John Clarke (1609-1676)
Encyclopedia
John Clarke was a medical doctor, Baptist
minister, co-founder of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate
of religious freedom in the Americas
.
in the county of Suffolk
, England
on October 8, 1609, to Thomas and Rose (Kerrich) Clarke. He was one of eight children, six of whom moved to America and settled in New England.
According to the well known genealogical work One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families,by John Osborne Austin (Salem, Massachusetts 1893), Clarke's first wife was Elizabeth Harges, daughter of John Harges. John Clarke was married three times according to this source. His second wife was Jane Fletcher, a widow, and his third wife was Sarah Davis, widow of Nicholas Davis.
The source of Clarke's education remains unknown (though some say the University of Leiden), but before arriving in America he had studied theology
, languages, and medicine
.
in 1637 and then went south to Rhode Island
. Clarke immediately sided with Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomians and was one of those forced into exile by Massachusetts Bay. Clarke learned from Roger Williams
that Aquidneck Island
(Rhode Island) was available, and he, William Coddington
, and other settlers purchased it from the Narragansetts. They left Massachusetts and established Portsmouth
in 1638. Clarke is one of the signers of the Portsmouth Compact
.
In 1639 when William Coddington lost control of the Portsmouth settlement, he, Clarke and seven other major householders left to found Newport, Rhode Island
. Clarke headed the church in Newport which was Puritan/Separatist congregation, but he had a religious and political falling out with Coddington. The church split with Clarke taking part and eventually [about 1644] emerging with a Baptist church, while most of the others eventually became Quakers when that movement arrived in Rhode Island in the 1650s.
, known as First Baptist Church in America
. Suddenly in 1847, the First Baptist Church of Newport advanced the claim that it was founded first, and this led to a debate as to which church came first. The major historians have since concluded that the Providence church was first, particularly given the fact that Roger Williams had gathered his church and had resigned as its pastor before Newport was even founded. Even Thomas Bicknell, who regarded Clarke to be far more important than Williams, conceded that the Providence church came first.
Dr. Clarke's church in Newport is now known as the "United Baptist Church, John Clarke Memorial, of Newport." (the current church meeting house on Spring Street was constructed in 1846). In 1651, John Clarke, John Crandall
and Obadiah Holmes
were arrested and imprisoned in Lynn, Massachusetts
for conducting an illegal worship service. This event (and others like it) served as the basis for Clarke's Ill Newes from New England, or a Narrative of New England's Persecutions (1652). Ill Newes contained Clarke's argument for religious freedom. He wrote that "it is not the will of the Lord than any one should have dominion over another man's conscience....[Conscience] is such a sparkling beam from the Father of lights and spirits that it cannot be lorded over, commanded, or forced, either by men, devils, or angels." One Baptist historian described Clarke as "the Baptist drum major for freedom in seventeenth century America."
In November 1651, Clarke traveled to London
with Roger Williams to cancel William Coddington's special patent that made Coddington "Governor for Life" over Aquidneck and Conanicut Islands and to secure a new charter for the colony of Rhode Island. Having succeeded in getting Coddington's charter revoked, Williams returned to Rhode Island in 1654, but Clarke stayed in England as the colony's agent. When the monarchy was restored in 1660 and Rhode Island's charter of 1644 was voided, Clarke worked against great odds to obtain a new charter. On July 8, 1663, Charles II of England
granted a Royal Charter
to Rhode Island. Clarke wrote the charter, and it contained an explicit guarantee of religious freedom: "that no person within the said colony, at any time hereafter shall be any wise molested [harassed], punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any differences in opinion in matters of religion, and do not actually disturb the civil peace of our said colony; but that all and every person and persons may, from time to time, and at all times hereafter, freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concernments, throughout the tract of land hereafter mentioned, they behaving themselves peaceable and quietly..."
The royal charter's words are carved on the frieze of the Rhode Island State House: "...to hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained...with a full liberty in religious concernments." That charter remained the foundation of government in Rhode Island until 1842.
