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 MEAP Edition
Manning Early Access Program
Optimization Algorithms
AI techniques for design, planning, and control problems

Version 2

Copyright 2023 Manning Publications

For more information on this and other Manning titles go to

manning.com

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 welcome
Thanks for purchasing the MEAP for Optimization Algorithms: AI techniques for design,
planning, and control problems.

Optimization problems are ubiquitous in different aspects of life. This book is written for
practitioners interested in solving ill-structured search and optimization problems using modern
derivative-free algorithms. This book will get you up to speed with the core concepts of search
and optimization and endow you with the ability to deal with practical design, planning and
control problems.

Without assuming any prior knowledge of search and optimization and with an intermediate
knowledge of data structures and Python, this book has been written to take most anyone from
never solving search and optimization problems to being a well-rounded search and optimization
practitioner able to select, implement and adapt the right solver for the right problem.

This book grew out of several courses related to search and optimization taught by me at
different universities and training centers in industry. My 25 years working as an AI and Robotics
professor in the academia and as a technical leader in industry have given me a wealth of
experiences to share with you through this book.
By the end of the book, you should understand:

• How to deal with discrete and continuous ill-structured optimization problems using
deterministic and stochastic derivative-free search and optimization techniques
• How to apply deterministic graph search algorithms to solve graph problems
• How to apply nature-inspired algorithms to find optimal or near-optimal solutions for
practical design, planning and control problems
• How to use machine learning methods to solve search and optimization problems

• How to solve the search dilemma by achieving trade-off between search space exploration
and exploitation using algorithm parameter adaptation
• How to use state-of-the-art Python libraries related to search and optimization

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 The book is divided into five parts. Part 1 covers deterministic graph search algorithms. Part
2 will focus on trajectory-based optimization algorithms giving simulated annealing and tabu
search as examples. Moving forward, Part 3 introduces evolutionary computing algorithms
followed by presenting swarm-intelligence algorithms in Part 4. The last part of the book shows
how machine learning-based methods can be used to solve complex search and optimization
problems. Throughout this book, a wealth of examples and in-depth case studies are provided
for both novices and experts.

I do believe that learning is the common ground between the author and the reader. I hope
that what you’ll get access to will be of immediate use to you. I also look forward to learning
from your valuable feedback to develop the best book possible. Please let me know your
thoughts in the liveBook Discussion forum on what’s been written so far and what you’d like to
see in the rest of the book.

Thanks again for your interest and for purchasing the MEAP!

—Dr. Alaa Khamis

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 brief contents
1 Introduction to Search and Optimization
PART 1: DETERMINISTIC SEARCH ALGORITHMS
2 A Deeper Look at Search and Optimization
3 Blind Search Algorithms
4 Informed Search Algorithms
PART 2: TRAJECTORY-BASED ALGORITHMS
5 Simulated Annealing
6 Tabu Search
PART 3: EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTING ALGORITHMS
7 Simple Genetic Algorithm
8 Genetic Algorithm Variants
PART 4: SWARM INTELLIGENCE ALGORITHMS
9 Particle Swarm Optimization
10 Ant Colony Optimization
PART 5: MACHINE LEARNING-BASED METHODS
11 Introduction to Machine Learning
12 Machine Learning for Search and Optimization
APPENDIXES
A Search and Optimization Libraries in Python
B Benchmarks and Datasets

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

C Solutions to Exercises

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 1

Introduction to Search and

Optimization

This chapter covers

• What are search and optimization?

• Why care about search and optimization?
• Going from "toy problems" to real-world solutions
• Defining an optimization problem
• Introducing well-structured problems and ill-structured problems
• Search algorithms and the search dilemma
As human beings, we constantly strive to optimize our everyday lives. Whether it's getting to
work faster (so you can sleep in a little bit longer), balancing school and leisure time, or even
budgeting for personal spending, we try to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs.
Likewise, corporations maximize profits by increasing efficiency and eliminating waste. For
example, logistics giants like FedEx, UPS, and Amazon spend millions of dollars each year
researching new ways to trim the cost of delivering packages. Similarly, telecommunications
agencies seek to determine the optimal placement of crucial infrastructure, like cellular
towers, to service the maximum number of customers while investing in the minimum level
of equipment.
This sort of optimization behavior is not unique to humans; nature likewise tends towards
efficiency and optimality. Bacterial colonies, comprised of clusters of between 10 million and
10 billion individual organisms, form an adaptable, complex system that can perform many
complicated tasks such as foraging, pathfinding, and learning based on external stimuli.
Insects like ants and honeybees have developed their own unique optimization methods,
from navigating the shortest path to an existing food source to discovering new food sources

