Transcriber’s Note

With one exception, footnotes were used only in the tables contained in the Appendix, and are kept in proximity of their references. They have been assigned sequential letters A-L, and hyperlinks are provided to facilitate inspection of the note.

Where a single note is referred to multiple times, the link from the note to its references will always return to the first instance.

The cover page was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

Please consult the notes at the end of this text for a more detailed discussion of any other issues that were encountered during its preparation.

STATUE OF ROGER WILLIAMS.

A
SHORT HISTORY
OF
RHODE ISLAND,

BY

George Washington Greene, LL.D.,

Late Non-Resident Professor of American History in Cornell University; Author of “The Life of Major-General Nathanael Greene;” “Historical View of the American Revolution,” etc., etc.

PROVIDENCE:
J. A. & R. A. Reid, Publishers,
1877.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by

ANNA MARIA GREENE,

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

TO
Anna Maria Greene,
My Dear Mother:

You bear your ninety-three years so lightly that i invite your attention to a new volume of mine with as much assurance of your sympathy as when i crowed and wondered over my first picture book an infant on your knee. For your sympathy is as quick and as warm as it was then, and your memory goes back with unerring certainty to the men and the scenes of almost a century ago. Your eyes have looked upon Washington, and your tenacious memory can still recall the outline of his majestic form.

The first time that i ventured to send forth a volume to the world, i set upon the dedication page the name of my father. He has been dead many years. You still linger behind, and long may you linger. Long may those fresh memories which give such a charm to your daily life continue to cheer you and instruct those who have the privilege of living with you. They have seen life imperfectly who have not seen what a charm it wears when the heart that has beat so long still lends its genial warmth to the still inquiring mind.

Reverentially and affectionately your son,
GEORGE W. GREENE.

Preface.

There are two classes of history, each of which has claims upon our attention peculiarly its own. One is a sober teacher, the other a pleasant companion. One opens new paths of thought, the other throws new light upon the old, and both agree in making man the chief object of their meditations.

Nearly two thousand years ago a Roman historian likened the life of his country to the life of man. Time has confirmed the parallel. Nations, like men, have their infancy and their youth, their robust manhood and their garrulous old age. Their lives like the lives of men are full of encouragement and of warning. Interpret them aright and they become trusty guides. Misapply their lessons and you grope in the dark and stumble at every step.

And both states and men have their special duties and were created for special ends. The God that made them assigned to each its problem, and to work this out is to work out His will. Of this problem history is the record and the interpreter. It tells us what man has been, and thereby aids us to divine what he yet may be.

If with the philosopher history reveals the laws of life, with the poet she recalls the past and stirs human sympathies in their profoundest depths. Man follows man on her checkered stage; nations rise and fall; mysteries enchain us; imagination controls us; reason guides us; conscience admonishes and warns; and first and foremost of all our stimulants to action is our sympathy with our fellow-man.

I have attempted in the following pages to tell what the part of Rhode Island has been in this great drama. A talent was entrusted to her. Did she wrap it in a napkin? To those who are familiar with the accurate and exhaustive work of Governor Arnold, it will be needless to say that but for the aid of his volumes, mine would never have been written.

GEORGE W. GREENE.

Windmill Cottage,
East Greenwich, R. I., April 8th, 1877.

