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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Roger Williams was actually a preeeetty big rebel for his time.

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…Uh…not that big. [Roger wearing leather jacket and sunglasses]

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Think more "religious freedom" and less "things that would totally make your mom cry if you did them." [Mom blowing her nose]

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Roger grew up in Jolly Old England, where he became a Puritan Minister.

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But then things started to get Not-So-Jolly, and England was like, "Hey everyone! Ya gotta [King Hengry speaking]

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worship the official Church of England and nothing else, whoo, that sounds like it'll

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go over super well!"

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Roger was like, "Uh, what? No, that's dumb, peace out, y'all", and he packed up his bags and left. [Roger walks away from the Church]

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And where does an Englishman go when he doesn't want to stay in England?

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When he's longing for change?

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When he's yearning for new directions? He goes to…

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DISNEYLaaaaaand inNew England? [The Disney castle transforms into a church]

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…Huh. Way to really branch out there, Roger. So Roger was a Separatist, because he separated

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from England, and because he didn't think the government should be allowed to mess with [King Henry walking outside a castle and Roger protesting]

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the way people wanted to worship.

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This might sound pretty tame to us today, but back then, it was crazy.

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Like…dressing up in a chicken suit and playing Connect Four by yourself for seven hours. [Man dressed in chicken suit and playing connect four]

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…Is that not what cool, crazy people do? …Oh well.

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Anyway, back on track. Roger found that even in the New World, finding people who agreed

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with him wasn't always easy.

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Especially because Roger was radical in other ways, too––he studied American Indian culture, [Roger reading American Indian culture]

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and thought that American Indians should be respected for their beliefs and paid for their land.

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Yup. Respecting people and not stealing was crazy-radical at the time. Whodda thunk it?

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But considering that most colonists at the time would've made Disney villains shiver [Hammer nailing down a no indians allowed sign]

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with fear, this isn't too surprising. And after getting in disagreements with settlers

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in Boston, Massachusetts and Plymouth, bad-boy Roger was eventually convicted of sedition– [Judge bangs gavel]

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–which is a fancy legal word for “stirring up trouble”–

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–so he ended up buying his own land from the Wampanoag to start his own colony. [Roger meets wampanoag member]

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So next time you disagree with your parents, just buy your own colony where you can do

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things your way, and tell them you're learning from history. Works every time.

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Anyway, Roger's colony was named Providence, which today is the capital city of Rhode Island.

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It's also the best place in the entire universe, because it has the most doughnut shops per [Road sign for Providence, Rhode Island]

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capita in the entire country.

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Religious freedom is great and all, but nothing beats a good chocolate doughnut. [Lots of doughnut stores]

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Oh, and we should probably mention that Providence is also really important because it was the

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very first place to have a distinct separation of church and state.

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The colony was a safe-haven for anyone who disagreed with the government, and Williams

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went on to write a book about church and state, which ended up influencing that little tiny [The cover of Roger Williams book]

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thing that you may have heard of, called the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

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Again, that's great, but c'mon…doughnuts. [Roger excited about doughnuts]

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