupter of the truth, a 
 
 * Vide iNowell, Rawson, Wlathrop, Winslow, Mor- 
 ton, et al. 
 
84 SAMUEMi GOETON 
 
 disturber of tlie peace wherever he 
 comes ; " and his contemporary, Nathan- 
 iel Morton, with whom he conducted an 
 animated correspondence, says he "was 
 deeply leavened with blasphemous and 
 familistical opinions." 
 
 In so far as his religious views have 
 received attention in recent years, they 
 have been mainly studied in their in- 
 complete and incidental expression in 
 some of his published works, " Simplici- 
 ties Defence Against Seven-Headed Pol- 
 icie," and "The Incorruptible Key to 
 the CX Psalme," the main object of 
 which was political and polemical rather 
 than expository of his system of thought. 
 The involved style and quaint and 
 mystical phraseology have repelled the 
 modern student, and prevented a clear 
 understanding of his theological doc- 
 trines. 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 85 
 
 By far the best and most complete 
 exposition of Samuell Gorton's relig- 
 ious convictions is to be found in a 
 remarkable- manuscript in his own 
 hand- writing which has never been 
 published, but which is preserved in 
 the librarj'^ of the Rhode Island His- 
 torical Society in Providence. I am 
 indebted to the Hon. Amos Perry, the 
 courteous Librarian of the Society, for 
 the opportunity to make a careful study 
 of this paper as well as of other docu- 
 ments relating to Samuell Gorton's life 
 and work. The manuscript to which I 
 refer is a running commentary on the 
 Lord's Prayer. Merely as a literary 
 curiosity it merits the attention of the 
 studious and curious. It is in the clear, 
 careful, accurate hand-writing of the 
 scholar rather than of one accustomed to 
 manual industry. The lines are closely 
 
86 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 written, the characters are minute, and 
 almost as accurate as copper-plate im- 
 pressions. The manuscript averages over 
 two thoxisand words to a page about the 
 size of our modern legal cap. The char- 
 acter of the writing makes it exceedingly 
 trying to the eyes. The orthography, 
 though in some respects archaic, is more 
 regular and consistent than in most 
 American documents of our Revolution- 
 ary era. I have examined many papers 
 of contemporary and more recent dates, 
 but with the exception of those left by 
 his eldest son, Capt. Samuell Gorton, 
 who was evidently instructed by his 
 father, and whose hand- writing re- 
 sembles his so closely as to be dis- 
 tinguishable from it with difficulty, 
 I have never seen any so clear, system- 
 atic, and scholarly in appearance. The 
 literary form, however, is less admirable 
 
SAMUEIi GORTON 87 
 
 than the clerical execution. The style 
 is involved, the sentences are long, and 
 the punctuation, though systematic, is 
 peculiar. Free use is made of the comma, 
 semi-colon and parenthesis, but periods 
 are most economically distributed, being 
 used literally to indicate a "full stop." 
 Sentences usually end with a semi-colon, 
 the ensuing clause beginning vnih a 
 capital. The interrogation point w&s 
 apparently unknown. 
 
 When the reader has searched dili- 
 gently beneath the quaint and involved 
 phraseology, bristling with scriptural 
 references and illustrations, and come 
 into sympathetic contact with the living 
 thought of the vpriter, the surprising 
 thing which is discovered is the remark- 
 able modernness of many of Samuell 
 Gorton's ideas. It goes without saying 
 that he was not "orthodox" according 
 
88 SAMUEUi GOKTON 
 
 to the conventional standards of his 
 time, nor yet, perhaps, of our own ; bnt 
 we everywhere touch the personality 
 of a vigorous and independent thinker, 
 who in many directions foreshadowed 
 the views of the advanced thinkers of 
 a later day. 
 
 Some of his enemies denounced Sam- 
 uell Gorton as an atheist. He was as 
 remote as possible from atheistic lean- 
 ings. He was not even- aifiliated with 
 the deism of his own and the succeeding 
 century. His theology was profoundly 
 Christian. It was as Christocentric as 
 that of Swedenborg, with which it has 
 sometimes been compared. Like Swe- 
 denborg, he regarded the Infinite and 
 Absolute as per se unknowable. Here 
 both Gorton and Swedenborg are in 
 touch with the modern philosophical 
 agnostic. For both, however, Chi'isti- 
 
8AMUELL GOETON 89 
 
 anity solved the agnostic problem. In 
 Christ they found a perfect expression 
 of the divine nature, and the only ration- 
 al object of worship.* 
 
 With regard to the nature of Christ, 
 however, Gorton and Swedenborg were 
 widely separated. Swedenborg's theolo- 
 gy is boldly anthropomorphic; Gorton's 
 was monistic and impersonal. "The 
 word 'person'," he says, "is only bor- 
 rowed from men and translated to God. 
 * * That doctrine which ties the 
 death of Christ to one perticuler man 
 in one time and age of the world, as 
 being the scope and intent of God's will 
 concerninge the death of his son in the 
 salvation of the world, that doctrine 
 falsifies the death of Jesus Christ, and 
 
 *"The Father ■was never knowne nor is he know- 
 able but in Christ." (Commentary on the Lord's 
 Prayer). 
 
■90 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 sets men upon the law of workes in the 
 ground and matter of their salvation, 
 by which law no man is justified." * 
 Here, too, is another radical distinction 
 between his doctrine and that of Swe- 
 deuborg. The latter turns his most 
 powerful batteries upon Paul's doctrine 
 of " justification by faith," while Gorton 
 stands with Luther in its defence. 
 
 The "law of works" by which Gorton 
 says no man is justified, he rightly inter- 
 prets as the conception of salvation 
 through ceremonial observances ; not 
 merely the ritual of Pharisaic Judaism 
 denounced by the Master, but the ritual 
 and ordinances as well of his own day 
 and generation. Here he stands with 
 the Friends, as he also did in his oppo- 
 
 *The quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are 
 from Gorton's unpublished Commentary on the Lord's 
 Prayer. (Commentary, p. 101). 
 
aASTOELL GOBTON 91 
 
 isition to a "hireling ministry." Wor- 
 iship, he taught, is natural to man. Every 
 man is called to seek communion with 
 the divine in Christ directly, and not 
 through priestly mediations. " Prophe- 
 ■sie, prayer, and interpretation of the 
 word of God are one," he says: "where 
 ■one is there is the other; they are co- 
 insident and co-aparant." All men are 
 -naturally moved to prayer; all men, 
 therefore, may rightfully exhort aud 
 interpret. To the conventional inter- 
 pretations of churches, universities and 
 schools, he preferred "the universitie of 
 iumane reason, and reading of the great 
 volume of visible creation." Mr. Gror- 
 ton defined prayer as "nothing else but 
 the true breath and spirit of the etemall 
 word, according to God's intent taken 
 ^nd rained into the soule, concocted and 
 digested in the cauldron of man's neces- 
 
"92 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 sities, breathing out it selfe unto the 
 fountaine and originall of all suply." 
 