Clarke and Williams continued to labor together for the cause of religious liberty. While Williams was a Baptist only for a few months, Clarke remained faithful for nearly forty years. Williams concluded that no visible church was valid until Christ sent a new apostle to restore it; therefore, he never affiliated with any other church. Clarke continued as the pastor of his church in Newport until his death. He practiced medicine as a means of financial support. He also served on the General Assembly from 1664 to 1669, and three terms as deputy governor (1669–1672). Clarke died in Newport on April 20, 1676, and is buried in the cemetery on Dr. Marcus Wheatland Boulevard across the street from the rear of the Newport Police Station.
to be used "for the relief of the poor or bringing up of children unto learning from time to time forever." This trust is generally considered to be the oldest educational trust fund in the United States
.
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
minister, co-founder of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original English Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America that, after the American Revolution, became the modern U.S...
, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate
Advocate
An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
of religious freedom in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
.
Early life
Clarke was born at WesthorpeWesthorpe, Suffolk
Westhorpe is a linear village and civil parish in the Suffolk countryside, thirteen miles from Bury St. Edmunds, eight miles from Stowmarket and a mile from the villages of Wyverstone and Finningham....
in the county of Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on October 8, 1609, to Thomas and Rose (Kerrich) Clarke. He was one of eight children, six of whom moved to America and settled in New England.
According to the well known genealogical work One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families,by John Osborne Austin (Salem, Massachusetts 1893), Clarke's first wife was Elizabeth Harges, daughter of John Harges. John Clarke was married three times according to this source. His second wife was Jane Fletcher, a widow, and his third wife was Sarah Davis, widow of Nicholas Davis.
The source of Clarke's education remains unknown (though some say the University of Leiden), but before arriving in America he had studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, languages, and medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
.
Immigration to New England
He first immigrated to Massachusetts BayMassachusetts Bay
The Massachusetts Bay, also called Mass Bay, is one of the largest bays of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the distinctive shape of the coastline of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Its waters extend 65 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts Bay includes the Boston Harbor, Dorchester Bay,...
in 1637 and then went south to Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
. Clarke immediately sided with Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomians and was one of those forced into exile by Massachusetts Bay. Clarke learned from Roger Williams
Roger Williams (theologian)
Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...
that Aquidneck Island
Aquidneck Island
Aquidneck Island, located in the state of Rhode Island, is the largest island in Narragansett Bay. The island's official name is Rhode Island, and the common use of name "Aquidneck Island" helps distinguish the island from the state. The total land area is 97.9 km²...
(Rhode Island) was available, and he, William Coddington
William Coddington
William Coddington was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, serving as the Judge of Portsmouth, Judge of Newport, Governor of Portsmouth and Newport, Deputy Governor of the entire colony, and then Governor of the...
, and other settlers purchased it from the Narragansetts. They left Massachusetts and established Portsmouth
Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,389 at the 2010 U.S. Census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water. Most of its land area lies on Aquidneck...
in 1638. Clarke is one of the signers of the Portsmouth Compact
Portsmouth Compact
The Portsmouth Compact was a document signed on March 7, 1638 that established the settlement of Portsmouth, which is now a town in the state of Rhode Island...
.
In 1639 when William Coddington lost control of the Portsmouth settlement, he, Clarke and seven other major householders left to found Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
. Clarke headed the church in Newport which was Puritan/Separatist congregation, but he had a religious and political falling out with Coddington. The church split with Clarke taking part and eventually [about 1644] emerging with a Baptist church, while most of the others eventually became Quakers when that movement arrived in Rhode Island in the 1650s.
Establishment of the American Baptist Denomination
Earlier in late 1638, Roger Williams, Clarke's compatriot in the cause of religious freedom in the New World, had established a Baptist church in Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, known as First Baptist Church in America
First Baptist Church in America
The First Baptist Church in America is the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, also known as First Baptist Meetinghouse. The oldest Baptist church congregation in the United States, it was founded by Roger Williams in Providence, Rhode Island in 1638...
. Suddenly in 1847, the First Baptist Church of Newport advanced the claim that it was founded first, and this led to a debate as to which church came first. The major historians have since concluded that the Providence church was first, particularly given the fact that Roger Williams had gathered his church and had resigned as its pastor before Newport was even founded. Even Thomas Bicknell, who regarded Clarke to be far more important than Williams, conceded that the Providence church came first.
