Using the gift of historic hindsight, we can see that the background to the Shawomet Purchase stems from the tumultuous nature of Samuel Gorton and a quest for religious freedom. Almost since his arrival to America, Gorton was a controversial figure. His encounter with the magistrates in Aquidneck emphasizes that.

In a relatively short period of time, Gorton was again at odds with his neighbors. In Portsmouth, the catalyst was an old woman whose cow had trespassed on Gorton’s land. She alleged that one of Gorton’s maidservants had assaulted her and complained to Nicholas Easton, the deputy governor. Gorton attempted to defend his maidservant in the Aquidneck court and, according to the charges against him, Gorton became very abusive when Governor William Coddington attempted to sum up the case before the jury. Fourteen charges included “That Samuel Gorton contumeliously reproached the Magistrates, calling Just Asses…The said Gorton charged the Deputy Governor to be an Abetter of a Riot, Assault, or Battery and professed that he would not touch him, no, not with a pair of tongs….”

As a result of this action, Gorton was sentenced to be whipped and was banished from the island in March or April 1640. From Aquidneck Island, Gorton and his followers proceeded to Providence. Once in Providence, Gorton attracted many of the dissidents there, became their leader and spokesman, and once again became the center of controversy.

Roger Williams, in a letter to Governor Winthrop dated Providence 1640, says, “Master Gorton having abused high and low at Aquidneck, is now bewitching and bemadding poor Providence, with his uncleane and foul censures of all the ministers of this country…and also denying all visible and externall ordinances….”

Williams and a few others refused to admit Gorton as an inhabitant with town privileges. Despite this opposition, Gorton’s followers grew, causing Williams to remark to Winthrop, “Yet the tide is too strong against us, and I Feare it will force me to little Patience, a little isle next to your Prudence.”

The differences between Williams and Gorton were not on religious grounds but on the question of the concept of government. Gorton, in 1641, again attempted to be received in “town fellowship,” and again he was refused. The man who most strenuously opposed Gorton’s application at this time was William Arnold, who asserted that Gorton was “an insolent, railing and turbulent person” and that he had divided Providence “into parties aiming to drive away its founders.”

The bitter feelings that grew between Arnold and Gorton lasted for the lifetime of both men and were responsible for many of the disturbing events of the early period. Serious difficulties arose in Providence in November 1641, when a group of “eight men orderly chosen” rendered a decision against one of Gorton’s followers, Francis Weston, and attempted to confiscate his cattle. The Gortonists, which included Gorton, John Greene and Randall Holden, rallied behind Weston and rescued him and his cattle. A riot occurred as a result and blood was shed. Arnold and 12 others protested, and when

Gorton and his followers moved into the Pawtuxet area three of the original Pawtuxet purchasers, William Arnold, Robert Cole and William Carpenter, as well as Benedict Arnold, William Arnold’s son, offered themselves and their land to the protection of Massachusetts in September 1642.

The Gortonists became alarmed over the possibility of intervention by Massachusetts. They wrote a letter “To our neighbors of Massachusetts,” which, according to 19th century historian Samuel Greene Arnold, “heaped a storm of theological invective” on the authorities there. Arnold tells us the letter was “a mass of obtrusive theology, and a parade of biblical learning,” which provoked considerable anger. The Gortonists then moved to the land south of Pawtuxet called Shawomet to be beyond the limits of Providence and Pawtuxet. Here, in November 1642, they purchased the lands now known as Warwick, West Warwick and Coventry from the Indians. Gorton’s bitter letter of rebuke to Massachusetts made him several powerful enemies among the Massachusetts magistrates and became the basis for later charges of heresy.

On Jan. 12, 1642/43, Gorton and 11 of his followers signed a deed known as the Shawomet Purchase with Miantonomi, the chief Sachem of the Narragansetts.” This deed was witnessed by Pomham, Sachem of Shawomet, and a number of others. The purchase included about 90 square miles of territory, or approximately 60,000 acres. All of the present city of Warwick, with the exception of Potowomut and the northeast corner along the Pawtuxet River, was included.

More historic hindsight will be revealed as this series continues.