Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

Early America

The land that became the English colony was first home to the Narragansett Indians, which led to the name of the modern town of Narragansett, showing respect to the Narragansett and Nipmuc peoples. European settlement began with the Dutch, and the area was initially claimed by the Colony of New Netherlands, while English settlement occurred along the Massachusetts Bay. Once the English claimed the area of New England, Dutch influence was particularly withdrawn from the area, though it still remained, perhaps including the name Red Island, which may later have been anglicized to Rhode Island.

Providence was founded by Roger Williams when he was expelled from the Massachusetts Colony in 1636, when he established Providence Plantation. The modern area of Rhode Island became a state on May 29, 1790.

Baptist sanctuary

Providence Plantation was an American colony of English settlers founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a theologian, independent preacher, and linguist, on land given to him by Narragansett sachem Canonicus. Williams was exiled under religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and agreed with his fellow settlers on an egalitarian constitution providing for majority rule "in civil things" with liberty of conscience on spiritual matters. He named the colony Providence Plantation, believing that God had brought him and his followers there. (The term "plantation" was used in the 17th century as a synonym for "settlement" or "colony.") Williams named the islands in the Narragansett Bay after virtues: Patience Island, Prudence Island, and Hope Island.

In 1637, another group of Massachusetts dissenters purchased land on Rhode Island from the Indians (today called Aquidneck Island) and settled Pocasset, now known as Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The group included William Coddington, John Clarke, and Anne and William Hutchinson, among others. That settlement, however, quickly split into two separate settlements. Samuel Gorton and others remained to establish the settlement of Portsmouth (which formerly was Pocasset) in 1638, while Coddington and Clarke established nearby Newport in 1639. Both colonies were situated on Rhode Island (Aquidneck).

The second of the plantation colonies on the mainland was Samuel Gorton’s Shawomet Purchase from the Narragansetts in 1642. As Gorton settled at Shawomet, the Massachusetts authorities laid claim to his territory and acted to enforce their claim. After considerable difficulties with the Massachusetts Bay General Court, Gorton traveled to London to enlist the sympathies of Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, head of the Commission for Foreign Plantations. Gorton returned to his colony in 1648 with a letter from Rich, ordering Massachusetts to cease molesting him and his people. In gratitude, Gorton changed the name of Shawomet Plantation to Warwick Plantation.

These four separate settlements were very progressive for their time, passing laws abolishing witchcraft trials, imprisonment for debt, most capital punishment and, on May 18, 1652, chattel slavery of both blacks and whites.

Cromwell interregnum

In 1651, William Coddington obtained a separate charter from England setting up the Coddington Commission, which made him life governor of the islands of Rhode Island and Conanicut in a federation with Connecticut Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony. Protest, open rebellion, and a further petition to Oliver Cromwell in London led to the reinstatement of the original charter in 1653.

Sanctuary for religious freedom

Following the 1660 restoration of royal rule in England, it was necessary to gain a Royal Charter from the new king Charles II of England. Charles was then a Catholic sympathizer in staunchly Protestant England, and approved the colony's promise of religious freedom. He granted the request with the Royal Charter of 1663, giving the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations an elected governor and legislature. In the following years, many persecuted groups settled in the colony, notably Quakers and Jews.

Rhode Island remained at peace with local Indians, but the relationship was more strained between other New England colonies and certain tribes and sometimes led to bloodshed, despite attempts by the Rhode Island leadership to broker peace. During King Philip's War (1675–1676), both sides regularly violated Rhode Island's neutrality. The war's largest battle occurred in Rhode Island, when a force of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth militia under General Josiah Winslow invaded and destroyed the fortified Narragansett village in the Great Swamp in southern Rhode Island, on December 19, 1675. The Narragansetts also invaded and burned down several of the cities of Rhode Island, including Providence. Roger Williams knew both Metacom (English name Philip) and Canonchet as children. He was aware of the tribe's movements and promptly sent letters informing the Governor of Massachusetts of enemy movements. By his prompt action, Providence Plantations made some efforts at fortifying the town, and Williams even started training recruits for protection. In one of the final actions of the war, troops from Connecticut hunted down and killed "King Philip", as they called the Narragansett war leader Metacom, on Rhode Island's territory.

Dominion of New England

In the 1680s, Charles II sought to streamline administration of the English colonies and to more closely control their trade. The Navigation Acts passed in the 1660s were widely disliked, since merchants often found themselves trapped and at odds with the rules. However, many colonial governments, Massachusetts principally among them, refused to enforce the acts, and took matters one step further by obstructing the activities of the Crown agents. Charles' successor James II introduced the Dominion of New England in 1686 as a means to accomplish these goals. Under its provisional president Joseph Dudley, the disputed "King's Country" (present-day Washington County) was brought into the dominion, and the rest of the colony was brought under dominion control by Governor Sir Edmund Andros. The rule of Andros was extremely unpopular, especially in Massachusetts. The 1688 Glorious Revolution deposed James II and brought William and Mary to the English throne; Massachusetts authorities conspired in April 1689 to have Andros arrested and sent back to England. With this event, the dominion collapsed and Rhode Island resumed its previous government.

The bedrock of the economy continued to be agriculture – especially dairy farming – and fishing; lumber and shipbuilding also became major industries. Slaves were introduced at this time, although there is no record of any law re-legalizing slave holding. Ironically, the colony later prospered under the slave trade, by distilling rum to sell in Africa as part of a profitable triangular trade in slaves and sugar between Africa, America, and the Caribbean.

American Revolutionary period

Leading figures in the colony were involved in the 1776 launch of the American Revolutionary War which delivered American independence from the British Empire, such as former royal governors Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward, as well as John Brown, Nicholas Brown, William Ellery, the Reverend James Manning, and the Reverend Ezra Stiles, each of whom had played an influential role in founding Brown University in Providence in 1764 as a sanctuary for religious and intellectual freedom.

On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first of the 13 colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown, and was the fourth to ratify the Articles of Confederation between the newly sovereign states on February 9, 1778. It boycotted the 1787 convention that drew up the United States Constitution, and initially refused to ratify it. It relented after Congress sent a series of constitutional amendments to the states for ratification (specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights; clear limitations on the government's power in judicial and other proceedings; and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically delegated to Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people). On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island became the thirteenth state and the last of the former colonies to ratify the Constitution.