Analytical Table

CHAPTER I.
CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN MASSACHUSETTS BAY AND PLYMOUTH COLONIES.—ARRIVAL AND BANISHMENT OF ROGER WILLIAMS.
The religious sentiment connected with the foundation of states,[1]
Resistance to the doctrine of theocracy occasioned the settlement of Rhode Island,[2]
1631.Ship Lyon arrived at Boston, bringing Roger Williams,[2]
Early life of Williams,[2]
Massachusetts in possession of two distinct colonies,[3]
In Massachusetts Colony the clergy were virtually rulers, and they were extremely rigid,[3]
Disputes between Williams and the authorities of Massachusetts Bay Colony,[4]
Removal of Williams to Plymouth,[4]
Williams makes friendship with Massasoit and Miantonomi,[5]
Learns the Indian language,[5]
Williams returns to Salem,[5]
1635.He is persecuted and finally banished,[6]
Articles of banishment,[6]
CHAPTER II.
SUFFERINGS OF ROGER WILLIAMS IN THE WILDERNESS.—FOUNDS A SETTLEMENT ON THE SEEKONK RIVER.—IS ADVISED TO DEPART.—SEEKS OUT A NEW PLACE WHICH HE CALLS PROVIDENCE.
Attempt to send Williams to England,[7]
His flight,[8]
He is fed by the Indians,[8]
He is given land on the Seekonk River by Massasoit and starts a settlement,[8]
He receives a friendly letter from the Governor of Plymouth asking him to remove,[9]
He starts with five companions in a canoe to find a place for a settlement, and finally lands at Providence,[9]
CHAPTER III.
WILLIAMS OBTAINS A GRANT OF LAND AND FOUNDS A COLONY.—FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN THE COLONY.—WILLIAMS GOES TO ENGLAND TO OBTAIN A ROYAL CHARTER.
Early inhabitants of Rhode Island,[11]
Williams makes peace between Canonicus and Massasoit,[12]
He receives a grant of land from Canonicus and begins a settlement,[12]
Compact of the colonists at Providence,[13]
Experiment of separation of church from state tried in the new Colony,[13]
The right of suffrage not regarded as a natural right. Illustrated by Joshua Verin and his wife,[14]
1639.The first church founded in Providence,[15]
Five select men appointed to govern the Colony, subject to the action of the Monthly Town Meeting,[15]
Massachusetts Colony applied for a new charter to cover the land occupied by Providence,[15]
1643.Providence in connection with Aquidneck and Warwick sent Williams to England to obtain a Royal charter,[15]
1644.Williams returns in 1644 successful, and is received with exultation,,[16]
CHAPTER IV.
SETTLEMENT OF AQUIDNECK AND WARWICK.—PEQUOT WAR.—DEATH OF MIANTONOMI.
1637.Anna Hutchinson arrived in Massachusetts and banished,[17]
Nineteen of her followers under William Coddington and John Clarke, purchased the Island of Aquidneck and formed settlements at Pocasset and Newport,[17]
Roger Williams proclaimed the right of religious liberty to every human being,[18]
Samuel Gorton banished from Pocasset,[19]
He denied the authority of all government except that authorized by the King and Parliament,[19]
He, with eleven others, bought Shawomet and settled there,[19]
He is besieged by troops from Massachusetts, is captured, imprisoned, and afterwards released,[19]
He is appointed to a magistracy in Aquidneck,[19]
Roger Williams prevented the alliance of the Pequots and Narragansetts, and formed one between the English and the Narragansetts,[21]
Pequots rooted out and crushed,[21]
Miantonomi treacherously put to death,[22]
The Narragansetts put themselves under the protection of the English,[22]
CHAPTER V.
CHARTER GRANTED TO PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.—ORGANIZATION UNDER IT.—THE LAWS ADOPTED.
1643.The charter granted to Providence Plantations,[23]
Provisions of the charter,[23]
1647.The corporators met at Portsmouth and in a general assembly accepted the charter, and proceeded to organize under it,[24]
The government declared to be democratical,[24]
President and other officers chosen,[25]
Description of the code of laws,[25]
