Rhode Island was the first to strike the name of king from the charter of her liberties, thus becoming the first sovereign independent State in all the New World.
Rhode Island was the first to recommend the permanent establishment of a Continental Congress, in town meeting assembled, May 17, 1774, and in General Assembly, June 15, 1774, she appointed Samuel Ward and Ezek Hopkins her first delegates thereto.
Rhode Island was also the first, by overt act, to renounce allegiance to George III of England. She was first to instruct her officers to disregard the Stamp Act and to ensure them indemnity for so doing. In 1765, she explicitly declared that in herself alone was vested the right of local taxation.
Rhode Island was first to fire a gun against the dominion of England. The first blood of the Revolutionary war was spilt in Narragansett Bay. Lexington was fought April 19, 1775; the Boston Tea Party was on December 16, 1773; Providence men, after perfecting their plans at the Sabin Tavern, Planet and South Main Streets, rowed down the river, and on June 10, 1772, sent up the Gaspee in flames.
On July 19, 1769, the men of Newport sunk His Majesty’s sloop, Liberty. Rhode Island was the first to establish an American navy. She gave the command to Abraham Whipple, who forthwith captured the first war prize (the tender of the frigate Rose, then off Newport). After the war of independence was under way, Rhode Island was the first to recommend and urge upon Congress the establishment of a Continental navy. Congress chose a Rhode Islander to work out the plans. Ezek Hopkins, a Providence man, was appointed commander-in-chief. Three-fourths of all the officers were from Rhode Island. These men were the vikings of the American Revolution. Ezek Hopkins’ home is still preserved on Admiral Street. There is a monument to him at his grave in Hopkins Square, corner Branch Avenue and Charles Street.
In proportion to her size none of the other States can compare with Rhode Island in the amount given to the Continental loan. Her citizens, unlocking their purses, freely furnished the sinews of war. She contributed seven times as much as South Carolina, whose population was three times as large; one and a half times as much as Maryland, whose population was four times as great; twice as much as Virginia, with a population eight times larger.
Rhode Island contributed proportionately her share of men to the great struggle. Rhode Island men were in every great battle under Washington. Rhode Island has been greatly criticized for not quickly adopting the Constitution. She was the last to adopt it. Her conception of religious and civic liberty in combination was such that she was not willing to lose easily the liberty which she had obtained for herself and which she freely advocated for others. Her part in the great struggle was so great that her motive for delay in adopting the Constitution should never be questioned. Her ideal of liberty, unique to Rhode Island then, is the generally accepted one now throughout America and back of every great politicial reform in lands beyond our borders.
Ex-Governor Russell Brown, on Rhode Island Day at the World’s Columbian Exposition, said:
The history of our State is a birthright which neither lands nor gold can buy, for full as it is of stirring and passionate events, there is not an incident in our annals that can bring the scarlet of shame to the cheek of civilized man. Roger Williams the first settler, the thrice-exiled friend of the weak and oppressed, by his revolt against Puritan intolerance and his sacrifice for soul liberty, baptized Rhode Island’s early days with glory sufficient for any State.