Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sammy Houston (talk | contribs) at 21:20, 3 April 2011 (Undid revision 421978074 by Student7 (talk) Deletion of clearly relevant images and informative content based on subjective assessments may be construed as article vandalism.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
1636–1776
Capital	Providence, Rhode Island
Common languages	English
Government	Constitutional Monarchy
Governor
History
• Established	1636
• Foundation	1637
• Chartered as an English colony	1644
• Coddington Commission	1651–1653
• Royal Charter	1663
• Part of the Dominion of New England	1686–1688
• Ratification of Constitution of the United States of America	1790
• Disestablished	1776
Succeeded by Rhode Island

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article is part of a series on the
History of the United States
Timeline and periods Prehistoric and Pre-Columbian Era until 1607 Colonial Era 1607–1765 1776–1789     American Revolution 1765–1783     Confederation period 1783–1788 1789–1815     Federalist Era 1788–1801     Jeffersonian Era 1801–1817 1815–1849     Era of Good Feelings 1817–1825     Jacksonian Era 1825–1849 1849–1865     Civil War Era 1849–1865 1865–1917     Reconstruction Era 1865–1877     Gilded Age 1877–1896     Progressive Era 1896–1917 1917–1945     World War I 1917–1918     Roaring Twenties 1918–1929     Great Depression 1929–1941     World War II 1941–1945 1945–1964     Post-World War II Era 1945–1964     Civil Rights Era 1954–1968 1964–1980     Civil Rights Era 1954–1968     Vietnam War 1964–1975 1980–1991     Reagan Era 1981–1991 1991–2008     Post-Cold War Era 1991–2008 2008–present     Modern Era 2008–present
Topics American Century Antisemitism Civil unrest Racial violence Cultural Cinema Music Newspapers Sports Demography Immigration Economy Banking Education Higher education Flag Government Abortion Capital punishment Civil rights Corruption The Constitution Debt ceiling Direct democracy Foreign policy Law enforcement Postal service Taxation Voting rights Journalism Maritime Military Army Marine Corps Navy Air Force Space Force Coast Guard Party Systems First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Religion Social class Slavery Sexual slavery Technology and industry Agriculture Labor Lumber Medicine Railway
Groups African American Asian American Chinese American Filipino American Indian American Japanese American Korean American Thai American Vietnamese American European American Albanian American English American Estonian American Finnish American German American Irish American Italian American Lithuanian American Polish American Serbian American Hispanic and Latino American Mexican American Jewish American Middle Eastern American Egyptian American Iranian American Iraqi American Lebanese American Palestinian American Saudi American Native Americans Cherokee Comanche Women LGBTQ Gay men Lesbians Transgender people
Places Territorial evolution Admission to the Union Historic regions American frontier Manifest destiny Indian removal Regions New England The South The West Coast States AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY Territories DC AS GU MP PR VI Cities Urban history Cities
Outline List of years Historiography Category Portal
v t e

Baptist Sanctuary under the King Charles I Charter of 1644

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

In 1637, the Baptist leader Anne Hutchinson purchased land on Aquidneck Island from the Native Americans, settling in Pocasset, now known as Portsmouth, Rhode Island. With her came her husband, William Coddington and John Clarke, among others. Other neighboring settlements of refugees followed, which all formed a loose alliance. They sought recognition together as an English colony in 1643, in response to threats to their independence. The revolutionary Long Parliament in London granted a charter in March 1644. The colonists refused to have a governor, but set up an elected "president" and council.

The second of the plantation colonies on the mainland (following Anne Hutchinson’s 1638 colony of Portsmouth and the 1639 colony of Newport founded by Coddington and Clarke; both on Aquidneck or Rhode Island) was Samuel Gorton’s Shawomet Purchase of 1642 from the Narragansetts.

In 1644, Roger Williams secured a land patent establishing "the Incorporation of Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay," under the authority of Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, head of the Commission for Foreign Plantations. The patent covered much of the territory that would eventually make up the State of Rhode Island and specifically included the English towns of Providence, Portsmouth and Newport. As Gorton settled at Shawomet, the Massachusetts authorities laid claim to his territory and acted by force to enforce their claim. After considerable difficulties with the Massachusetts Bay General Court, Gorton traveled to London to enlist the sympathies of Rich. Gorton returned to his colony in 1648 with a letter from Rich, ordering Massachusetts to cease molesting him and his people. In gratitude, Gorton renamed Shawomet Plantation to Warwick Plantation.

The separate plantation colonies in the Narragansett Bay region were very progressive for their time, passing laws abolishing witchcraft trials, imprisonment for debt, most capital punishment, and on March 18, 1652, chattel slavery of both blacks and whites. Most religious groups were welcomed, with only some restrictions on Catholicism.