Design for a seal adopted,[26]
Roger Williams presented with one hundred pounds for services in obtaining the charter,[26]
Spirit of the law,[27]
CHAPTER VI.
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC TROUBLES.—UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT AT USURPATION BY CODDINGTON.
Death of Canonicus,[28]
Possibility of the doctrine of soul liberty demonstrated,[28]
Dissensions among the colonists,[29]
Troubles with Massachusetts,[29]
Baptists persecuted in Massachusetts,[30]
1651.Coddington obtained a royal commission as Governor of Rhode Island and Connecticut for life, which virtually dissolved the first charter,[30]
Roger Williams sent to England to ask for a confirmation of the charter,[31]
John Clarke, also, sent to ask for a revocation of Coddington’s commission,[31]
1652.Slaves not allowed to be held in bondage longer than ten years,[32]
Commerce with the Dutch of Manhattan interrupted by war between England and Holland,[32]
Coddington’s commission revoked and the first charter restored,[32]
CHAPTER VII.
MORE FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC TROUBLES.—CIVIL AND CRIMINAL REGULATIONS OF THE COLONY.—ARRIVAL OF QUAKERS.
Conscience claimed as the rule of action in civil as well as religious matters,[33]
Contentions between the Island and the main-land towns,[34]
1654.Court of Commissioners met and effected a reunion in the Colony,[34]
Attempts of the United Colonies to make war on the Narragansetts, but they failed, as Williams had influenced Massasoit not to sanction it,[35]
Qualification of citizenship,[36]
Duties of citizenship ascendant over dignity of office,[37]
Protection of marriage,[38]
The Pawtuxet controversy settled by acknowledgement of the claims of Rhode Island,[38]
Fort built for protection against Indians,[39]
Quakers arrived. Difference of treatment of them between Rhode Island and Massachusetts,[39]
1663.A new charter granted by Charles II. and accepted by the colonists,[40]
CHAPTER VIII.
TROUBLES IN OBTAINING A NEW CHARTER.—PROVISIONS OF THE CHARTER.—DIFFICULTIES CONCERNING THE NARRAGANSETT PURCHASE.—CURRENCY.—SCHOOLS.
The new charter gave a democratic government,[41]
Some of its provisions,[41]
Religious liberty recognized by it,[42]
Assembly and courts reörganized,[43]
State magistrates chosen by the freemen,[44]
Jealousy of Massachusetts,[44]
Trouble concerning the ownership of Narragansett,[45]
Attempt to dispossess Rhode Island of part of her territory,[46]
The Narragansetts compelled to mortgage their lands to the United Colonies,[47]
New charter obtained by Connecticut extending its bounds to the Narragansett River,[48]
1663.The boundary line left to arbitrators who fix it at the Pawcatuck River,[49]
The intrigues of John Scott for the purchase of the Narragansett tract,[49]
Letter obtained from the King, putting the Narragansett purchase under protection of Massachusetts and Connecticut,[50]
This was rendered null by the second charter of Rhode Island grant soon afterward,[51]
Wampum used as money in the Colony,[52]
Also used as an article of ornament by the natives,[52]
1652.Massachusetts began to coin silver in 1652,[53]
Rhode Island abolished the use of wampum ten years later,[53]
1662.New England shilling made legal tender in Rhode Island,[53]
1640–1663.First schools established at Providence and Newport,[53]
Affirmation is declared to be equal to an oath,[54]
CHAPTER IX.
TERRITORY OF RHODE ISLAND IS INCREASED BY THE ADDITION OF BLOCK ISLAND.—DISPUTES BETWEEN RHODE ISLAND AND THE OTHER COLONIES SETTLED BY ROYAL COMMAND.—STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THE COLONY IN 1667.
1663Block Island added to Rhode Island,[55]
Regulations concerning its admission,[56]
It is incorporated under the name of New Shoreham,[56]
Four Commissioners sent to America to reduce the Dutch and settle all questions of appeal between the colonies,[57]
