<P> Following the 1660 restoration of royal rule in England , it was necessary to gain a Royal Charter from King Charles II . Charles was a Catholic sympathizer in staunchly Protestant England , and he approved of the colony 's promise of religious freedom . He granted the request with the Royal Charter of 1663 , uniting the four settlements together into the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . In the following years , many persecuted groups settled in the colony , notably Quakers and Jews . The Rhode Island colony was very progressive for the time , passing laws abolishing witchcraft trials , imprisonment for debt , most capital punishment and , on May 18 , 1652 , chattel slavery of both blacks and whites . </P>
<P> Following the 1660 restoration of royal rule in England , it was necessary to gain a Royal Charter from King Charles II . Charles was a Catholic sympathizer in staunchly Protestant England , and he approved of the colony 's promise of religious freedom . He granted the request with the Royal Charter of 1663 , uniting the four settlements together into the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . In the following years , many persecuted groups settled in the colony , notably Quakers and Jews . The Rhode Island colony was very progressive for the time , passing laws abolishing witchcraft trials , imprisonment for debt , most capital punishment and , on May 18 , 1652 , chattel slavery of both blacks and whites . </P>
what was the purpose of rhode island colony
what was the purpose of rhode island colony
religious freedom
religious freedom