The Great Quaker Debates took place on August 9, 10, 12, and 17, 1672. Although Roger Williams welcomed people with differing beliefs, he also relished the opportunity to present his own viewpoint. At about 69 or 70 years old, he rowed himself from Providence to Newport, more than 25 miles, arriving near midnight for the debate the next morning. His brother Robert, then a schoolmaster in Newport, helped during the proceedings. The first three days were held in Newport, with the final day held in Providence. Large audiences attended. Biblical Studies
Williams had originally challenged the famous Quaker George Fox, but Fox had already left Rhode Island. So Williams debated prominent Quakers William Edmundson, John Stubbs, and John Burnyeat instead. He organized his case into fourteen propositions, debating the first seven in Newport and the remaining seven in Providence on August 17. After four days of vigorous argument, nobody appears to have changed sides. That alone makes the episode a pretty good lesson in the limits of persuasion.
Four years later Williams published his account as George Fox Digg’d out of his Burrowes. The title itself was a double pun on George Fox and fellow Quaker Edward Burrough. Williams considered Quaker theology seriously wrong and sometimes wrote about it harshly, but he still defended the Quakers’ right to live and worship freely in Rhode Island. That is the important nuance. Tolerance did not mean agreement. Williams could argue forcefully against a belief while defending the civil liberty of the person holding it. The Great Quaker Debates remain an early example of fierce public disagreement living alongside liberty of conscience.