The vexed questions of boundary line between Rhode Island and Plymouth; the Narragansett question and Warwick difficulties referred to the Commissioners, who referred the first to the King and decided the second in favor of Rhode Island,[57]
The Indians removed from King’s Province,[59]
Five propositions submitted by the Commissioners to the Rhode Island Assembly,[59]
1st. All householders should take the oath of allegiance to the King,[59]
2d. Mode of admitting freemen,[59]
3d. Admission to the sacrament open to all well disposed persons,[60]
4th. All laws and resolves derogatory to the King repealed,[60]
5th. Provisions for self-defence,[60]
1672.Trouble with John Paine concerning Prudence Island,[62]
Members of the Assembly to be paid for their services,[63]
Financial difficulties in the Colony,[64]
1667.Preparations for defence against the French,[64]
1672.Act passed to facilitate the collection of taxes,[65]
CHAPTER X.
KING PHILIP’S WAR.
Wamsutta summoned before the General Court at Plymouth,[67]
His death,[67]
Indignation of the Indians, especially King Philip,[68]
Condition of the Indians,[68]
Attack on Swanzey,[69]
The Indians pursued by the English,[69]
Philip and his allies besieged in a swamp at Pocasset,[71]
His escape,[71]
The Indian attack on Hadley,[71]
Goffe, the regicide,[72]
Philip joined the Narragansetts,[72]
Battle in the swamp,[73]
Indians defeated, and their village destroyed,[74]
Depredations in Rhode Island,[75]
Death of Canonchet,[76]
Death of Philip and end of the war,[77]
Condition of the country after the war,[77]
CHAPTER XI.
INDIANS STILL TROUBLESOME.—CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.—TROUBLES CONCERNING THE BOUNDARY LINES.
Precautions against the Indians,[78]
Troubles with Connecticut concerning Narragansett,[79]
Two agents sent to England,[80]
War party obtains power,[80]
Foundation of East Greenwich,[82]
Bitter controversy concerning the limits and extent of the Providence and Pawtuxet purchase,[82]
1696–1712.Settled in 1696 and 1712,[83]
CHAPTER XII.
DEATH OF SEVERAL OF THE MOST PROMINENT MEN.—CHANGES IN LEGISLATION.
The United Colonies still encroached upon Rhode Island,[84]
Deaths of John Clarke, Roger Williams, Samuel Gorton, William Harris, and William Coddington,[85]
1678.Financial condition of the Colony in 1678,[88]
Changes in the usages of election,[89]
Bankrupt law passed and afterwards repealed,[89]
Law concerning disputed titles to lands,[90]
1679.Law for the protection of servants,[91]
Law for the protection of sailors,[91]
John Clawson’s curse,[92]
CHAPTER XIII.
COURTS AND ARMY STRENGTHENED.—COMMISSIONERS SENT FROM ENGLAND.—CHARTER REVOKED.
Disputes concerning the title of Potowomut,[93]
1680.Power of the town to reject or accept new citizens,[93]
Efficiency of the courts increased,[94]
English navigation act injures the commercial interests of the Colony,[95]
Commissioners appointed to settle the vexed question of the King’s Province,[96]
Rhode Island’s position in New England in regard to the other colonies,[96]
Trouble with the Commissioners,[97]
Charter revoked,[98]
Rhode Island returned to its original form of government,[98]
CHAPTER XIV.
CHANGES IN FORM OF GOVERNMENT.—SIR EDMOND ANDROS APPOINTED GOVERNOR.—HE OPPRESSES THE COLONISTS AND IS FINALLY DEPOSED.
John Greene sent to England with an address to the King for the preservation of the charter,[100]
Changes in the names and the boundaries of Kingston, Westerly and East Greenwich,[101]
1687.Arrival of Sir Edmond Andros,[101]
Taxes farmed out,[102]
Marriages made illegal unless performed by the rites of the English Church,[103]
Passport system introduced,[103]
Composition of the council,[103]
Andros’s commission enlarged,[105]
The press subjected to the will of the Governor,[105]
Title of Rhode Island to King’s Province again confirmed,[106]
Persecution of the Huguenots,[107]
Andros deposed,[107]