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 2

in an unknown external environment. Honeybee colonies focus their foraging efforts on only
the most profitable patches and build their honeycombs with a shape that economizes labor
and wax. Fish swimming in schools or cruising in the same direction minimize total energy
usage by exploiting pressure fields created by the other fish. At the same time, migratory
birds utilize separation, alignment, and cohesion-based optimization to avoid mid-air
collisions and increase flight endurance. Non-biological phenomena also tend towards
efficiency. For example, light traveling between two different media will refract along an
angle that minimizes the travel time.
As technology has developed, computer-based optimization is now an inescapable reality
of the digital era. Transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber, Lyft, and DiDi route
drivers efficiently during passenger trips and direct drivers to ride-hailing hotspots during idle
periods to minimize passenger wait time. As urbanization intensifies worldwide, local
emergency services depend on efficient dispatching and routing platforms to select and route
the appropriate vehicles, equipment, and personnel to respond to incidents across
increasingly complex metropolitan road networks. Airliners need to solve several optimization
problems such as flight planning, fleet assignment, crew scheduling, aircraft routing and
aircraft maintenance planning. Healthcare systems also handle optimization problems such
as hospital resource planning, emergency procedure management, patient admission
scheduling, surgery scheduling and pandemic containment. Industry 4.0, a major customer
of optimization technology, deals with complex optimization problems such as smart
scheduling/rescheduling, assembly line balancing, supply-chain optimization, and operational
efficiency. Smart cities deal with large-scale optimization problems such as stationary asset
optimal assignments, mobile asset deployment, energy optimization, water control, pollution
reduction, waste management and bushfire containment. These examples show how
ubiquitous and important optimization is as a way to maximize operational efficiency in
different domains.

1.1 Why care about search and optimization?

Search is the systematic examination of states, starting from an initial state, and ending
(hopefully) at the goal state. Optimization techniques are in reality search methods, where
the goal is to find an optimal or a near-optimal state within the feasible search space. The
feasible search space is a subset of the optimization problem space where all the problem's
constraints are satisfied. It's hard to come up with a single industry that doesn't already use
some form of search or optimization methods, software, or algorithms. It's highly likely that
somehow in your workplace or industry, you deal with optimization daily; it's just that you
aren't aware of it. While search and optimization are undoubtedly ubiquitous in almost all
industries, it may not always be practical to use complicated algorithms to optimize
processes. For example, consider a small pizzeria that offers a food delivery service to its
local customers. Let's assume that the restaurant processes around ten deliveries on an
average weeknight. While efficiency-improving strategies (such as avoiding left turns in left-
driving countries or right turns in right-driving countries, avoiding major intersections,
avoiding school zones during drop-off and pick-up times, avoiding bridges during lift times
and favoring downhill roads) may theoretically shorten delivery times and reduce costs, the

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 3

scale of the problem is so tiny that implementing these kinds of changes may not lead to
noticeable impact.
In larger scale problems such as fleet assignment and dispatching, multi-criteria
stochastic vehicle routing, resource allocation, crew scheduling, applying search and
optimization techniques to a problem must be a qualified decision. Some firms or industries
may not benefit from excessive process changes due to a lack of expertise or resources to
implement those changes. There may also be the concern of a potential lack of follow-
through from stakeholders. Implementing the changes could also cost more than the savings
obtained through the optimization process. Later in this book, we will see how these costs
can be accounted for when developing search and optimization algorithms.
Without assuming any prior knowledge of search and optimization and with an
intermediate knowledge of data structures and Python, this book has been written to take
most anyone from never solving search and optimization problems to being a well-rounded
search and optimization practitioner able to select, implement and adapt the right solver for
the right problem. For managers or professionals involved in the high-level technological
decisions at their workplace, these skills can be critical in understanding software-based
approaches, their opportunities, and limitations when discussing process improvement. In
contrast, IT professionals will find these skills more directly applicable when considering
options for developing or selecting new software suites and technologies for in-house use.
The following subsection describes the methodology we will follow throughout this book.

1.2 Going from toy problem to the real world

When discussing algorithms, many books and references will often present them as a formal
definition and then apply them to so-called "toy problems." These trivial problems are helpful
because they often deal with smaller datasets and search spaces while being solvable by
hand iteration. This book seeks to follow a similar approach but takes it one step further by
presenting real-world data implementations. Whenever possible, resources such as real-
world datasets and values are used to illustrate the direct applicability and practical
drawbacks of the algorithms discussed. Initially, the scaled-down toy problems help the
reader appreciate the step-by-step operations involved in the various algorithms. Later, the
real-world Python implementations teach the reader how to use multiple datasets and Python
libraries to address the increased complexity and scope of actual data.
As illustrated in Figure 1.1, source of inspiration of each search or optimization algorithm
is highlighted followed by presenting the algorithm pseudocode, algorithm parameters and
heuristics used. Algorithm pros and cons and adaptation methods are then described. The
book contains many examples that allow the learners to fully understand how each algorithm
works by carrying out iterations by hand on a scaled-down version of the problem. It also
includes many programming exercises in a special problem/solution/discussion format to
understand how a scaled-up version of the problem previously solved by hand can be solved
using Python. Through programming, learners can optimally tune the algorithm and study its
performance and scalability.