Charter of 1651 and the Cromwell Interregnum

In 1651, William Coddington obtained a separate charter from England setting up the so-called Coddington Commission, which made Coddington 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 in 1653 to the reinstatement of the original charter.

Sanctuary for Religious Freedom under the King Charles II Charter of 1663

After the English revolutionary government was overturned in 1660, 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 in 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.

Although Rhode Island remained at peace with the Native Americans, the relationship between the other New England colonies and the Native Americans was more strained, 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 Indian village in the Great Swamp in southern Rhode Island, on December 19, 1675. The Narragansett also invaded, and burnt down several of the cities of Rhode Island, including Providence, although they allowed the population to leave first. Also 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.

Absorption into the Dominion of New England under King James II and Revival of the King Charles II Charter

The colony was amalgamated into the Dominion of New England in 1686, as James II of England attempted to enforce royal authority over the autonomous colonies in British North America. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and joint accession to the British throne of King William III of England and Mary II of England, the colony regained its independence under the Royal Charter. 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 relegalizing 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 with the Caribbean.

American Revolutionary Period

Leading figures in the colony 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 who had played an influential role in founding Brown University in Providence in 1764 as a sanctuary for religious and intellectual freedom were involved only twelve years later in the 1776 launch of the American Revolutionary War which delivered American independence from the British Empire.

Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown, on May 4, 1776. It was also the last colony of the thirteen colonies to ratify the United States Constitution on May 29, 1790 once assurances that a Bill of Rights became part of the Constitution. It had boycotted the Continental Congress which had drawn up the proposed constitution.

Prominent Figures in the 17th Century History of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

• King Charles I of England
• King Charles II of England
• John Clarke
• Queen Mary II of England
• Massasoit
• Metacomet ("King Phillip")
• Miantonomoh and Uncas
• Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick
• King William III of England

Prominent Figures in the 18th Century History of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

• Queen Anne
• Peleg Arnold Peleg Arnold
• Joshua Babcock
• Moses Brown
• Solomon Drowne
• William Ellery
• Arthur Fenner
• Theodore Foster
• King George I of Great Britain
• King George II of Great Britain
• King George III of Great Britain
• Nathanael Greene
• Esek Hopkins
• Stephen Hopkins Stephen Hopkins
• Aaron Lopez
• King Louis XVI of France
• James Manning James Manning
• Ezra Stiles

See also

• State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
• List of colonial governors of Rhode Island
• List of Ivy League university presidents
• Dominion of New England
• British America
• Society of the Cincinnati

Notes

1. "Prudence Island Light". History. lighthouse.cc. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
2. Paul Edward Parker (October 31, 2010). "How 'Providence Plantations' and Rhode Island were joined". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
3. "Rhode Island and Roger Williams" in Chronicles of America
4. Lauber, Almon Wheeler, Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States. New York: Columbia University, 1913. Chapter 5. HTML version accessed from See also the Rhode Island Historical Society FAQ.
5. "A Chronological History of Remarkable Events, in the Settlement and Growth of Providence". Rhode Island USGenWeb Project (scan by Susan Pieroth; transcription by Kathleen Beilstein). 2002. Archived from the original on 2005-01-14. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
6. Michael Tougias (1997). "King Philip's War in New England". King Philip's War : The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict. historyplace.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
7. "The Unrighteous Traffick", in The Providence Journal Sunday, March 12, 2006.
8. "Rhode Island Ratification of the U.S. Constitution".
9. Flexner, James Thomas (1984). Washington, The Indispensable Man. New York: Signet. p. 208. ISBN 0-451-12890-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

Part of a series on
Baptists
Background Christianity Protestantism Puritanism Anabaptism
Doctrine Baptist beliefs Confessions Believers' Church Priesthood of all believers Individual soul liberty Separation of church and state Sola scriptura Congregationalism Ordinances Offices Freedom of religion
Key figures List of Baptists John Smyth Thomas Helwys Thomas Grantham Roger Williams John Clarke John Bunyan Shubal Stearns Andrew Fuller Charles Spurgeon James Robinson Graves William Bullein Johnson William Carey Luther Rice John Gill James P Boyce
Organizations Baptist denominations Baptist World Alliance
Christianity portal
v t e

• Rhode Island History from the State of Rhode Island General Assembly website
• The Rhode Island Historical Society

Template:Colonial and State Governors of Rhode Island

• Pre-state history of Rhode Island
• Thirteen Colonies
• Dominion of New England
• Former British colonies
• Former English colonies
• Colonial settlements in North America
• States and territories established in 1636
• 1790 disestablishments
• History of New England
• Colonial United States (British)