CHAPTER XV.
CHARTER GOVERNMENT AGAIN RESUMED.—FRENCH WAR.—INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.—CHARGES AGAINST THE COLONIES.
Chief-Justice Dudley attempted to open his court, he is seized and imprisoned,[108]
Return of the old form of government,[108]
Legality of resumption confirmed by the King,[109]
1690.The Assembly reorganized,[110]
Town house built,[111]
The colonists taxed to sustain the French and Indian war,[112]
Coast invaded by French privateers,[112]
New taxes levied,[113]
Small-pox broke out in the Colony,[113]
1691.Sir William Phipps appointed Governor of Massachusetts with command over all the forces of New England,[114]
This command over the forces of Rhode Island restricted to time of war,[115]
1693.First mail line established between Boston and Virginia,[116]
State officers to be paid a regular salary,[116]
Assembly divided into two houses,[116]
Indians still troublesome,[117]
Courts of Admiralty established in the Colony,[117]
1697–1698.Trouble from enemies to the charter government,[117]
Interests of trade fostered,[118]
Smuggling common,[118]
Charges made against the Colony by the Royal Governor,[119]
Captain Kidd,[119]
CHAPTER XVI.
COLONIAL PROSPERITY.—DIFFICULTIES OCCASIONED BY THE WAR WITH THE FRENCH.—DOMESTIC AFFAIRS OF THE COLONY.
1702.Prosperity of the Colony,[120]
Providence the second town in the Colony,[120]
Religious freedom,[120]
Attempt to establish a Vice-Royalty over the Colonies,[122]
1701.Better Laws enacted,[123]
1702.Preparations for defence,[123]
1703.Boundary line between Rhode Island and Connecticut finally settled,[124]
The character and interest of the Colony misunderstood by England,[124]
French privateer captured,[125]
Further acts of the Assembly,[126]
Slave trade,[127]
1708.First census taken,[127]
Public auctions first held,[128]
Commercial and agricultural progress,[128]
1709.First printing press set up at Newport,[129]
Internal improvements,[130]
CHAPTER XVII.
PAPER MONEY TROUBLES.—ESTABLISHMENT OF BANKS.—PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRIES.—PROPERTY QUALIFICATIONS FOR SUFFRAGE.
Issue of paper money,[131]
Clerk of the Assembly first elected from outside the House,[131]
Arts of peace resumed,[132]
New militia laws enacted,[132]
Laws concerning trade,[133]
Troubles occasioned by paper money,[134]
1715.Banks established in Massachusetts and Rhode Island,[134]
Paper money question carried into election,[134]
Improvements in Newport,[136]
Criminal code,[136]
1716.School-houses built in Portsmouth,[136]
Punishment of slander,[137]
Indian lands taken under the protection of the Colony,[137]
Law concerning intestates,[137]
1719.First edition of the laws printed,[138]
Boundary troubles,[138]
Industry of the Colony protected by loans and bounties,[138]
1724.Freehold act passed,[139]
1723.Pirate captured,[139]
Evidences of the progress of the Colony,[139]
1727.Death of Governor Cranston,[141]
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHANGE OF THE EXECUTIVE.—ACTS OF THE ASSEMBLY.—GEORGE BERKELEY’S RESIDENCE IN NEWPORT.—FRIENDLY FEELING BETWEEN THE COLONISTS AND THE MOTHER COUNTRY.
New Governor elected,[142]
State of affairs in England,[142]
1728.Revision of the criminal code,[143]
Laws for the encouragement and regulation of trade,[144]
1727.Earthquake,[145]
1723–1724.Division of the Colony into counties,[146]
George Berkeley,[146]
Establishment of Redwood Library,[147]
Laws concerning charitable institutions, Quakers and Indians,[147]
1730.New census taken,[148]
1731.New bank voted,[149]
Commercial prosperity,[149]
New edition of the laws published,[149]
Fisheries encouraged,[150]
Regulation concerning election,[150]
William Wanton chosen Governor,[152]
Depreciation of paper money,[152]
1733.Marriage laws,[152]
John Wanton chosen Governor,[153]
Watchfulness of the Board of Trade,[153]
1735–1736.Throat distemper,[154]
