Roger Williams was expelled from Massachusetts for favoringreligious freedom, ironically, in a place established by thoseseeking religious freedom. He is considered the founder of RhodeIsland.In 1636, Roger Williams was a dissenting Puritan minister andtheologian in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was convicted ofheresy and left to found the colony of Providence on the estuariesfarther south (east of Long Island Sound), which were later namedthe Providence River.