Dr. Clarke's church in Newport is now known as the "United Baptist Church, John Clarke Memorial, of Newport." (the current church meeting house on Spring Street was constructed in 1846). In 1651, John Clarke, John Crandall
John Crandall
John Crandall, one of the founding settlers of Westerly, Rhode Island, was born in 1618 in Westerleigh, Gloucestershire, England to James Crandall, a yeoman of Kendleshire in that parish, and his first wife Eleanor...
and Obadiah Holmes
Obadiah Holmes
Obadiah Holmes was an early Rhode Island clergyman and a victim of religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was pivotal in the establishment of the Baptist church in America.- Ancestry and Vital Facts :...
were arrested and imprisoned in Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
for conducting an illegal worship service. This event (and others like it) served as the basis for Clarke's Ill Newes from New England, or a Narrative of New England's Persecutions (1652). Ill Newes contained Clarke's argument for religious freedom. He wrote that "it is not the will of the Lord than any one should have dominion over another man's conscience....[Conscience] is such a sparkling beam from the Father of lights and spirits that it cannot be lorded over, commanded, or forced, either by men, devils, or angels." One Baptist historian described Clarke as "the Baptist drum major for freedom in seventeenth century America."
King Charles II Charter for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with Roger Williams to cancel William Coddington's special patent that made Coddington "Governor for Life" over Aquidneck and Conanicut Islands and to secure a new charter for the colony of Rhode Island. Having succeeded in getting Coddington's charter revoked, Williams returned to Rhode Island in 1654, but Clarke stayed in England as the colony's agent. When the monarchy was restored in 1660 and Rhode Island's charter of 1644 was voided, Clarke worked against great odds to obtain a new charter. On July 8, 1663, Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
granted a Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
to Rhode Island. Clarke wrote the charter, and it contained an explicit guarantee of religious freedom: "that no person within the said colony, at any time hereafter shall be any wise molested [harassed], punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any differences in opinion in matters of religion, and do not actually disturb the civil peace of our said colony; but that all and every person and persons may, from time to time, and at all times hereafter, freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concernments, throughout the tract of land hereafter mentioned, they behaving themselves peaceable and quietly..."
The royal charter's words are carved on the frieze of the Rhode Island State House: "...to hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained...with a full liberty in religious concernments." That charter remained the foundation of government in Rhode Island until 1842.
Clarke and Williams continued to labor together for the cause of religious liberty. While Williams was a Baptist only for a few months, Clarke remained faithful for nearly forty years. Williams concluded that no visible church was valid until Christ sent a new apostle to restore it; therefore, he never affiliated with any other church. Clarke continued as the pastor of his church in Newport until his death. He practiced medicine as a means of financial support. He also served on the General Assembly from 1664 to 1669, and three terms as deputy governor (1669–1672). Clarke died in Newport on April 20, 1676, and is buried in the cemetery on Dr. Marcus Wheatland Boulevard across the street from the rear of the Newport Police Station.
Philanthropy
His will set up a trustTestamentary trust
A testamentary trust is a trust which arises upon the death of the testator, and which is specified in his or her will...
to be used "for the relief of the poor or bringing up of children unto learning from time to time forever." This trust is generally considered to be the oldest educational trust fund in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
See also
- List of early settlers of Rhode Island
- List of lieutenant governors of Rhode Island
- Colony of Rhode Island and Providence PlantationsColony of Rhode Island and Providence PlantationsThe Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original English Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America that, after the American Revolution, became the modern U.S...
External links
- Newport Notables
- Pastor John Clarke, M. D.
- Thomas Williams Bicknell, Story of Dr. John Clarke: the founder of the first free commonwealth of the world on the basis of "full liberty in religious concernments," (Providence, RI: Self Published, 1915), pg. 198 http://books.google.com/books?id=uO5YAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s (accessible on Google Book Search)
- "The forgotten patriot: One man’s actions forever married religious freedom with democracy" (Boston Globe, 04/28/11) http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/04/28/the_forgotten_patriot/