Law against bribery at elections,[154]
Arrival of his Majesty’s ship Tartar,[155]
Means of protection against fire,[155]
CHAPTER XIX.
WAR WITH SPAIN.—NEW TAXES LEVIED BY ENGLAND.—RELIGIOUS AWAKENING AMONG THE BAPTISTS.
Preparation for war against the Spaniards,[156]
Great expedition against the Spanish West Indies,[157]
New taxes levied on importations by England,[157]
Death of Governor Wanton, who is succeeded by Richard Ward,[158]
Arrival of Whitefield and Fothergill,[159]
Further provisions for the defence of the Colony,[159]
Report of the Governor concerning paper money,[160]
1741.Boundary line between Rhode Island and Massachusetts settled,[161]
CHAPTER XX.
PROGRESS OF THE WAR WITH THE FRENCH.—CHANGE IN THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURTS.—SENSE OF COMMON INTEREST DEVELOPING AMONG THE COLONISTS.—LOUISBURG CAPTURED.
Privateers fitted out,[162]
1741.James Greene started an iron works,[162]
Changes of the jurisdictions of the courts,[163]
Encroachments of Connecticut,[163]
1741.Newport Artillery chartered,[165]
Counterfeit bills troublesome,[164]
1744.Lotteries legalized,[165]
Rhode Island’s part in the capture of Louisburg,[165]
Death of Colonel John Cranston,[166]
Two privateers and two hundred men lost,[166]
Sense of common interest and mutual dependence gaining ground,[166]
Caution against fraudulent voting,[167]
Disaster to the French armada,[168]
1746.Close of the campaign,[168]
Accession of territory,[168]
CHAPTER XXI.
ATTEMPT TO RETURN TO SPECIE PAYMENTS.—CHANGES IN THE REQUIREMENTS OF CITIZENSHIP.—NEW COUNTIES AND TOWNS FORMED.—FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.—WARD AND HOPKINS CONTEST.—ESTABLISHMENT OF NEWSPAPERS.
1748.Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle,[170]
Hutchinson’s scheme for returning to specie payment rejected by Rhode Island,[171]
Act against swearing revised,[172]
Provisions concerning legal residence,[172]
New census taken,[172]
1748–1749.Death of John Callender,[173]
Beaver Tail Light built,[173]
Troubles from depreciation of currency,[173]
1754.First divorce granted,[174]
Kent County formed,[174]
1752.Gregorian calendar adopted,[175]
Troubles concerning the Narragansett land settled,[175]
1753.First patent granted in the Colony for making potash,[175]
Fellowship Club founded—afterwards the Newport Marine Society,[176]
1754.Commissioners sent to the Albany Congress,[176]
French and Indian war,[177]
French settlers imprisoned,[178]
Ward and Hopkins contest,[178]
Providence court house and library burned,[179]
David Douglass built a theatre at Providence,[180]
1758.Newport Mercury established,[180]
1762.Providence Gazette established,[180]
Writs of assistance first called for,[181]
1759.Death of Richard Partridge,[181]
Freemasonry first introduced into the Colony,[181]
Regulations concerning fires,[181]
Towns of Hopkinton and Johnston formed,[182]
CHAPTER XXII.
RETROSPECT.—ENCROACHMENTS OF ENGLAND.—RESISTANCE TO THE REVENUE LAWS.—STAMP ACT.—SECOND CONGRESS OF COLONIES MET AT NEW YORK.—EDUCATIONAL INTEREST.
Resumé of the progress of the Colony,[183]
Reason for the enactment of the laws,[184]
Rhode Island’s solution of the problem of self-government and soul-liberty,[185]
Encroachments of England on the liberties of the colonies,[186]
War had taught the colonies a much needed lesson,[187]
Harbor improvements,[188]
Parliament votes men and money for the defence of the American colonies,[188]
Restrictions of commerce,[189]
1764.Molasses and sugar act renewed and extended,[189]
Resistance to the enforcement of the obnoxious revenue laws,[190]
Action of the colonies in regard to the stamp act,[191]
England is obliged to repeal the stamp act,[193]
Resistance to impressment,[193]
1765.Second Colonial Congress met at New York and issued addresses to the people, Parliament, and to the King,[194]
New digest of the laws completed and printed,[195]