 The spirit of prophecy and inspira- 
 tion, he taught, is as immediately with 
 man now as in any period of the past. 
 The tenor of his teaching in this partic- 
 ular is strikingly like that of the modern 
 transcendentalist. With Emerson, he 
 would have asked, " Why may not we, 
 too, seek an original relation with the 
 Universe?" In the spirit of transcen- 
 ■dentalism, too, he opposed all sectarian- 
 ism. He would not be the founder of 
 ^a sect. He left no organized body of 
 disciples.* The sectarian contests of the 
 day, even the disputes between Protest- 
 a,nt8 and Catholics, he deemed of small 
 account because they were so largely 
 
 * ' ' Though no Church was formed in connection with 
 his ministrations, he exercised a powerful influence 
 upon the religious views of the Colony." History of 
 Warwick, p. 301. By Orris Payson Fuller, B. A. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 93 
 
 about rites and ceremonies, matters 
 wliicli he deemed non-essential. "These 
 things men contend aboute and make 
 great stirre in the world, whilst the 
 life and spirit of the gospel lies buried 
 under humane ordinances and carnall 
 traditions." True worship, he declares, 
 is as well exemplified in the offering of 
 lambs and bullocks "according to the 
 letter of scripture formerly manifested, 
 * * as in bread, wine, wafei'S, &c., or 
 in Bishop, paster, teacher, elder, deacon, 
 &G., for these things in the outward 
 forme simply considered are carnall and 
 momentary, but the words of Christ, 
 they are spirit and they are life." 
 
 While he agreed with the Friends as 
 to outward ordinances, Samuell Gorton 
 strongly contested some of their other 
 teachings, especially the doctrine of the 
 "inner light," which he saw might be 
 
94: SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 interpreted as a particular revelation of 
 infallible trutli to the individual.* Such 
 an assumption, he claimed, is mischiev- 
 ous and erroneous. All revelations must 
 appeal for examination, recognition and 
 interpretation to the natural human rea- 
 son, which is a common possession of 
 all men. Mr. Gorton combined with; a 
 remarkably equable balance, the meth- 
 ods of the mystic and the rationalist.. 
 His mysticism rejected all claims of in- 
 fallibility, which logically tend to the 
 persecution of dissidents. Yet, while- 
 he carried this idea so far that he would 
 dispense with all paid ministries, he^ 
 recognized more fully than most Protest- 
 ants of his day the necessity of sound 
 learning and thorough acquaintance with, 
 the Scriptures in their original tongues,, 
 
 *He also differed with the Friends of his day in his 
 views about government. 
 
SAMDELL GORTON 95 
 
 to assure their correct and valid inter- 
 pretation.* 
 
 Thougli in tlie highest degree Christo- 
 centric, Samuell Gorton's theology was 
 not in harmony with the prevailing 
 Trinitarianism of his day. The doctrine 
 "received from the schoole men of the 
 church of Roome, that hold and teach a 
 trinitie of persons in one simple and 
 divine essence, without having respect 
 for the humane nature of Christ," he 
 characterizes as " a most dangerous and 
 pernicious doctrine." It is, he says,. 
 "most derogatory to the glory of the 
 son; for in that time he is deprived of 
 the glory of a saviour; for without 
 man's nature hee is not Jesxis; hee is no 
 saviour but in man; hee is not the 
 anointed nor the redeemer but in man's 
 
 *This is strongly emphasized in his Commentary on 
 the Lord's Prayer. 
 
96 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 nature ; and if wee deprive him of that 
 glory for a time it is to late to give it 
 to him afterwards, because hee ever re- 
 mains one and the same." The scrip- 
 tural references to the Father, Son and 
 Holy Spirit he interprets as recognitions 
 of " spirituall distinctions in the nature 
 of Christ." They are not separate per- 
 sons of a god-head, but distinctions of 
 the divine activity, having a unity " not 
 found elsewhere, but only in Christ."* 
 
 With Channing, Samuell Gorton also 
 taught the essential divinity of human 
 nature — the equal nearness of the di- 
 vine spirit to the sinner and to the saint. 
 He recognizes a divine spark in every 
 human soul, and to this he made his 
 appeaLf He also, however, accepted 
 
 * Commentary Mss., p. 11. See, also, p. 14, et seq., 
 as well as "Simplicities Defence," (R. I. Hist. Soc. Ed.) 
 page 183. 
 
 f Commentary Mss., page 57. 
 
SAMUELL GOKTON 97 
 
 the eternal antagonism of good and evil 
 as an unquestionable fact both in scrip- 
 tural teaching and in human experience. 
 The tendency of the one is to eternal 
 life ; of the other to eternal death. He 
 therefore taught a conditional immor- 
 tality, wholly dependent upon the char- 
 acter of the individual. "Neither can 
 any salvation hold proportion vs^ith the 
 son of God," he says, "but freedome 
 from sin." This saved him from the 
 errors of Antinomianism.* The doctrine 
 of imputed sin and imputed righteous- 
 ness he denounces as unworthy of the 
 divine character. " Grod was in Christ 
 reconciling men unto him selfe, not im- 
 puting their sins." Nor is this work of 
 reconciliation limited to any historical 
 
 * Dr. Fiske is in error in classing hina as a follower 
 of Anne Hutchinson. His theology was original and 
 peculiarly his own. (Cominentary Mss., p. 58). 
 
98 SAMUELL GOBTON 
 
 period. "God is eternally a creator, 
 eternally a redeemer, eternally a conser- 
 vator of peace." 
 
 The substance of his teaching is that 
 righteousness is life eternal ; sin is eter- 
 nal death. This is no arbitraiy penalty 
 inflicted at the close of man's earthly 
 career, or on some future day of judg- 
 ment ; it is . the intrinsic and natural 
 result of evil action. The popular dis- 
 tinction between a man and his actions 
 is delusive and unreal. He could not 
 hate the sin and love the sinner. The 
 actions are the man. If the actions are 
 predominantly evil there is nothing left 
 to save. The divine work of regenera- 
 tion is at one and the same time the sal- 
 vation of the good and the destruction 
 of the evil. Both results are effected 
 by one and the same natural operation 
 of the divine power. "The righteous- 
 
SAMUEIi GOETON 99 
 
 ness of God is of eternal worth and 
 duration; But the one and the other 
 [course of life] being wrought into a 
 change at one and the same time, thence 
 comes the capacity of an eternall life, 
 and of an eternall destruction." 
 
 Mr. Gorton distinguishes four distinct 
 ■stages in the historical development of 
 religious ideas ; the family, the national, 
 the apostolic, and the spiritual or univer- 
 sal.* Considering the period in which 
 he wrote, and the fact that the Bible 
 seems to have been almost his only text- 
 book, his conclusions are remarkably 
 consistent with those of modern students 
 of sociology and comparative religion. 
 
