John Clarke was a physician, 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 America.
Portsmouth Compact; John Clarke's name is second on the list, just below Coddington's
Governor Endicott said that Clarke and his company deserved death
Clarke was heavily fined, while the defiant Obadiah Holmes was whipped in Boston in 1651
Antinomian Controversy
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The Antinomian Controversy, also known as the Free Grace Controversy, was a religious and political conflict in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. It pitted most of the colony's ministers and magistrates against some adherents of Puritan minister John Cotton. The most notable Free Grace advocates, often called "Antinomians", were Anne Hutchinson, her brother-in-law Reverend John Wheelwright, and Massachusetts Bay Governor Henry Vane. The controversy was a theological debate concerning the "covenant of grace" and "covenant of works".
Anne Hutchinson at trial and John Winthrop
John Cotton was Hutchinson's mentor.
Henry Vane the Younger
John Wheelwright's fast-day sermon fanned the flames of the controversy.