1766.Free schools established at Providence,[196]
Brown University founded,[196]
Iron mine discovered,[197]
CHAPTER XXIII.
TRANSIT OF VENUS.—A STRONG DISLIKE TO ENGLAND MORE OPENLY EXPRESSED.—NON-IMPORTATION AGREEMENT.—INTRODUCTION OF SLAVES PROHIBITED.—CAPTURE OF THE GASPEE.
Collision between British officers and citizens,[199]
Dedication of liberty trees,[199]
Laws concerning domestic interests,[199]
Transit of Venus,[200]
Armed resistance to England more openly talked of,[201]
Scuttling of the sloop-of-war Liberty,[202]
Non-importation of tea agreed to,[203]
Prosperity of Newport,[203]
First Commencement at Rhode Island College,[204]
1770.Further introduction of slaves prohibited,[204]
Governor Hutchinson advanced a claim for the command of the Rhode Island militia,[205]
Evidence of justice in Rhode Island,[206]
Capture and destruction of the schooner Gaspee,[207]
CHAPTER XXIV.
PROPOSITION FOR THE UNION OF THE COLONIES.—ACTIVE MEASURES TAKEN LOOKING TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE.—DELEGATES ELECTED TO CONGRESS.—DESTRUCTION OF TEA AT PROVIDENCE.—TROOPS RAISED.—POSTAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED.—DEPREDATIONS OF THE BRITISH.—“GOD SAVE THE UNITED COLONIES.”
1774.Limitation of negro slavery,[210]
Resolution recommending the union of the colonies passed at Providence town meeting,[210]
1774.Boston port bill passed,[211]
Small-pox at Newport,[211]
Indication of popular indignation,[212]
Activity of Committees of Correspondence,[212]
Publishment of the Hutchinson letters,[213]
Franklin removed from his position as superintendent of American post-offices,[214]
1774.General Gage entered Boston as Governor,[215]
Sympathy of Rhode Island for Boston; East Greenwich the first to open a subscription,[215]
Hopkins and Ward elected delegates to Congress,[216]
1774.Congress met in Philadelphia; adopted a declaration of rights; recommended the formation of an American Association,[217]
Distribution of arms,[218]
Exportation of sheep stopped; manufacture of fire-arms begun,[219]
Tea burnt at Providence,[219]
Troops started for Boston,[219]
Army of Observation formed with Nathanael Greene, commander,[220]
Rhode Island troops on Jamaica Plains,[221]
Articles of war passed,[221]
Capture of a British vessel by Captain Abraham Whipple,[221]
Rhode Island Navy founded,[222]
William Goddard’s postal system went into operation,[222]
Colony put upon a war footing,[223]
Bristol bombarded and the coast of Rhode Island plundered,[224]
Part of the debt of Rhode Island assumed by Congress as a war debt,[225]
Rhode Island in the expedition against Quebec,[226]
Depredation of the British squadron,[226]
Battle on Prudence Island,[227]
Evacuation of Boston,[228]
Death of Samuel Ward,[228]
The Assembly of Rhode Island renounced their allegiance to the British Crown,[228]
CHAPTER XXV.
RHODE ISLAND BLOCKADED.—DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE INDORSED BY THE ASSEMBLY.— NEW TROOPS RAISED.—FRENCH ALLIANCE.—UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THE BRITISH FROM RHODE ISLAND.
Islands and waters of Rhode Island taken possession of by the British,[229]
Quota of Rhode Island,[230]
Inoculation introduced,[231]
Treatment of Tories,[231]
Declaration of Independence indorsed by the Assembly,[232]
Rhode Island’s part in the Continental Navy,[232]
Convention of Eastern States to form a concerted plan of action,[233]
Financial troubles,[234]
Regiment of negroes raised,[234]
1778.Tidings of the French alliance received,[235]
Expedition against Bristol and Warren,[235]
Attempt to drive the British from Rhode Island rendered unsuccessful by a terrible storm, and jealousy among the officers of the French fleet,[236]
CHAPTER XXVI.
ACTS OF THE BRITISH TROOPS.—DISTRESS IN RHODE ISLAND.—EVACUATION OF NEWPORT.—REPUDIATION.—END OF THE WAR.
Disappointment of the Americans,[241]