 The temptation is great to continue 
 this line of exposition and quotation, 
 but I must bring it to a close with one 
 
 * Commentary Mss., p. 90. 
 9* 
 
100 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 or two additional passages further il- 
 lustrative of the ethical quality of his 
 thought. All virtue, he taught, even 
 the goodness of God, consists wholly in 
 the service of others. "The goodnesse 
 of God's nature is such," he says, "that 
 it cannot subsiste or bee without com- 
 municating it selfe with another, other- 
 wise his goodnesse should bee uselesse, 
 which can not bee admitted for one 
 moment of time, for there is an impossi- 
 bility thereof; The naturall temporary 
 or tipicall goodnesse of any creature is 
 uselesse unlesse it bee communicated 
 with another; God never made any 
 creature in heaven or in earth simply 
 for it selfe, but for the use of another; 
 how infinitely more is this true of God, 
 who hath made him selfe in Christ to 
 bee the goodnesse of the world." 
 
 Heaven, Samuell Gorton taught, is not 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 101 
 
 to be sought in a future life or in some 
 distant part of tlie universe. The soul 
 is even now in eternity. Heaven is a 
 condition of the soul. It may exist 
 here and now. "Such doctrine," he 
 saj^s, " as sets forth a time to come, of 
 more worth and gloiy than either is, 
 or hath been, keeps the manna for to- 
 morrow, to the breeding of worms in it." 
 With Theodore Parker, he taught that 
 the divine nature is both masculine and 
 feminine ; * and in one of the most strik- 
 ing and eloquent passages in his Com- 
 mentary on the Lord's Prayer he argues 
 for the equal recognition of woman in 
 the Church, and as a teacher of religion. 
 In philosophy, Samuell Gorton was an 
 
 *It Is hardly necessary to say that neither Gorton 
 or Parker held this doctrine in any materialistic sense. 
 It was a lofty philosophical conception that the entire 
 creative energy was expressed in the divine nature, to 
 conceive which as purely masculine was inadequate, 
 anthropomorphic and irrational. 
 
102 SAMUELL GOKTON 
 
 original thinker rather than a student of 
 past systems. In theology, he was far 
 in advance of the prevailing thought of 
 his time. Only a few of the minor sects 
 •of our own day have yet approximated 
 to his views as to the equal position of 
 woman in the pulpit and the church ; 
 only an occasional strong and indepen- 
 dent mind has reached his conception of 
 religion as a birthright of the individual 
 soul, to which belongs the unalienable 
 privilege of investigation and interpre- 
 tation, free from priestly mediation and 
 sectarian bias. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 103 
 
 IX 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 In conclusion, what shall we say were 
 the peculiar and distinctive contribu- 
 tions of Samuell Gorton to the Com- 
 monwealth which he helped to found, 
 and the life of our later day? I an- 
 swer, first, to him more than to any 
 other we are indebted for the recognition 
 and establishment of the principle that 
 English law and the rights of English 
 citizenship are coextensive with English 
 supremacy; and that to secure these 
 rights in the Colonies, together with 
 the privileges of local administration, a 
 ■charter from the Home Government was 
 necessary. This principle had been ig- 
 
104 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 nored or denied by Roger Williams,* 
 and violated by the governments of Ply- 
 mouth and Massachusetts Bay. Samuell 
 Gorton affirmed it in season and out of 
 •season; in its defence suffered imprison- 
 ment and stripes, and did not rest until 
 by the aid of Roger Williams at last 
 convinced by his insistency and by the 
 ■stern logic of events, it was accepted 
 by the Commonwealth, affirmed in its 
 Charter, and embodied in its legislation. 
 So fii'mly was this principle subse- 
 quently engrafted on our Colonial sys- 
 tem, that it became our strongest defence 
 •against the encroachments of the Mother 
 ■Country during the Revolutionary strug- 
 
 * The first charge against Koger Williams, on which 
 he was banished from Massachusetts Bay, accused him 
 of teaching "That wee have not our land hy Pattent 
 from the King, but that the natives are the true owners 
 of it and that wee ought to repent of such receiving it 
 by Pattent." Gorton agreed with Williams as to the 
 necessity of purchase from the Indians, but thought 
 the charter also necessary. 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 105- 
 
 gle and gave us an effective poih sto for 
 the Declaration of Independence. Nor 
 did the severing of the relations with 
 the government of England rupture this, 
 thread of law and equity which bound 
 us to our historic past. Ours became 
 the heritage of English Common Law:, 
 ours as well as England's those historic 
 rights and privileges of citizenship hand- 
 ed down from Magna Charta. 
 
 I answer, secondly, to Samuell Gorton 
 more than to any other, all generations, 
 of Americans will owe the insistent 
 affirmation and consistent illustration of 
 the principle of religious individualism 
 which is the logical outcome of the 
 Protestant idea — the principle which 
 strips off the conventional reliance on 
 ritual and organization, and places the 
 individual soul face to face with the 
 problems of life and duty. In our own 
 
106 SAMUEIi GOETON 
 
 generation, Ralpli Waldo Emerson lias 
 been the clearest exponent of this prin- 
 ciple. Gorton was the premature John 
 the Baptist of New England Transcen- 
 dentalism. 
 
 No portrait, or adequate description! 
 of this forgotten Founder of our Liber- 
 ties has been handed down to our time.. 
 The writer of his brief biography tells 
 us that "His bearing was courteous, his. 
 feelings lively, his mind vigorous and 
 well-informed."* From such hints as- 
 
 *Jolin M. Mackie, in " Sparks' s American Biog- 
 raphy." 
 
 Samuel Eddy, Secretary of State of Rhode Island, 
 drcum 1830, says of Gorton: "From the first estab- 
 lishment of the government he was almost constantly 
 in oflBce, and during a long life there is no instance of 
 record to my knowledge of any reproach or censure 
 cast upon him, no complaint of him, although history- 
 furnishes abundance of evidence that there were no lack 
 of enemies to his person, principles, or property. This, 
 can hardly be said of any other settler of the Colony of 
 any standing." Quoted in Judge Brayton's "Defence 
 of Samuel Oorton." 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 107 
 
 we may obtain from various sources we 
 may picture him as a man of tall stature, 
 marked features and gentlemanly ad- 
 dress; blue-eyed — a typical Saxon; of 
 an earnest and sympathetic nature; per- 
 suasive of speech in conversation and 
 exhortation, and freely emphasizing his 
 thoughts with appropriate gestures, quick 
 to resent injustice, and bold in his denun- 
 ciation of wrong-doers,* — more eloquent 
 and effective in his spontaneous utter- 
 ances and unstudied efforts than in the 
 formal and labored style of his written 
 treatises. 
 
 Of his domestic life we know but 
 little. From his kindly mention of his 
 Avife and children in the final disposal 
 of his property, we have a right to infer 
 that his family relations were harmoni- 
 
 * Vide Winthrop's Letters, the Portsmouth charges, 
 •etc. 
 
