Samuel Hopkins (September 17, 1721 – December 20, 1803) was an American Congregationalist theologian of the late colonial era of the United States.

Hopkins' theological views over these decades generated opposition, and he was eventually dismissed from the pastorate, as the congregation would not commit to fund his position.

While the British occupied Newport from 1776–1780 during the American Revolutionary War, Hopkins preached at Newburyport, Massachusetts, and Canterbury and Stamford, Connecticut.

Hopkins published a pamphlet entitled, "A Dialogue Concerning the Slavery of the Africans" (1776),[1] which was addressed "To the Honorable Members of the Continental Congress, Representatives of the Thirteen United American Colonies".

[4] In 1784, after the Revolution, the new state of Rhode Island passed a law granting freedom to all children born to slave mothers after March 1785.

[1] Paul Cuffee, an African-American shipping magnate, was later inspired by Hopkins's thought to pursue colonization by African Americans of Sherbro Island, near the coast of Sierra Leone, a future colony of Great Britain.