Wanton destruction of life and property by the British,[241]
Pigot galley captured by Talbot,[242]
Scarcity of food in Rhode Island,[242]
Steuben’s tactics introduced into the army,[244]
Difficulty in raising money,[244]
British left Newport,[245]
Town records carried off by the British,[246]
Repudiation of debt,[247]
Rhode Island’s quota,[248]
Preparations for quartering and feeding the troops,[249]
An English fleet of sixteen ships menaced the Rhode Island coast,[250]
Assembly met at Newport; the first time in four years,[250]
1781.End of the war,[251]
The federation completed,[251]
CHAPTER XXVII.
ARTS OF PEACE RESUMED.—DOCTRINE OF STATE RIGHTS.
Name of King’s County changed to Washington,[252]
New census taken,[253]
Question of State Rights raised,[253]
1782.Nicholas Cooke died,[254]
Armed resistance to the collection of taxes,[254]
Troubles arising from financial embarrassment,[255]
1783.Acts of the Assembly,[256]
CHAPTER XXVIII.
DEPRECIATION OF THE CURRENCY.—INTRODUCTION OF THE SPINNING-JENNY.—BITTER OPPOSITION TO THE FEDERAL UNION.—RHODE ISLAND FINALLY ACCEPTS THE CONSTITUTION.
Desperate attempt to float a new issue of paper money,[257]
Forcing acts declared unconstitutional,[258]
First spinning-jenny made in the United States,[259]
Bill passed to pay five shillings in the pound for paper money,[260]
Refusal of Rhode Island to send delegates to the Federal Convention,[261]
Proposed United States Constitution printed,[261]
Acceptance of the Constitution by various states,[261]
State of manufactures,[262]
1790.Rhode Island declared her adhesion to the Union,[264]
CHAPTER XXIX.
MODE OF LIFE IN OUR FOREFATHERS’ DAYS.
Early condition of the land,[265]
Agriculture the principal pursuit of the early settlers,[266]
Early traveling,[267]
Early means of education,[267]
Amusements,[268]
CHAPTER XXX.
COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND PROSPERITY OF RHODE ISLAND.
Rhode Island wiser on account of her previous struggles for self-government,[270]
Commercial condition of Rhode Island,[271]
Trade with East Indies commenced,[271]
1790.First cotton factory went into operation,[273]
1799.Free school system established,[273]
1819.Providence Institution for Savings founded,[274]
Canal from the Providence River to the north line of the state projected and failed,[274]
1801.Great fire in Providence,[274]
Visit of Washington to Rhode Island,[275]
1832.Providence made a city,[275]
Rhode Island in the War of 1812,[276]
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE DORR REBELLION.
The Right of Suffrage becomes the question of Rhode Island’s politics,[277]
Inequality of representation,[278]
No relief obtainable from the Assembly,[278]
Formation of Suffrage Associations,[279]
Peoples’ Constitution, so called, voted for,[279]
1842.Thomas Wilson Dorr elected Governor under it,[280]
Conflict between the old and new government,[280]
Attempt of the Dorr government to organize and seize the arsenal both failures,[281]
End of the War,[281]
Dorr tried for treason and sentenced to imprisonment for life; afterwards restored to his political and civil rights,[281]
New Constitution adopted,[282]
Freedom of thought and speech the foundation of Rhode Island’s prosperity,[282]
CHAPTER XXXII.
LIFE UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.—THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.—THE CENTENARY.
Life under the Constitution,[283]
The War of the Rebellion,[283]
Rhode Island’s quota,[284]
The Centennial Exposition,[285]
APPENDIX.
King Charles’ Charter,[291]
Present State Constitution,[301]
Copy of the Dorr Constitution,[317]
State seal,[333]
Governors of Rhode Island,[334]
Deputy-Governors of Rhode Island,[337]
Members of the Continental Congress,[339]
Towns, date of incorporation, &c.,[340]
Population from 1708 to 1875,[345]
State valuation,[348]
The Corliss Engine at the Centennial Exposition,[349]

A Short History of Rhode Island.