 10 
 
108 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 ous. The^ reverent regard of his sons 
 for liis wishes, long after his decease, 
 shows that the respect which they bore 
 for him was deep and lasting. Besides 
 the three sons, his family included twice 
 that number of daughters. These were 
 all married at the time of his decease, 
 and the fact that they, conjointly with 
 their husbands, were remembered in the 
 ■final disposal of his property indicates his 
 affectionate regard for all the branches of 
 his household. One of the daughters, 
 with the remarkable Scriptural name 
 of Mahershallalhashbaz, married Daniel 
 Cole, and removed to Glen Cove, Long 
 Island, then known as Moscheto Cove, 
 and has numerous descendants still re- 
 siding in that vicinity.* 
 
 *The'eldest daughter, Mary, married, i Peter Greene: 
 ii. John Sanford ; the youngest, Elizabeth, married 
 John Crandall ; Sarah married William Mace ; Ann's 
 husband was John Warner ; Susanna's was Benjamin 
 Barton. From these marriages have sprung many 
 well known Khode Island families. 
 
SAMUELL GOETON 109 
 
 More than most men, Samuell Gorton 
 has been honored in the persons of his 
 descendants. His oldest son, Captain 
 Samuell Gorton, succeeded in some re- 
 spects, to the position and influence of 
 his father and held many posts of honor 
 in his Town and State. Benjamin, the 
 youngest son, was one of the founders 
 of the neighiboring Town of East Green- 
 wich. Othniel Gorton, a lineal descend- 
 ant of Samuell Gorton, was several times 
 chosen to the General Assembly from 
 the Town of Warwick, and was Speaker 
 of tke House of Representatives at inter- 
 vals during and subsequent to the Revo- 
 lutionary War. Gen. Nathaniel Greene, 
 next to George Washington, the most 
 eminent military leader in the contest 
 with Great Britain, traced his lineage 
 directly to John Greene and Samuell 
 Gorton, noble founders of the liberties 
 
110 SAMUEU!; GOETON 
 
 whicli lie fought to sustain ; as did also 
 Col. Christoplier Greene, of Revolu- 
 tionary fame. Albert Gorton Greene^ 
 a descendant of John Greene, Samuell 
 Gorton and Randall Holden, three of 
 the original settlers of Warwick, became 
 a judge of the Municipal Court in the 
 City of Providence, and is Avell known 
 to three generations as the author of 
 "Old Grimes," and other popular bal- 
 lads and poems. The late Governor 
 Henry Lippitt, and the present Chief 
 Magistrate of Rhode Island, the Hon, 
 Charles Warren Lippitt, as well as the 
 late Lieut.-Gov. Samuel G. Arnold, the 
 historian of the State, are direct de- 
 scendants of Samuell Gorton. The Rev. 
 James Gorton, a Baptist minister of in- 
 dependent views now living, is a frequent 
 contributor on social and religious topics- 
 to periodical literature. Dr. David Al- 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 111 
 
 lyn Gorton, of Brooklyn, N. Y., another 
 living descendant of Samuell Gorton, 
 lias won an enviable reputation in the 
 practice of medicine, was formerly editor 
 of the National Quarterly Review, is the 
 author of an able work on " The Monism 
 of Man," and numerous philosophical 
 essays, as well as a treatise on "The 
 Principles of Mental Hygiene," and 
 voluminous contiibutions to medical lit- 
 erature. In recent years he has contrib- 
 uted several able papers to the collections 
 of the Brooklyn Ethical Association. 
 His son, Dr. Eliot Gorton, is well 
 known as an alienist and an able writer 
 on this and kindred topics, as is also Dr. 
 W. A. Gorton, of the Butler Asylum 
 for the Insane, in Providence. Charles 
 Gorton, of the same city, who owns the 
 only complete original edition of Samuell 
 Gorton's published works known to exist 
 
112 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 in this country, is a tireless bibliophilist 
 and book collector, the possessor of in- 
 valuable literary and archaeological treas- 
 ures. Dexter Gorton is one of the most 
 respected citizens of Providence, a man 
 of sterling integrity, for many years 
 Chief Engineer of the Fire Department 
 of that City, now one of its Fire Com- 
 missioners, and has several times been 
 chosen to the City Council. The de- 
 scendants of Samuell Gorton are also 
 widely distributed in other portions of 
 the country. In the independence of 
 mind and literary ability which they 
 have often illustrated, the believer in 
 heredity will recognize the out-cropping- 
 of the same sterling qualities which 
 characterized the first of their honored 
 name who made his home in the new 
 world. 
 
 The house Av^hich Samuell Gorton 
 
SAMUELL GORTON 113 
 
 erected and where he spent his later 
 years was a land-mark in Old Warwick 
 until within the last half century. From 
 its door his eyes could rest on the placid 
 waters of Warwick Cove, and beyond 
 the meadow could see his cattle grazing 
 upon the rounded uplands of Warwick 
 Neck. The surrounding scenery is rest- 
 ful to the eye, and invites the thoughtful 
 contemplation of the deep things of life 
 in which his soul delighted. A short 
 time since, I visited the spot, and con- 
 versed with the oldest representative of 
 four generations of his descendants, now 
 occupying the ancestral acres. I walked 
 up the hill-side back of the house which 
 now occupies the site of the old Gorton 
 homestead, to the little family grave- 
 yard where tradition says that Samuell 
 Gorton was laid to rest with the patent 
 of the Town of AYarwick which he 
 
114 SAMUELL GOETON 
 
 obtained in England, — a nobler decora- 
 tion tlian a royal order — upon his breast. 
 No monumental stone — not even a green 
 mound or an over-arching tree — now 
 marks the sacred bit of earth v^^here his 
 body long since turned to dust. 
 
 All around, however, are the gracious- 
 evidences that his life and labors were 
 not vainly spent. The prosperity of the 
 town which he founded and the Com- 
 monwealth which he helped to build^ 
 constitute his most enduring monument. 
 South, lies the quiet hamlet of East 
 Greenwich, of which his son was one of 
 the founders, built in part upon land 
 once owned by Samuell Gorton. West^ 
 also, lie the rural towns of Coventry 
 and West Greenwich, the soil of which 
 was largely covered by his original pur- 
 chase from Miantonomi. What fortunes 
 have been made where he found a wil- 
 
SAMXIELL GOETON 115 
 
 derness and out of it wrought a humble 
 home for his declining years ! What 
 untold happiness has filled the throb- 
 bing hearts of the many generations 
 that have come after him as they have 
 looked out upon the pleasant acres, 
 honestly bought of their aboriginal pos- 
 sessors, and bravely held as a heritage 
 to his posterity! 
 
 The Commonwealth which he loved 
 and served so well has proudly held up 
 the banner of Soul Liberty guarded and 
 consecrated by Righteous Law, until its 
 beautiful symbol * has carried Hope and 
 Safety to the uttermost parts of our 
 American Union. Could this Founder 
 of our Liberties look down upon these 
 peaceful and prosperous scenes, and pon- 
 der upon their vast and beneficent signifi- 
 
 *The Colonial Assembly of 1647 provided "that the 
 seals of the Province shall be an anchor." 
 
116 SAMUELL GORTON 
 
 cance, hardly would his xmselfisli soul 
 miss the monumental stone which yet a. 
 grateful community shall raise to his- 
 fragrant memory. In thankfulness of 
 heart he would bless the Power whicli 
 has wrought so marvelously in him and. 
 in those who have followed in his foot- 
 steps, and murmur in grateful acknowl- 
 edgment, "Yea, Lord, I have seen of tha 
 travail of my soul, and am satisfied." 
 
