Liberal Thought in America 141 



spite of vehement pressure from the neighbouring 

 colonies, he resolutely refused to allow the civil 

 power of Rhode Island to be used against Quakers. 

 Massachusetts in fury threatened to cut off the 

 trade of the weaker colony, but nothing could 

 intimidate Williams into what he termed &quot; ex 

 ercising a civil power over men s consciences.&quot; 

 Among the public men of the seventeenth century 

 Roger Williams deserves a preeminent place; he 

 was the first to conceive thoroughly and carry out 

 consistently, in the face of strong opposition, a 

 theory of religious liberty broad enough to win 

 assent and approval from advanced thinkers of the 

 present day. 



The separation of church from state, which was 

 effected with such remarkable success in the found 

 ing of Rhode Island, did not become general in the 

 United States until after the winning of independ 

 ence. On this issue the eighteenth century had 

 its memorable struggle, in which the protagonist 

 was Virginia, and the victory was achieved under 

 the leadership of Jefferson and Madison. The early 

 policy of Virginia was to drive out dissentients, or 

 subject them to civil disabilities ; and of the Puri 

 tans who went thither for a while the greater part 

 left the colony, many of them retreating into toler 

 ant Maryland. After 1660, for three generations 