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 4

Figure 1.1 Book methodology. Each algorithm will be introduced following a structure that goes from
explanation to application.

Throughout this book, several classical and real-world optimization problems are
considered to show how to use search and optimization algorithms discussed in the book.
Figure 1.2 shows examples of these optimization/search problems.
Real-world design problems or strategic functions deal with situations when time is not as
important as the quality of the solution and users are willing to wait (sometimes even a few
days) to get optimal solutions. Planning problems or tactical functions need to be solved in a
time span between a few seconds to a few minutes. While control problems or operational
functions need to be solved repetitively and quickly, in a time span between few milliseconds
to a few seconds. In order to find a solution during such a short period of time, optimality is
usually traded in for speed gains. In the next chapter, more thorough discussion of these
problem types is provided.

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 5

Figure 1.2 Examples of classical optimization and real-world optimization/search problems.

It is highly recommended that you first perform the necessary hand iterations for the
examples following each algorithm and then try to recreate the Python implementations
yourself. Feel free to play around with the parameters and problem scale in the code; one of
the advantages of running optimization algorithms through software is the ability to tune for
optimality.

1.3 Basic ingredients of optimization problems

Optimization refers to the practice of finding the “best” solutions to a given problem, where
“best” usually means satisfactory or acceptable, possibly subject to a given set of
constraints. The solutions can be classified into feasible, optimal, and near-optimal solutions.
• Feasible solutions are solutions that satisfy all the given constraints.
• Optimal solutions are both feasible and provide the best objective function value
• Near-optimal solutions are feasible solutions that provide a superior objective
function value but are not necessarily the best.
A global optimum, or a global minimum in case of minimization problems, is the best of a
set of candidate solutions. A search space may combine multiple global minima, strong local
minima, and weak local minima as illustrated in Figure 1.3.

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 6

Figure 1.3 Feasible/acceptable solutions fall within the constraints of the problem. Search spaces may display
a combination of global, strong local, and weak local minima.

These optimum seeking methods, also known as optimization techniques, are generally
studied as a part of operations research (OR). OR, also referred to as decision or
management science, is a field that originated at the beginning of World War II due to the
urgent need for assignment of scarce resources in military operations. It is a branch of
mathematics concerned with applying advanced scientific analytical methods to decision-
making and management problems to find the best or optimal solutions.
Optimization problems can generally be stated as follows:
Find X which optimizes ƒ
Subject to a possible set of equality and inequality constraints:

gi(X)= 0, i=1,2,…,m
hj(X)<=0, j=1,2,…,p

Equation 1.1

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 7

where
• X=(x1, x2,…,xn)T is the vector representing the decision variables
• ƒ(X)=(ƒ1(X), ƒ2(X),…, ƒM(X)) is the vector of objectives to be optimized
• gi(X) is a set of equality constraints
• hj(X) is a set of inequality constraints
The following subsections describe three main components of optimization problems:
decision variables, objective functions, and constraints.

1.3.1 Decision Variables

Decision variables represents a set of unknowns or variables that affect the objective
function's value. If X represents the unknowns, also referred to as the independent variables,
then f(X) quantifies the quality of the candidate solution or feasible solution.
Example: Assume that an event organizer is planning a conference on Search and
Optimization Algorithms. The organizer plans to pay a for fixed costs (venue rental, security,
and guest speaking fees) and b for variable costs (pamphlet, lanyard, ID badge, catered
lunch) that depend on the number of participants. Based on past conferences, the organizer
predicts that demand for tickets will be as follows:

Q=5,000-20x

Equation 1.2

Where x is the ticket price and Q is the expected number of tickets to be sold. Thus, the
company expects the following scenarios:
• if the company charges nothing or x=0, the company will give away 5,000 tickets for
free;
• If the ticket price is x=$250, the company will get no attendees as the expected
number of tickets to be sold will be zero and
• If the ticket price x<$250, the company will sell some number of tickets
0<=Q<=5,000.
The profit f(x) the event organizer can expect to earn can be calculated according to the
following:

Profit=Revenue-Costs

Equation 1.3

where Revenue=Qx and costs=a+Qb. Altogether, the profit (or objective) function looks
like this:

f(x)=-20x2+ (5,000+20b)x -5,000b-a, xLB<=x<=xUB

Equation 1.4

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 8

In this problem, there is a single decision variable x, which is the price of the ticket. The
predefined parameters include fixed costs a and variable costs b. The ticket price lower
bound xLB and upper bound xUB are considered boundary constraints. Solving this
optimization problem focuses on finding the best value of x that maximizes the profit ƒ(x).

