1636-1682
1636
Roger Williams expelled from Massachusetts. He founds Rhode Island as a haven for religious dissidents.
1654
Jews, fleeing religious persecution in Brazil, arrive in New York City.
1659-62
Quakers hanged in Massachusetts, persecuted in Virginia, victims of the prevailing belief in enforced religious uniformity.
1681
William Penn, leader of the Quakers, receives a charter for Pennsylvania; Penn establishes religious liberty in the colony.
Reproduced with permission from: James H. Hutson, Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1998).
