June 16, 1636. Residents of Providence Plantations (R.I.) drew up a compact allowing religious freedom. This only applied to the residents of the Plantations, but was a forerunner of the first amendment (see June 8 post). Providence Plantations was a colonial plantation that was the first permanent European American settlement in present-day Rhode Island. It was established at Providence in 1636 by English clergyman Roger Williams and a small band of followers who had left the oppressive atmosphere of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to seek freedom of worship