:bibliography and index 
 
BIBLIOGKAPHY 
 
 The following books, articles and manu- 
 scripts have been consulted in the preparation 
 of this paper : 
 
 1. Simplicities Defence aoainst Seven- 
 
 Headed POLICIE. By Samuell Gorton. 
 Original Edition, London, Aug. 3, 1646. 
 Second edition, 1647. Reprinted in 
 Vol. Ill of E. I. Historical Collections, 
 with introduction and notes by Judge 
 W. E. Staples. 
 
 2. An Incoeeuptible Key Composed of the 
 
 cx psalme, wherewith you may open 
 
 THE EeST of THE HoLY ScEIPTUEES. 
 
 By Samuell Gorton. London. 
 
 3. Saltmaesh Eetuened feom the Dead, in 
 
 Ainieas PhUalethes; or the Eesurrec- 
 tion of James the Apostle out of the 
 Grave of Carnall Glosses, for the Cor- 
 11 
 
120 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 rection of the Universall Apostasy 
 which cruelly buryed him who yet 
 liveth. By Samuell Gorton. London 
 Edition. 
 
 4. An Antedote against the Common 
 
 Plague of the World. * * Smart- 
 lash Ascended to the Throne op 
 Equity, for the Arragnments of False 
 Interpretations of the Word of God. 
 By Samuell Gorton. London Edition. 
 (Dedicated to "His Highness, Oliver, 
 Lord Protector of England, Scotland 
 and Ireland, with the dominions there- 
 to belonging.") 
 
 5. A EuNNiNG Commentary on the Lord's 
 
 Prayer (Matt, vi, 9-13). By Samuell 
 Gorton. {JIss. in Library of the R. I. 
 Historical Society, at Providence). 
 
 6 CERTAm Letters which Passed between 
 THE Penman of this Treatise and Cer- 
 tain Men Newly Come out of Old 
 England into New. By Samuell Gor- 
 ton. (London Edition). 
 
bibliogeaphy 121 
 
 7. Lettees to Nathaniel Morton and 
 
 OTHEES. By Samuell Gorton. (Some 
 of these letters are in the possession 
 of Mr. Edward Crowninshield, of Bos- 
 ton). 
 
 8. Life of Samuel Goeton. By John M. 
 
 Mackie. (Sparks's American Biogra- 
 
 piiy)- 
 
 9. A. Defence of Samuel Goeton and the 
 
 Settlees of Shawomet. By George A. 
 Brayton. Late Justice of the Supreme 
 Court of Ehode Island (E. I. Historical 
 Tracts, No. 17.— Sidney S. Eider). 
 
 10. Histoeical Discouese — Calendar. 
 
 11. Ehode Island Colonial Eecoeds. 
 
 12. Massachusetts Colonial Eecoeds. 
 
 13. Eecoeds of Plymouth Colony. 
 
 14. Town Eecoeds of Poetsmouth. 
 
 15. Town Eecoeds of Peovidence. 
 
 16. Town Eecoeds of Waewick. (Unpub- 
 
 lished). 
 
 17. HisTOEY of the Town of "VVaewick. By 
 
 Orris Payson Fuller, B. A. 
 
122 bibliogeaphy 
 
 18. Naeeagansett Histoeical Eegistee. 
 
 19. HiSTOEY OF THE NaEEAGANSETT ChUECH. 
 
 Updike. 
 
 20. HisTOEY OF New England. By J. G. 
 
 Palfrey. 
 
 21. HiSTOEY OP Ehode Island. By Samuel 
 
 Q. Arnold. 
 
 22. A Shoet Histoey of Ehode Island. 
 
 By George Washington Greene. 
 
 23. The Beginnings op New England. By 
 
 John Fiske, LL. D. 
 
 24. Peoceedings of the E. I. Histoeical 
 
 Society, 1887-88, 1890-91. 
 
 25. Hypoceisie Unmasked. By Edward 
 
 Winslow. 
 
 26. Hazaed's State Papees. 
 
 27. Austin's Genealogical Dictionaey of 
 
 Ehode Island. 
 
 28. The Colonial Eea. (American History 
 
 Series). By G. P. Fisher. 
 
 29. Letters op John Wintheop. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, on Samuel! Gorton . . 83 
 
 Agnosticism, Gorton's views on 88-89 
 
 Aldretlge, Mrs. 
 
 Her trouble witli the Plymouth authorities. 28 
 
 Samuell Gorton's defence of 28-29 
 
 Anarchism, Gorton's alleged 74^78 
 
 Anchor, the Seal of Rhode Island 115 
 
 Andros, Governor 78 
 
 Antinomianism 97 and note. 
 
 Apponaug. 
 
 Town Hall of Warwick in, 9, 14 
 
 Ancient records in 14, 15 
 
 Aquidneck. 
 
 Settlement of 29-31 
 
 Effort of Massachusetts to separate from 
 
 Providence Plantations 49-55 
 
 A refuge for Warwick residents in King 
 
 Philip's war 70 
 
 Arnold, Hon. Samuel G., 
 
 His History of Rhode Island 17, 19 
 
 On Samuell Gorton's political creed 75 
 
 His kinship to Samuell Gorton 75, 110 
 
 11* 
 
124 INDEX 
 
 Arnold, William, 
 
 His contentions in Providence and Pawtuxet. 34, 36 
 
 His alliance with Massachusetts Bay 36 
 
 His small following 36, note. 
 
 His friends accuse the men of Shawomet, 
 
 63, and note. 
 
 Arrow-heads 14 
 
 Atherton Company 39, 49 
 
 Awoshosse 52 
 
 Barton, Benjamin, 
 
 Marries Susanna, daughter of Samuell Gor- 
 ton 108, note. 
 
 Bible, Samuell Gorton's principal text-hook. . . 23, 99 
 
 Bibliogi-apliy 119-122 
 
 Blasphemy, Charges against Gorton for. ..39, 43, 45 
 
 Boston, Sympathy with Gorton in 45-46 
 
 Bradford, William 10 
 
 Brayton, Hon. George A. 
 
 His Defence of Samuell Gorton. . . .18, and -note, 19 
 
 On Gorton's noble connection 21-23 
 
 On the peace-makers from Providence. . . .40, note. 
 
 Canonchet 69 
 
 Carder, Richard. 
 
 His banishment from Portsmouth 33-34, note. 
 
 His imprisonment in Massachusetts 47 
 
 Channing, William Ellery. 
 
 Samuell Gorton's theology compared with . 96 
 
INDEX 125 
 
 Charles the First. 
 
 His contest with Parliament 55 
 
 Charles the Second. 
 
 Gorton prepares an address to 67 
 
 Grants the Charter of 1663 68 
 
 Charlestown, Samuell Gorton's impi-isonment 
 
 in 45 
 
 Charter. 
 
 Of Providence Plantations, 1643-44 
 
 58, 56, 60, 61, note. 
 