1.3.2 Objective Functions

An objective function ƒ(x), also known as the criterion or merit function or utility function or
cost function, stands for the quantity to be optimized. Without loss of generality,
optimization can be interpreted as the minimization of a value since the maximization of a
primal function ƒ(x) can be just the minimization of a dual problem generated after applying
mathematical operations on ƒ(x). This means that if the primal is a minimization problem
then the dual is a maximization problem (and vice versa). According to this duality aspect of
optimization problems, a solution x’ which is the minimum for the primal minimization
problem is also, at the same time, the maximum for the dual maximization problem as
illustrated in Figure 1.4. Moreover, simple mathematical operations like addition, subtraction,
multiplication, or division do not change the value of the optimal point. For example,
multiplying or divide ƒ(x) by a positive constant c or adding or subtracting a positive
constant c to or from ƒ(x) does not change the optimal value of the decision variable as
illustrated in Figure 1.4.

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 9

Figure 1.4 Duality principle and mathematical operations on an optimization problem.

Example: In the earlier ticket pricing problem, assume that: a=50,000, b=60, xLB =0 and
xUB=250. Using these values, we have a profit function: ƒ(x)=-20x2+6,200x-350,000.
Following derivative-based approach, we can simply derive the function to find its maximum:
dƒ/dx=-40x+6,200=0 or 40x=6,200. Thus, the optimal number of tickets to sell is 155,
which yields a net profit of $130,500 as shown in Figure 1.5.

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
We can in imagination see them climb the hill to a point where Prospect
Street now runs, to enjoy a wider view of their new territory.
From that height of almost two hundred feet they saw to the westward,
through openings in the forest, the cove at the head of the great salt river
with broad sandy beaches on the eastern and northern shores and salt
marshes bordering the western and southern. From the north the sparkling
waters of the Moshassuck River came leaping over the falls as it emptied
itself into the estuary at its mouth. Bordering this stream was a valley of
beauty and fertility. The clear waters of the Woonasquatucket threaded their
way from the west through another fertile valley. Between these rivers and
also southward (of the Woonasquatucket) was a sandy plateau, covered
with pine forests stretching to the Indian town of Mashapaug on the
southwest and Pawtuxet Valley to the south. Between the edge of the tidal
flow and the open waters of the great salt river there was a salt marsh
dotted with islands, beyond which rose the bold peak of Weybosset Hill.
Down the river to the south they saw the steep hills of Sassafras and Field’s
Point, beyond which could be seen the lower bay and its forest-covered
shores and islands. The eastern slope of the hill stretched a mile toward the
shore of the Seekonk. To the northeast the view was cut off by a higher
eminence covered with oak and pine. In all directions, save that of the bay
itself, the farther distances were lost in an indistinguishable maze of forest-
crowned heights. At the feet of the spectators was the place of their
immediate settlement, where the western slope of the hill gradually
diminished in height toward the south. At its lowest extremity, Fox Point
projected into the bay. This slope was covered with a growth of oak and
hickory.

A Purchased Possession
Roger Williams differed from the ordinary colonists of his age, who held that
the Indian, being heathen, had no real ownership of the land. It belonged to
the Christians who might first claim it by right of discovery. Williams, who
“always aimed to do the Indians only good,” recognized Indian ownership
and secured his colony from them by purchase. Here among them he first
sought to apply his doctrine of soul-liberty. To him they were humans with
equal rights and privileges. He bitterly fought the Puritan position that the
pagan heathen had no property rights which the Christian, with his superior
culture, was bound to respect. Roger Williams insisted that the land should
be purchased from the Indians, the original owners. He gained the lasting
respect of the Indian and the undying animosity of the Puritan for holding to
ideals which have since come to be recognized as American. He thus laid
the foundation for the belief in America that the weaker and smaller powers
have rights which the greater powers must respect, a belief which led us
into the recent great war. While this principle is receiving world-wide
application, let us not forget that Roger Williams was the pioneer of
international justice in America, if not in the world. The land viewed from the
top of the hill was owned by five distinct Indian tribes. The Narragansetts
dominated over all the lands now occupied by Rhode Island, and ruled over
all other lesser tribes in this territory. In the northern part of this State, the
Nipmucs lived in the place now occupied by Smithfield, Glocester, and
Burrilville. On the southern seacoast border dwelt the Niantics. Part of the
Wampanoag tribe dwelt in Cumberland and extended to the western side of
the river which we now call the Blackstone. The Pequots lived in
Connecticut Colony. Indian government was monarchial, and became
extinct with the slaughter of the last of the line of rulers or sachems in the
massacre of July 2, 1676. Canonicus was the ruling sachem when the
English first came. As he grew old he needed an assistant and his nephew,
Miantonomo, was appointed. Miantonomo worked well with the elder chief.
He never succeeded to the position of ruling chief, being murdered in 1643.
Roger Williams secured his land from these sachems. Williams wrote in
1661 as follows:
I was the procurer of the purchase, not by monies, nor payments, the natives
being so shy and jealous, that monies could not do it, but by that language,
acquaintance, and favor with the natives and other advantages which it
pleased God to give me, and also bore the charges and venture of all the
gratuities which I gave to the great Sachems and natives round about us,
and lay engaged for a loving and peaceable neighborhood with, to my great
charge and travel.
 Original Deed of Providence from the Indians

