A short history of Rhode Island

by George Washington Greene

We have seen that vessels engaged in fishing were exempted from the harbor duty. As a further encouragement the first year’s interest on the new loan was set apart for building a pier or harbor on Block Island. Westerly harbor was repaired. The river fisheries also came in for their share of protection, and dams or weirs were prohibited and no fishing except by hook and line permitted during three days in the week. The first session of the Assembly at East Greenwich was distinguished by an act for the preservation of oysters, which the thoughtless inhabitants were burning in large quantities for lime. Important acts were passed for the regulation of mills. An attempt to cut through the beach on Block Island failed, and the old pier was enlarged.

The close of Governor Jenckes’s term of office was embarrassed by disputes arising from the paper money controversy. He declined a reëlection, and William Wanton, brother of the Deputy, was chosen in his stead. This was the only instance of brothers holding the two principal offices of the Colony at the same time. The dispute between Massachusetts and Rhode Island was referred to Commissioners from New York and Connecticut. No decision was reached, but the Assembly in acknowledgment of their services voted them three silver tankards of the value of fifty pounds each, with “the arms of Rhode Island handsomely engraved on them.”

We have seen that Massachusetts like Rhode Island had sought a temporary relief in the issue of paper money. The King interfered and the Massachusetts bills were withdrawn. This was a severe blow to Rhode Island, and hardly a less one to the tradesmen of Boston, whose relations with Rhode Island were very intimate. Various devices were recurred to for their protection, among them a combination to refuse to take Rhode Island bills in payment for goods. But the necessities of trade were too great. The combination gave way. Silver rose to twenty-seven shillings an ounce. Debts were paid at a loss to the creditor of thirty-three per cent. The future looked very dark.

Attention was called to the security of marriage. Till 1733 none but Quakers or clergymen of the Church of England could perform the ceremony. In 1733 authority to perform it was extended by the Assembly to clergymen of every denomination.

The death of Governor William Wanton, which occurred in 1733, produced a deep sensation throughout the Colony, where he was greatly respected for his civil and military services. Few colonists stood higher with the King. On a visit to England with his brother John, he was presented by the Queen with a silver punch-bowl and salver and permitted to add a game-cock lighting on a hawk to his arms. On his death his brother, John Wanton, the Deputy-Governor, was chosen to fill his place.

Education still forced its claims, and we find George Taylor successfully petitioning for leave to open a school in a chamber of the county house of Providence. Fifty years before the first school in Providence had been taught by William Turpin—of whom, unfortunately, we know only the name.

From time to time come questions from the Board of Trade showing how carefully England watched over her revenues. In one the Colony was asked what revenue duties were laid upon British commerce. The impost on slaves brought from the West Indies had been removed by the King’s orders, and Governor Wanton could answer that there were no duties affecting the direct commerce with England. Yet a consciousness of rights appears in more than one act of the Assembly. The Court of Vice-Admiralty sometimes exceeded its legitimate authority and tried causes over which it had no jurisdiction. This was a delicate matter for the colonial legislature to interfere in, for the court was appointed by the King. But without heeding this the Assembly conferred upon the Supreme Court the power of injunction.

The small-pox was a frequent cause of alarm. In 1735–6 another fearful disease desolated New England. It was called the throat distemper, and is described as “a swelled throat, with white or ash-colored specks, an efflorescence on the skin, great debility of the whole system and a strong tendency to putrefaction.” No age was exempt from it, but it was most fatal among children.

Roads and bridges as we have already seen had received early attention. Communication between the different parts of the Colony increased with the increase of population. In 1736 a line of stages with special privileges for seven years was established between Newport and Boston. The natural development of trade was preparing the way for a closer union among the colonies. Increased attention was given to the duties and privileges of citizenship. It is sad to find that laws against bribery at elections were called for at an early day. By those of 1736 both briber and bribed were fined double the sum offered or received and deprived for three years of the right to vote. Illegal voting was forbidden under the penalty of a fine of two pounds and disfranchisement for three years.

The kindly feeling which the colonists cherished for the mother country sometimes received a practical illustration. In the spring of 1737 His Majesty’s ship Tartar lay in Newport harbor, and that she was a welcome visitor the Assembly proved by ordering that “a score of the best sheep that may be got be presented to her commander, Mathew Norris, for the use of the crew.” None foresaw that the day would come when a British press gang would seize free citizens in this same harbor.