 Of Warwick 54 
 
 Royal Charter of 1663 68 
 
 Christ, Samuell Gorton's teachings about 
 
 88, 89, 91, 95-97 
 
 Christocentric character of Samuell Gor- 
 ton's theology 88 
 
 Church of England, Samuell Gorton's indebt- 
 edness to 23 
 
 Clam-bakes 14 
 
 Clarke, John. 
 
 Represents Rhode Island in England 66 
 
 Gorton's letter to, concerning the Quakers . . 67 
 Secures the Charter of 1663 68 
 
 Coddington, William. 
 
 Settles at Aquidneck 30 
 
 Removes to Newport 30 
 
 Establishes a Theocracy 30 
 
 Supported by a minority , . . . . 31 
 
126 INDEX 
 
 Goclding'tou, "William. 
 
 Opposes union under the Charter of 1643-44 56 
 
 Secedes from the Charter Government 63- 
 
 Governor under the Royal Charter 30, note. 
 
 Code of 1647 60-62 
 
 Cole, Daniel, marries Mahershallalhashbaz, 
 
 daughter of Samuell Gorton 108 
 
 Colonial dwellings in Warwick 8 
 
 Common Law of England 76-77, 105 
 
 Conanicus 52 
 
 Conimiciit Point. 
 
 Samuell Gorton's Block House on 13, and note. 
 
 The siege of 12, 40-42 
 
 Connecticut rejects the limitations of citi- 
 zenship by church-membership 80 
 
 Cotton, John, his alleged heresies. . . .47-48, and note. 
 
 Coventry 114 
 
 Coweset, Gorton's lands in, deeded to his sons. 72 
 
 Coweset Bay 9 
 
 Crandall, John, marries Elizabeth, daughter 
 
 of Samuell Gorton 108, note. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, letter to, concerning the 
 
 Quakers 66-67 
 
 Cutshamekin 46 
 
 Declaration of Independence 105 
 
 East Greenwich. 
 
 Land in owned by Samuell Gorton 72-73, 114 
 
 Benjamin Gorton, one of its first settlers. ... 73 
 
INDEX 127 
 
 Eddy, Samuel, on Samuell Gorton's character, 
 
 106, note. 
 
 Ely, William D., his studies of the Gorton his- 
 tory 48, and note. 
 
 Emersou, Ralph Waldo, his philosophy fore- 
 shadowed by that of Samuell Gorton. . .92, 106 
 
 Ethical teachings of Samuell Gorton 97,101 
 
 Fiske, John, LL. D. 
 
 His account of Samuell Gorton in "The 
 
 Beginnings of New England." 18 
 
 His story of the murder of Miantonoml. ... 52 
 On the Gortonoges and Wattaconoges. . . .57, note. 
 His inadequate estimate of Gorton's career. 82 
 Friends. 
 
 Gorton's defence of 66, and note 67 
 
 His letters to 66, note. 
 
 His theology compared with that of 93-94 
 
 He opposes their doctrine of the "inner 
 
 light." 93 
 
 He opposes their doctrine about Govern- 
 ment ^4:, note. 
 
 Gaspee, burning of 11 
 
 Gorton, Adelos vi, 27 note. 
 
 Gorton, Ann, daughter of Samuell Gorton. 108, note. 
 Gorton, Benjamin, 
 
 Kills a wolf in Warwick, 1774 12, note. 
 
 Inherits estate from his father, Samuell Gorton 71 
 
128 INDEX 
 
 Gorton, Benjamin, 
 
 Early settler of East Greenwich 73, 109, 114 
 
 Gorton, Charles 111-113 
 
 Gorton, Dr. David Allyn 110-111 
 
 Gorton, Dexter 113 
 
 Gorton, Dr. Eliot Ill 
 
 Gorton, Elizaheth 108, note. 
 
 Gorton, Kev. James 110 
 
 Gorton, John. 
 
 Inherits estate from his father, Samuell Gor- 
 ton 71 
 
 Shares in iinal division of the Goweset lands. 73 
 Gorton, Mary, eldest daughter of Samuell 
 
 Gorton 37, note, 108, note. 
 
 Gorton, Mary Maplett, 
 
 Wife of Samuell Gorton 36, 37 and note. 
 
 His testimony to her gentle birth 37 
 
 His provision for her in the disposal of his 
 
 estate 73 
 
 Gortonoges 10, 57, and note. 
 
 Gorton, Othniel 109- 
 
 Gorton, Parish of, in England 31 
 
 Gorton, Samuell. 
 
 Born in 1593 21, and note. 
 
 The man and his work 31 
 
 His education 23, and note. 
 
 His residence in London 33-34 
 
 His marriage 24 
 
INDEX 129 
 
 Oorton, Samuell. 
 
 His emigration to America 25 
 
 His residence in Boston and Plymouth 25-29 
 
 His first meeting with Roger Williams 26 
 
 His troubles with the Plymouth authorities. 28 
 
 His banishment from Plymouth 29 
 
 His difficulties in Portsmouth 31-33 
 
 His banishment by the Coddington Govern- 
 ment 83 
 
 His contentions in Providence 34-35 
 
 His settlement in Shawomet 37 
 
 He is summoned to Boston 39 
 
 Besieged at Conimicut 40-42 
 
 Taken to Boston for trial 43 
 
 Imprisoned in Massachusetts 43-45 
 
 His release and return to Portsmouth 45-49 
 
 Secures the submission of the Narragansetts 
 
 to the British Government 51, 53, 55 
 
 Excluded from Shawomet by Massachusetts 49, 51 
 
 His voyage to England, 1645-48 54-55 
 
 Secures Charter for Warwick 54 
 
 His later career 59 
 
 His service in the General Assembly 59-65 
 
 Probable author of the statute against slavery 63-65 
 General Assistant, Moderator and President. 65 
 
 His defence of the Quakers 66-67 
 
 Incorporator of the Colony under the Royal 
 
 Charter 68 
 
130 INDEX 
 
 Assigned shares in Warwick Neck 68 
 
 His life saved by friendly Indians during 
 
 King Philip's "War 68-69 
 
 Divides his estate among his children 71-73 
 
 His political philosophy 74-81 
 
 His religious convictions 82-103 
 
 His character and personal appearance, . . 106-108 
 Gorton, Samuell, Jr. 
 
 Born in England, 1630 27-28 
 
 Writes vclll of John Wickes 70 
 
 Elected Town Treasurer 71 
 
 Trust reposed in him by his father 71-72 
 
 Participates in the final division of Coweset 
 
 lands 73-73 
 
 Gorton, Sarah, daughter of Samuell Gorton. . 
 Gorton, Susanna, daughter of Samuell Gor- 
 ton 108, note. 
 
 Gorton, Dr. W. A Ill 
 
 Greene, Hon. Albert Gorton 110 
 
 Greene, Ool. Christopher 110 
 
 Greene, John, 
 
 Co-settler of Warwick with Samuell Gorton. 13 
 
 First deed of Shawomet lands to 37, note. 
 
