Editing Roger Williams (section)

===Litigation and exile===
[[File:The_Banishment_of_Roger_Williams.jpg|thumb|''The Banishment of Roger Williams'' ({{circa|1850}}) by [[Peter F. Rothermel]]]]
The Massachusetts Bay authorities were not pleased at Williams's return. In December 1633, they summoned him to appear before the General Court in Boston to defend his tract attacking the King and the charter. The issue was smoothed out, and the tract disappeared forever, probably burned. In August 1634, Williams became acting pastor of the Salem church, the Rev. Skelton having died. In March 1635, he was again ordered to appear before the General Court, and he was summoned yet again for the Court's July term to answer for "erroneous" and "dangerous opinions." The Court finally ordered that he be removed from his church position.

This latest controversy welled up as the town of Salem petitioned the General Court to annex some land on [[Marblehead, Massachusetts|Marblehead Neck]]. The Court refused to consider the request unless the church in Salem removed Williams. The church felt that this order violated their independence, and sent a letter of protest to the other churches. However, the letter was not read publicly in those churches, and the General Court refused to seat the delegates from Salem at the next session. Support for Williams began to wane under this pressure, and he withdrew from the church and began meeting with a few of his most ardent followers in his home.

Finally, the General Court tried Williams in October 1635 and convicted him of sedition and heresy. They declared that he was spreading "diverse, new, and dangerous opinions"<ref>LaFantasie, Glenn W., ed. ''The Correspondence of Roger Williams,'' University Press of New England, 1988, Vol. 1, pp.12–23.</ref> and ordered that he be banished. The execution of the order was delayed because Williams was ill and winter was approaching, so he was allowed to stay temporarily, provided that he ceased publicly teaching his opinions. He did not comply with this demand, and the sheriff came in January 1636, only to discover that he had slipped away three days earlier during a blizzard. He traveled 55 miles on foot through the deep snow, from Salem to [[Raynham, Massachusetts]], where the local [[Wampanoag people|Wampanoags]] offered him shelter at their winter camp. Sachem [[Massasoit]] hosted Williams there for the three months until spring.