Baptist minister John Clarke (pictured) was granted the Rhode Island Royal Charter, described as the "grandest instrument of human liberty ever constructed".

Baptists are a Protestant tradition of Christianity distinguished by baptizing only believers and doing so by total immersion. Modern Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul competency, sola fide, sola scriptura and congregationalist ecclesiastical polity. Baptists generally recognize at least two sacraments or ordinances: Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

John Clarke was a New England English-born politician, physician, and Puritan Baptist minister, co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate of religious liberty in America.

The Rhode Island Royal Charter provided royal recognition to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, approved by England's King Charles II in July 1663. It superseded the 1643 Patent for Settlement and outlined many freedoms for the inhabitants of Rhode Island. It was the guiding document of the colony's government over a period of 180 years.