He found Indian gifts very costly. Presents were made frequently. He

allowed the Indians to use his pinnace and shallop at command,
transporting and lodging fifty at his home at a time. He never denied them
any lawful thing. Canonicus had freely what he desired from Roger
Williams’ trading-post at Narragansett. William Harris stated in 1677 that
Roger Williams had paid thus one hundred and sixty pounds ($800) for
Providence and Pawtucket.
Mr. Williams generously admitted the first twelve proprietors of the
Providence Purchase to an equal share with himself, without exacting any
remuneration. The thirty pounds which he received were paid by
succeeding settlers, at the rate of thirty shillings each. This was not a
payment for the land but what he called “a loving gratuity.” Straus says:
He might have been like William Penn, the proprietor of his colony, after
having secured it by patent from the rulers in England, and thus have
exercised a control over its government and enriched himself and family. But
this was not his purpose, nor was it directly or remotely the cause for which
he suffered banishment and misery. Principle—not profit; liberty—not power;
conviction—not ambition, were his impelling motives which he consistently
maintained, theoretically and practically then, and at all times.
Williams’ own words were:
I desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience. I then
considering the conditions of divers of my distressed countrymen, I
communicated my said purchase unto my loving friends (whom he names)
who desired to take shelter with me.
He afterward purchased, jointly with Governor Winthrop, the Island of
Prudence from Canonicus. He also purchased, a little later, the small
islands of Patience and Hope, afterward selling his interest in them to help
pay his expenses to England on business for the colony.
Following is a true copy of the Original Deed of Land for Providence from
Canonicus and Miantonomo:
At Nanhiggansick, the 24th of the first month, commonly called March, in the
second year of the Plantations of Plantings at Mooshausick or Providence.
Memorandum that we Caunaunicus and Meauntunomo, the two chief
sachems of Nanhiggansick, having two years since sold unto Roger
Williams, the lands and meadows upon the two fresh rivers, called
Mooshausick and Wanasquatucket, do now by these presents, establish and
confirm the bounds of those lands, from the river and fields at Pawtucket, the
great hill of Neotackonkonutt, on the northwest, and the town of Mashapauge
on the west. As also in consideration of the many kindnesses and services
he hath continually done for us, both with our friends of Massachusetts, as
also at Quinickicutt and Apaum, or Plymouth, we do now freely give unto him
all the land from those rivers reaching to Pawtuxet River, as also the grass
and meadows upon the said Pawtuxet River. In witness whereof we have
hereunto set our hands.
In the presence of
The Mark * of Setash,
The Mark * of Assotenewit,
 The Mark * of Caunaunicus,
The Mark * of Meauntunomo.
This original deed is preserved, as a precious relic, in the City Hall at
Providence.

Williams’ Letter of Transference to His Loving Friends

 Early Experiences in Providence
The Providence planters soon built their crude homes. The Indian name of
the plantation was Notaquonchanet. In their early records of Providence
this name is spelt in at least forty-two different forms. Other settlers came
and swelled their numbers. The original six were bound together by a
compact. It was verbal, or if written, the copy has been lost. When new
settlers came and Wickes and Angell had reached majority, a copy of the
original agreement was drawn up and signed by those not included in the
first compact. Williams was familiar with the great compact signed in the
Mayflower by the Pilgrims and probably it suggested to his mind the need of
one in Providence. This Providence Compact is as follows:
We, whose names are hereunder written, being desirous to inhabit in the
town of Providence, do promise to submit ourselves in active or passive
obedience, to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for the public
good of the body, in an orderly way, by the major consent of the present
inhabitants, masters of families, incorporated together into a township, and
such others whom they shall admit unto the same, ONLY IN CIVIL THINGS.

Edmund J. Carpenter says of this Compact:

A compact of government, which in its terms, must be regarded as the most
remarkable political document theretofore executed, not even excepting the
Magna Charta. It was a document which placed a government, formed by the
people, solely in the control of the civil arm. It gave the first example of a
pure democracy, from which all ecclesiastical power was eliminated. It was
the first enunciation of a great principle, which years later, formed the corner-
stone of the great republic. It was the act of a statesman fully a century in
advance of his time.