 Accompanies Gorton to England 54 
 
 Signs will of John Wickes 71 
 
 Greene, Gen. Nathanael 109-110 
 
 Greene, Peter, marries Mary, daughter of 
 
 Samuell Gorton 108, note. 
 
INDEX 131 
 
 Hireling ministiy 91 
 
 Historical Society, documents in the Library 
 
 of 15, 18, and note. 
 
 Holden, Randall. 
 
 ' Co-settler of Warwick with Samuell Gorton. 13 
 
 His banishment from Portsmouth 33, 34, note. 
 
 Commissioner to convey submission of the 
 
 Narragansetts 53 
 
 Accompanies Gorton to England 54 
 
 Will of John Wickes proved before him ... 70 
 
 Huguenots 81 
 
 Hutcliinson, Anne. 
 
 Her banishment from Massachusetts Bay. . . 25 
 
 Settles at Aquidneck 29 
 
 Gorton not her follower 97, note. 
 
 Ilypocrisie Unmasked 28, note, 33, note, 42, note. 
 
 Immortality, Gorton's views about 97 
 
 Imprisonment for debt forbidden by Code of 
 
 1647 63 
 
 Imputed sin 97 
 
 Incorruptible Key to the CX Psalme. . ..78, 79, 84 
 Indians. 
 
 In Warwick 12 
 
 At Pottowomut Neck 14 
 
 Employed by Massachusetts against Gorton. 40, 41 
 
 Tlieir sympathy with Gorton 46 
 
 They save his life 68-69 
 
 He is their trusted counsellor 69 
 
 18 
 
132 INDEX 
 
 luclivirlualisin, Samuell Gorton's 77,105 
 
 Inner Light, Gorton opposes the Quaker doc- 
 trine of 93-94 
 
 Intolerance. 
 
 Of the Puritans 25 
 
 Samuell Gorton opposes 78, 94 
 
 Its contest with Soul Liberty 78-80 
 
 Final overthrow of 81 
 
 James the Second. 
 
 Liberty of Conscience. 
 
 Gorton leaves England for 25 
 
 Not found in Massachusetts 26 
 
 Nathaniel Ward on 48 
 
 Upheld by Gorton and Roger Williams 78-8 1 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham 76 
 
 Lippitt, Hon. Charles Warren 110 
 
 Iiippitt, Hon. Henry 110 
 
 London, Gorton's residence in 24 
 
 His return to 54-55 
 
 Lord's Prayer, Gorton's Commentary on. . .85, el seq. 
 
 Mace, William, married Sarah, daughter of 
 
 Samuell Gorton 108, note. 
 
 Macliie, John M. his Life of Samuell Gorton. 
 
 17, 21, 23, 106, note, 119 
 
 Magna Charta 76 
 
 Maliersliallalhaslibaz, daughter of Samuell 
 
 Gorton 108 
 
INDEX 133 
 
 Manhattan 54 
 
 Maplett, 
 
 Dr. John, Brother-in-law of Samuell Gor- 
 ton : his bequest to his sister and her 
 
 children 37, nole. 
 
 Mary, wife of Samuell Gorton 
 
 36, 27, note, 39, 72, 107 
 Mary, mother of Mrs. Gorton : her bequest 
 
 to her daughter 27, note. 
 
 M assacliusetts Bay. 
 
 Intolerance of its government 35 
 
 Gorton banished from 45 
 
 Its contest for the control of Narragansett 
 
 Bay 49-58 
 
 Its efforts blocked by Samuell Gorton 51-58 
 
 Failure of its theocratic policy 79-81 
 
 Miantonomi. 
 
 Gorton purchases Shawomet of 37, 38 
 
 Winthrop and Roger Williams purchase Pru- 
 dence Island of 50, and note. 
 
 His murder by the Mohegans with the con- 
 sent of the Boston elders 52 
 
 Mixan 53 
 
 Monism, Samuell Gorton's 89 
 
 Morton, Nathaniel, 
 
 On Samuell Gorton 33 
 
 Gorton's correspondence with 22, note, 84 
 
 Mysticism, Gorton's 84, 94 
 
134 MDEX 
 
 Narragansett Bay. 
 
 Gorton's residence on 13, 37, 113 
 
 Settlement of Aquidneck on 39 
 
 EflEorts of Massachusetts authorities to con- 
 trol 50, 55 
 
 Narragansett Indians. 
 
 Allies of Gorton 10 
 
 Gorton purchases Shawomet of 37 
 
 Gorton obtains their submission to Great 
 
 Britain 51-53 
 
 Massachusetts declares war against 53 
 
 Gorton publishes their submission in London 55 
 
 New England. Confederation 39, 53 
 
 Nowell, Increase, on Gorton's alleged blasphe- 
 mies 39, and note, 83, note. 
 
 Ordinances of religion, Gorton's opposition 
 
 to 90, 93 
 
 Palfrey, John G. 
 
 His account of Samuell Gorton in his His- 
 tory of New England 18 
 
 Admits sympathy with Gorton in Massachu- 
 setts 46 
 
 Pawtuxet. 
 
 Gorton's settlement in 35 
 
 His contest with William Arnold 36 
 
 His departure from 37 
 
 Contest of Massachusetts for 50 
 
INDEX 135 
 
 Pawtuxet River 8, 14 
 
 Peague 57, and note. 
 
 Perry, Hon. Amos 85 
 
 P^ssicus 53 
 
 PliililJ, King. 
 
 His war with the white settlers 68 
 
 Samuell Gorton's life saved 69 
 
 Warwick's sufferings during the war 69 
 
 A battle fought in Warwick 69 
 
 Philosophy, Samuell Gorton's 74, ei seg. 
 
 Pilgrims 26 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Gorton's residence in 26 
 
 His banishment from 29 
 
 Sends men to Warwick during King Philip's 
 
 war 69 
 
 Pomham. 
 
 His assent to Gorton's Shawomet purchase. . 37 
 
 He repudiates his signature 38 
 
 His submission to Massachusetts Bay 38 
 
 His Block-House on Warwick Neck 51 
 
 He sells his claim to Samuell Gorton. . 57, and note. 
 
 Popaqiiinepaiig, (See Pawtuxet.) 
 
 Portsmouth. 
 
 Town-government instituted 29-31 
 
 Union with Newport 31 
 
 Gorton's troubles in 32-33 
 
 Gorton returns to 49 
 
 12* 
 
136 INDEX 
 
 Portsmouth. 
 
 Is elected to a magistracy 4& 
 
 Union with Northern towns under Charter 
 
 of 1643-44 56 
 
 Pottowomut Necli, Indian relics found on... 14 
 
 Pottowomut River 14 
 
 Prayer, Samuell Gorton's definition of 91-92 
 
 Providence. 
 
 Samuell Gorton emigrates to 34 
 
 Controversies in 34, and note, 35 
 
 Peacemakers from, interfere at Shawomet. . 
 
 40, and note. 
 United with Aquidneck under Charter of 
 
 1643-44 56 
 
 Providence Plantations. 
 
 Antagonism of Massachusetts to 49-55 
 
 Charter obtained for 56, and note. 
 
