The Covenant & the Charter - Soul Liberty

American Political History · Apr 30, 2021 · 24m

By 1634, the Massachusetts Bay Colony had survived its first winters, built its courts and churches, and prepared to fight England itself to protect its charter. It looked, from the outside, like a success. From the inside, it was cracking.

Two fault lines ran through the commonwealth simultaneously. The first was political: a constitutional standoff between the elected justices and the magistrates, who claimed veto power the charter didn't give them — and got it anyway. The second was theological: a young minister named Roger Williams, trained in the law by the great jurist Sir Edward Coke…