At the west entrance to the street railroad tunnel in Providence a bronze

tablet commemorates the fact that there in the open air the first town
meetings were held.
Roger Williams’ house was opposite the spring, forty-eight feet to the east
of the present Main Street and four feet north of Howland Street. Next, to
the north of his residence, was the house and lot of Joshua Verein. North of
this was Richard Scott’s. The first house south of Williams’ was that of John
Throckmorton and, beyond, that of William Harris. At first the struggle for
existence was hard, more so because of the loss of the crops planted at
Seekonk. Governor Winslow, of Plymouth, conscious of the wrong
Plymouth Colony had done to Williams, visited the little settlement that first
summer and left a gift of gold with Mrs. Williams. In the spring and summer
of the following year, new houses were built along the street. The new
settlers brought money with them, and Williams enlisted outside capital to
help develop the colony.

The Original Providence “Compact”

Drawn up by the men of Providence, August 20, 1638, and now contained in
the City Hall. One of the most valuable documents in existence, under which
 Williams and his companions promised to subject themselves in active and
passive obedience, but “Only in Civil Things.”
“You must look to the Magna Charta, for another such epoch-making decree,
for these, with the Declaration and the Emancipation Proclamation, are the
four great dynamic forces of American Freedom.”—R. B. Burchard.
Courtesy of “Providence Magazine,” October, 1915
The number of town lots increased. The land lay between the present Main
Street and Hope Street. Each lot was of equal width and ran eastward.
Eventually there were one hundred and two of these lots extending from
Mile End Brook, which enters the river a little north of Fox Point, to
Harrington’s Lane, now the dividing line between Providence and North
Providence. Meeting and Power Streets were the dividing streets in those
early days. In addition to the home lot, each proprietor had an “out six-acre
lot” assigned to him. Williams’ “out lot” was at “What Cheer Rock.”

The Threatened Indian Trouble

Williams, although suffering from Puritan persecution, had an opportunity
that first year of doing good to his persecutors. He became the savior of all
the New England Colonies. The Pequot Indians planned the annihilation of
the English. Williams, hearing of this, did his utmost to break up an Indian
league, and kept the Narragansetts from joining the Pequots and Mohicans.
He describes this experience in the following statement:
The Lord helped me immediately to put my life into my hands, and scarce
acquainting my wife, to ship alone, in a poor canoe, and to cut through a
stormy wind, with great seas, every minute in hazard of life, to the sachem’s
house. Three days and nights my business forced me to lodge and mix with
the bloody Pequod ambassadors, whose hands and arms, methought,
reeked with the blood of my countrymen, murdered and massacred by them
on the Connecticut River, and from whom I could not but nightly look for their
bloody knives at my own throat also. God wondrously preserved me, and
helped me to break the Pequod’s negotiation and design; and to make and
finish, by many travels and charges, the English league with the
Narragansetts and Mohegans against the Pequods.
As a result of this, the tribe of Pequots was obliterated completely and a
danger hanging over all the colonies was removed.
The Indian villages of southern New England were composed at times of as
many as fifty houses or wigwams. Most of these wigwams were shaped like
the half of an orange, with the flat or cut surface down. They were ten to
twelve feet in diameter and could accommodate two families. Other houses
were like the half of a stovepipe cut lengthwise, twenty to thirty feet long,
and accommodated from two families in the summertime to fifty in the
winter, when the people crowded together for the sake of warmth. The
council-chamber was often as long as one hundred feet with a width of
thirty feet. It was used only for councils. A fortified stockade in the center of
the village was made of logs set into the ground. Such was the shelter
afforded Williams when he fled from Salem, and such was the place when
he met the Indian sachems in council seeking to avert the massacre of the
whites. In these villages he preached the everlasting gospel of the Son of
God. He had the constant confidence of Indian sachems because he
applied to them the principle of soul-liberty which he sought to practise
among the whites.
In the autumn of 1638, Roger Williams’ third child and first son was born
and named “Providence.” He was the first white male child born in this
colony. In the year 1639-1640 the town grew and felt the need of a system
of town government. On July 23, 1640, an organization was decided upon
in which they vested the care of the general interests of the town in five
“disposers” or arbitrators. The people retained the right to appeal from the
“disposers” to the general town meeting. They were careful to provide that
as “formerly hath been the liberties of the town, so still to hold for the liberty
of conscience.”
In 1638 a settlement had been made at Portsmouth on Rhode Island. John
Clarke and Mrs. Ann Hutchinson were the leaders of this new band who
were looking for a place where they might have religious freedom, which
was denied them at Boston. They went first to New Hampshire, but, finding
it too cold there, turned to the south. By the friendly assistance of Mr.
Williams, they secured from Canonicus and Miantonomo, for a
consideration of forty fathoms of white beads, Aquidneck and other islands
in Narragansett Bay. The natives residing on the island itself were induced
to remove for a consideration of ten coats and twenty hoes. The new
settlers chose Mr. Coddington to be their judge and united in a covenant
with each other and with their God. They made Mr. Coddington their
governor in 1640.
 Plan Showing
THE FIRST DIVISION OF
HOME LOTS
IN
Providence, R.I.

