t in which he boldly stated

1. That the soil belonged to the Indians.

2. That the settlers could obtain a valid title only by purchase from
the Indians.

3. That accepting a deed for the land from a mere intruder like the King
of England was a sin requiring public repentance.

In the opinion of the people of New England such doctrine could not fail
to bring down on Massachusetts the wrath of the King. When, therefore, a
little later, Endicott cut the red cross of St. George out of the colors
of the Salem militia, the people considered his act a defiance of royal
authority, attributed it to the teachings of Williams, and proceeded to
punish both. Endicott was rebuked by the General Court (or legislature)
and forbidden to hold office for a year. Williams was ordered to go
back to England. But he fled to the woods, and made his way through the
snow to the wigwam of the Indian chief, Massasoit, on Narragansett Bay,
and there in the summer of 1636 he founded Providence. About the same
time another teacher of what was then thought heresy, Anne Hutchinson,
was driven from Massachusetts, and with some of her followers went
southward and founded Portsmouth and Newport, on the island of Rhode
Island. For a while each of these settlements was independent, but in
1643 Williams went to London and secured a patent from Parliament which
united them under the name of "The Incorporation of Providence
Plantations on the Narragansett Bay in New England."

%42. Connecticut begun.%--In the same year that Roger Williams began
his settlement at Providence, several hundred people from the towns near
Boston went off and settled in the Connecticut valley. For a long time
past there had been growing up in Massachusetts a strong feeling that
the law that none but church members should vote or hold office was
oppressive. This feeling became so strong that in 1635 some hardy
pioneers from Dorchester pushed through the wilderness and settled at
Windsor. A party from Watertown went further and settled Wethersfield.
These were small movements. But in 1636 the Newtown congregation, led by
its pastor, Thomas Hooker, walked to the Connecticut valley and founded
Hartford. The congregations of the Dorchester and Watertown churches
soon followed, while a party from Roxbury settled at Springfield. During
three years these four towns were part of Massachusetts. But in 1639,
Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield adopted a constitution and formed a
little r