 Action of General Assembly of in 1645. ... 53 
 
 Prudence Island. 
 
 Its strategic importance in the struggle with 
 
 Massachusetts Bay 50 
 
 Its purchase by Gov. Winslow 50, and note. 
 
 Puritans. 
 
 Their revolt against religious formalism .... 23 
 
 Send an armed force against Gorton 40 
 
 Their preaching to the Gortonists 46, 47 
 
 Their opposition to soul liberty 78-81 
 
INDEX 137 
 
 Quakers. 
 
 Gorton's defence of 66, and note, 67 
 
 His letters to 66, note, 78, note, 118 
 
 His theology compared wltli that of. . .90-91, 93-94 
 
 Rawson, Edward, on Samuell Gorton 83-84 
 
 Religion, Samuell Gorton's views concerning. 83-102 
 Religious development, Samuell Gorton on.. 99 
 
 Remplian, Chion, Moloch 44 
 
 Revolutionary War, the first hlow struck in 
 
 Warwick 11 
 
 Rites and ceremonies, Gorton's distrust of 
 
 90-91, 92-98 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 Interesting character of its early history v, 17 
 
 Settlement of. ■ 29-30, 84, 36 
 
 Soul Liberty established in 15, 19, 78-81 
 
 Contest with Massachusetts Bay 88-58 
 
 First Charter of 56, and note, 61, note. 
 
 Earliest Code of 60-63 
 
 Triumph of Rhode Island principles 79-81 
 
 Salvation by character, taught by Samuell 
 
 Gorton 97 
 
 Sanford, John, marries Mary, daughter of 
 
 Samuell Gorton 108, note. 
 
 Saracens 81 
 
 Separatists 33, 26 
 
138 INDEX 
 
 Shawomet. 
 
 First settlement of 37, and note. 
 
 Gorton's troubles in 38-48 
 
 Becomes Warwick 49-58 
 
 Sheffield, Hon. William Pitt. 
 
 His address on Samuell Gorton 
 
 18, note, 40, note, 41, note. 
 Simplicities Defence Against Seven-Headed 
 
 Policie 18, note, 33, note, 39, note, 43, 
 
 note, 47, note, 54, 117 
 
 Slavery, Statute against, in 1653 63-65 
 
 Smith, Ralph. 
 
 Gorton hires a house of In Plymouth 36 
 
 Colleague of Roger Williams 36 
 
 Soccononocco. 
 
 Signs deed to Shawomet lands.' 37, and note. 
 
 Repudiates his signature 38 
 
 Makes submission to Massachusetts. ..38, and note. 
 His revolt one cause of the submission of 
 
 the Narragansetts to Great Britain 53 
 
 Soul Liberty. 
 
 Defence of by Roger Williams and Samuell 
 
 Gorton 19 
 
 Rhode Island the first Government founded on 79 
 
 Its final triumph in the Nation 81 
 
 Sources of information 17-30 
 
 Squatter Sovereignty, denied by Samuell Gor- 
 ton 75 
 
INDEX 139 
 
 Staples, Hon. Williain E. 
 
 On Samuell Gorton 18, and note, 33, note. 
 
 On the death of John Wickes 70 
 
 Sumner, Charles 76 
 
 Swedenborg', Emanuel, his theology com- 
 pared with that of Samuell Gorton . . . 88-90 
 
 Tlieocracy. 
 
 Of Massachusetts Bay 25 
 
 Of Coddington's Government 30 
 
 Its contest with Soul Liberty 78 
 
 Its final failure 81 
 
 Tonianick 53 
 
 Transcendentalism. Samuell Gorton a 
 
 forerunner of. 93, 106 
 
 Triuitarianisni. Samuell Gorton's views 
 
 about 95-96 
 
 Unknowable. Samuell Gorton's doctrine of. 88 
 
 Wampum, legal tender in Rhode Island 57, note. 
 
 Ward, Nathaniel. 
 
 His exhortation to Richard Carder 47 
 
 His " Simple Cobbler of Agawam.'' 48 
 
 Warner, John. 
 
 Commissioner to convey the submission of 
 
 the Narragansetts 53 
 
 Marries Ann, daughter of Samuell Gorton. 108, note. 
 Warwick Cove 13, 113 
 
140 INDEX 
 
 Warwick, Earl of. 
 
 Grants Patent to Samuell Gorton 54 
 
 Gives Gorton safe conduct through Massa- 
 chusetts 55 
 
 Massachusetts recognizes his authority.. . .55, Tiote. 
 
 Warwick, Old and New 7-16 
 
 Beautiful in Summer & 
 
 Town government organized in 56-57 
 
 Unites with Providence and Aquidneck .... 56 
 Samuell Gorton's service of 59-73 
 
 W^attaconoges 57, and note. 
 
 West Greenwich 114 
 
 Wheelwright, John, his banishment from 
 
 Massachusetts Bay 35 
 
 Wickes, John. 
 
 His punishment at Portsmouth 33, and note. 
 
 He goes to Providence 34 
 
 Commissioner of the Narragansetts 5a 
 
 His supposed death in King Philip's war. . . 70-71 
 His will 70 
 
 Williams, Boger. .10 ,19, 26, 36, 53, 57, note, 63, 77, 78 
 
 His residence in Plymouth 26 
 
 His first meeting with Samuell Gorton 26 
 
 His banishment from Massachusetts Bay. ... 25 
 His early disagreements with Gorton. ... 35 
 
 His alleged letter to Winthrop of doubtful 
 
 authenticity Z5, note. 
 
 He sells his half of Prudence Island.. 50, and nate. 
 
INDEX 141 
 
 "Williams, Roger. 
 
 He visits England and secures a Charter. ... 56 
 
 His doctrine of Soul Liberty 19, 78-81 
 
 The first charge against him in Massachu- 
 setts 104, Tiote. 
 
 His conversion to Gorton's views of civil 
 
 government 77-78, 104 
 
 "Winslow, Edward, his "Hypocrisie Un- 
 masked." 28, note, 33, hole, 43, note. 
 
 "Winthrop, John. 
 
 On Gorton's controversy with Roger Wil- 
 liams 35. and nole. 
 
 Purchases Prudence Island 50, and note. 
 
 His inconsistency 50-51 
 
 Defeat of his plans by Gorton 51-55 
 
 "Witchcraft. 
 
 Provision against in Code of 1647 61-63 
 
 Scepticism about in Rhode Island 63 
 
 Charges against the men of Shawomet. . . . 63-63 
 
 No prosecutions for in Rhode Island 63 
 
 Woman. Samuell Gorton's favors her equality 
 
 with man in the Church 101, 103 
 
PUBLICATIONS 
 
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History of the State of Rhode Island 
 
 and Providence Plantations, 
 
 1636-1790. 
 
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Among Rhode Island Wild 
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Early Rhode Island Houses. 
 
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Topographical atlas 
 
 STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE 
 PLANTATIONS. 
 
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MARY DYER 
 
 OF RHODE ISLAND, 
 
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NEW ENGLAND WILD FLOWERS 
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 13 
 

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