About this same time a number of Providence people settled in Pawtuxet,

four miles south of Providence in territory ceded to Williams. Warwick and
Shawomet were settled by Samuel Gorton and his friends. Gorton was a
strange character who did not find things congenial for him at Boston,
Plymouth, and Newport in turn. Roger Williams, however, gave him shelter
in Providence. Finally he went to Pawtuxet and later to Shawomet, for
which he paid four fathoms of wampum to the Indians. At once Boston
Colony claimed that Shawomet was under their jurisdiction. Gorton and his
associates refused to come to Boston at the bidding of the authorities. Forty
soldiers came to Shawomet and seized Gorton and ten of his friends and
imprisoned them in Boston. They were tried for their lives, escaping only by
two votes. They were then imprisoned in the various towns. Each one was
compelled to wear a chain fast bolted around his legs. If they spoke to any
person, other than an officer of the Church or of the State, they were to be
put to death. They were kept at labor that winter and then banished in the
spring. Gorton escaped to England and secured an order from the Earl of
Warwick and the Commissioners of the Colonies requiring Massachusetts
not to molest the settlers at Shawomet. Thereafter Gorton and his friends
occupied their lands in peace.
Gorton wrote his side of the question in “Simplicities Defence,” in which he
referred to his persecutors as “That Servant so Imperious in his Master’s
Absence Revived.” This is another indictment against the persecuting
Puritans by one who found shelter in the Baptist colony of Rhode Island.

SIMPLICITIES DEFENCE
against
 SEVEN-HEADED POLICY.
OR

Innocency Vindicated, being unjustly Accused,

and sorely Censured, by that
Seven-headed Church-Government
United in
NEW-ENGLAND:
OR

That Servant so Imperious in his Masters Absence

Revived, and now thus re-acting in New-England.
OR

The combate of the United Colonies, not onely against

some of the Natives and Subjects, but against the Authority also
of the Kingdme of England, with their execution of Laws, in the name and
Authority of the servant, (or of themselves) and not in the Name and
Authority of the Lord, or fountain of the Government.

Wherein is declared an Act of a great people and Country

of the Indians in those parts, both Princes and People (unanimously)
in their voluntary Submission and Subjection unto the Protection
and Government of Old England (from the Fame they hear thereof) together
with the true manner and forme of it, as it appears under their own
hands and seals, being stirred up, and provoked thereto, by
the Combate and courses above-said.

Throughout which Treatise is secretly intermingled, that

great Opposition, which is in the goings forth of those two grand
Spirits, that are and ever have been, extant in the World
(through the sons of men) from the beginning and
foundation thereof.

Imprimatur, Aug. 3ᵈ. 1646. Diligently perused, approved, and

Licensed to the Presse, according to Order by publike Authority.

LONDON,
Printed by John Macock, and are to be sold by Luke Favvne,
at his shop in Pauls Church-yard, at the sign of the Parrot. 1646.

The Story of the First Charter

As the colony grew, it was found necessary that there should be some
vested authority which would command respect from the neighbors.
Notwithstanding what Williams had done for the Plymouth and
Massachusetts Bay colonies in connection with the Pequot War, and the
personal friendships he had with the governors, they would not consider
that he or his had any separate colony rights whatever. He had been their
Joseph driven from home and country by hostile brethren. In exile, he
became the savior of his brethren from a dreadful massacre by the Indians.
Nevertheless, Plymouth claimed jurisdiction over all the plantations in
Narragansett Bay, and Massachusetts claimed it over Providence,
Pawtuxet, and Shawomet. The Dutch had formed a trading-post at Dutch
Island and elsewhere and could strike a blow at the colony at any time. Out
of these conditions grew the demand for a charter. Roger Williams, at a
great personal sacrifice, went to England from Manhattan, now New York
City, because the two colonies to the north forbade his departure from their
ports.
Arriving in England, he found the country in the midst of the great Civil War.
King Charles was powerless because Parliament controlled the realm.
Parliament had placed colonial interest in charge of a committee of which
the Earl of Warwick was chairman or “Governor in Chief, and Lord High
Admiral of the Colonies.” From this council a charter was granted, March
17, 1644. The colony was incorporated as “Providence Plantations” and
embraced the territory now covered by the State of Rhode Island. There
was granted to the inhabitants of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport, a
free and absolute charter of incorporation ... together with full power and
authority to govern themselves and such others as shall hereafter inhabit
within any part of said tract of land by such form of civil government as by the
voluntary consent of all or the greatest part of them shall be found most
serviceable to their estate and condition, etc.
Upon the return of Williams, the inhabitants of Providence, learning of his
approach, came out in fourteen canoes to meet him at the Seekonk. They
traveled over the historic course which he had traveled six years before
when he was an exile. Now in triumph they escorted their beloved leader to
home and native town. A picture of his return with the charter, by Grant, is
on the walls of the Court House at Providence.
 The Arrival of Roger Williams with the Charter

The earliest published work of Mr. Williams is entitled,

A Key into the Language of America: or, an help to the Language of the
Natives in that part of America, called New-England. Together, with briefe
Observations of the Customes, Manners and Worships, etc. of the aforesaid
Natives, in Peace and Warre, in Life and Death. On all which are added
Spirituall Observations, Generall and Particular by the Authour, of chiefe and
speciall use (upon all occasions) to all the English Inhabiting those parts; yet
pleasant and profitable to the view of all men: By Roger Williams of
Providence in New-England. London, Printed by Gregory Dexter, 1643.

