Samuel Gorton
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Samuel Gorton was an English-born American religious leader and founder of the Gortonians, a short-lived sect in colonial Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He arrived in Boston in 1637 and supported the antinomian religious views of Anne Hutchinson. Due to his beliefs, Gorton and his followers were compelled to leave Massachusetts.12
The Gortonians rejected all outward religious forms and clergy. They believed that Christ was both human and divine, and that heaven and hell exist only within the mind. Gorton eventually settled in Rhode Island, where he founded the settlement of Shawomet, later renamed Warwick.12
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Warwick…made at Shawomet (1642) by Samuel Gorton. Later the colony was named for Robert Rich, 2nd earl of Warwick, who supported Gorton’s quest to gain protection of a royal charter against the Massachusetts Bay colony. Town (township) government was organized in 1647. After the widespread destruction caused by King Philip’s…
Read More…made at Shawomet (1642) by Samuel Gorton. Later the colony was named for Robert Rich, 2nd earl of Warwick, who supported Gorton’s quest to gain protection of a royal charter against the Massachusetts Bay colony. Town (township) government was organized in 1647. After the widespread destruction caused by King Philip’s…
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United StatesThe New England coloniesFour years later Samuel Gorton, yet another minister banished from Massachusetts Bay because of his differences with the ruling oligarchy, settled in Shawomet (later renamed Warwick). In 1644 these three communities joined with a fourth in Portsmouth under one charter to become one colony called Providence Plantation in…
Read MoreFour years later Samuel Gorton, yet another minister banished from Massachusetts Bay because of his differences with the ruling oligarchy, settled in Shawomet (later renamed Warwick). In 1644 these three communities joined with a fourth in Portsmouth under one charter to become one colony called Providence Plantation in…
Read More