It was written at sea, en route to England, in the summer of 1643. Copies of

the original edition are in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford, the British
Museum, also in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society,
Harvard College, Brown University, and the American Antiquarian Society
at Worcester. It comprises two hundred and sixteen small duodecimo
pages, including preface and table.
The second published work of Roger Williams is entitled, “Mr. Cottons
Letter Lately Printed, Examined and Answered. By Roger Williams of
Providence, in New-England. London, Imprinted in the Yeere 1644.” Mr.
Cotton had sought to “take off the edge of Censure from himself”—that he
was no procurer of the sorrow which came to Williams in his flight and exile.
It is a small quarto of forty-seven pages, preceded by an address of two
pages. The letter referred to was written by John Cotton, and was published
in London, 1643. The author vindicated the act of the magistrates in
banishing Roger Williams from Massachusetts. He denies that he himself
had any agency in it. It consists of thirteen small quarto pages. Good copies
of both the Letter and the reply are in the Library of Brown University. Two
copies of the reply are in England, one in the British Museum, the other in
Bodleian Library. A mutilated copy of the reply is also in the Library of Yale
College.
Roger Williams wrote also, when in England, securing the Charter for
Rhode Island, a work entitled, “The Bloudy Tenent, of Persecution for cause
of Conscience, discussed.” It is considered the best written of all his works.
These discussions were prepared in London,
for publike view, in charge of roomes and corners, yea, sometimes in variety
of strange houses, sometimes in the fields, in the midst of travel, where he
hath been forced to gather and scatter his loose thoughts and papers.
It is written in an animated style and has the adornment of beautiful
imagery. Original copies are rare, eight only are known to exist, one in the
British Museum, one in Bodleian Library, one in Brown University Library,
one in Harvard College Library.
 Mʳ Cottons
LETTER
Lately Printed,

EXAMINED
AND
ANSVVERED:
By Roger Williams of Providence
In
New·England.

LONDON,
Imprinted in the yeere 1644.
 THE

BLOVDY TENENT,
 of Persecution, for cause of
Conscience, discussed, in

A Conference betweene
TRVTH and PEACE.

Who,

In all tender Affection, present to the High

Court of Parliament, (as the Result of
their Discourse) these, (amongst other
Passages) of highest consideration.

Printed in the Year 1644.

This work is based on a Baptist publication, entitled “An Humble

Supplication to the King’s Majesty, as it was presented 1620.” This latter
was a clear and concise argument against persecution and for liberty of
conscience. It was written by Murton, or some other London Baptist, who
was imprisoned in Newgate for conscience sake. His confinement was so
rigid that he was denied pen, paper, and ink. A friend in London sent him
sheets of paper, as stoppers for the bottles containing his daily allowance of
milk. He wrote his thoughts on these sheets with milk, returning them to his
friends as stoppers for the empty bottles. They were held to the fire and
thus became legible. Roger Williams based his book on the argument of
this “Humble Supplication.”
In such Paper written with Milk nothing will appeare, but the way of reading it
by fire being knowne to this friend who received the Papers, he transcribed
and kept together the Papers, although the Author himselfe could not correct,
nor view what himselfe had written.
It was in milke, tending to soule nourishment, even for Babes and Sucklings
in Christ.
It was in milke, spiritually white, pure and innocent, like those white horses of
the Word of truth and meeknesse, and the white Linnen or Armour of
rightousnesse, in the Army of Jesus. Rev. 6. & 19.
It was in milke, soft, meeke, peaceable and gentle, tending both to the peace
of soules, and the peace of States and Kingdomes.
Peace. The Answer (though I hope out of milkie pure intentions) is The
returned in bloud: bloudy & slaughterous conclusions; bloudy to Answer
the souls of all men, forc’d to the Religion and Worship which writ in
Bloud.
every civil State or Common-weale agrees on, and compells all
subjects to in a dissembled uniformitie.
Bloudy to the bodies, first of the holy witnesses of Christ Jesus, who testifie
against such invented worships.
Secondly, of the Nations and Peoples slaughtering each other for their
severall respective Religions and Consciences.
Roger Williams’ Reference to “An Humble Supplication” in His “Bloudy Tenent”

* * * * * *