USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Vol. I > Part 1
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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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HISTORY
OF THE -
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND -
AND
PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
BY
SAMUEL GREENE ARNOLD.
VOL. I.
1636-1700.
NEW YORK : D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 346 & 348 BROADWAY. LONDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN. 1859.
ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, BY SAMUEL GREENE ARNOLD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for Rhode Island.
1136325
TO THE
PEOPLE OF RHODE-ISLAND
This History
OF THE TRIALS AND THE TRIUMPHS OF THEIR ANCESTORS
IS INSCRIBED
BY THEIR FELLOW-CITIZEN,
SAMUEL GREENE ARNOLD.
PREFACE.
THE work, of which the first volume is now presented, is the result of many years' labor. To trace the rise and progress of a State, the offspring of ideas that were novel and startling even amid the philo- sophical speculations of the seventeenth century; whose birth was a protest against, whose infancy was a struggle with, and whose maturity was a triumph over, the retrograde tendency of established Puritanism ; a State that was the second-born of persecution, whose founders had been doubly tried in the purifying fire; a State which, more than any other, has exerted, by the weight of its example, an influence to shape the political ideas of the present day, whose moral power has been in the inverse ratio with its material importance, and of which an eminent historian of the United States has said that, had its territory " corre - sponded to the importance and singularity of the principles of its early existence, the world would have been filled with wonder at the phenom- ena of its history," is a task not to be lightly attempted or hastily per- formed.
The materials for Rhode Island history are more abundant than many have supposed. They are widely scattered and difficult to col- lect or arrange, and hence the opinion lias seemed to prevail that too much was lost to render the preservation of the remainder an object of interest. But some persons have thought otherwise, and three attempts, prior to this, have been made to write the history of the State. The first was by Governor Stephen Hopkins, one of the signers of the Dee- laration of Independence, who, in 1765, commenced to publish " An his- torical account of Providence," since reprinted in the second series of
vi
PREFACE.
Massachusetts Historical Collections, volume ix. Only one chapter was completed when the struggle for independence interrupted the work, which was never resumed. The second was by Hon. Theodore Foster, a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island, who collected a large number of original papers and made copies of nearly the whole of the colony records. But one chapter of this work was ever written. His death pre- vented its completion. The third attempt, by the late Henry Bull of New- port, was more successful. He published in the Rhode Island Repub- lican, 1832-6, a series of articles entitled " Memoirs of Rhode Island," embracing the principal events of each year from the settlement of the State down to 1799. The care taken in the preparation of these arti- cles leads us to regret that Mr. Bull did not extend his labors still further, and embody them in a more permanent form. These, with the five volumes of the Rhode Island Historical Collections, with the valua- ble notes of the editors and authors of each, the more than thirty vol- umes of the Massachusetts Historical Collections, the lately published Colonial Records of Connecticut, of Massachusetts, and now those of this State in the course of publication under the admirable supervision of the Secretary of State, the later editions of early Massachusetts authors, Morton, Prince, and others, but particularly the Journal of Winthrop with the copious notes of its liberal and learned editor, Hon. James Savage, the life of the founder of Rhode Island by Professor Knowles, a perfect magazine of important facts,-these are some of the principal printed authorities most accessible to the general reader. There are also a great number of books in the libraries of Harvard and Brown Universities, and more than all in the unrivalled collection of works on American history in the possession of Mr. John Carter Brown, of this city, which shed much light upon the annals of Rhode Island. Besides these there are several religious discourses, following the plan of Cal- lender, also historical addresses, and some local narratives, that contain interesting facts bearing upon the general history of the State.
The unpublished materials are the records of the several towns, those of this and the neighboring States that have not been included in
vii
PREFACE.
the printed volumes, the private collections of Hutchinson, Trumbull, Hinckley, Prince and others, in possession of the Massachusetts His- torical Society, of Foster and Backus in the Rhode Island Historical Society, and yet more important, the hitherto undeveloped resources in the British archives, at London, which clear up many points never be- fore explained. These are the chief sources of information that have been consulted in preparing this work, and will be found referred to in the notes.
Several months were spent abroad in 1846-7, in the examination of government archives, chiefly in England and France, in search of materials not to be found in America. The kindness of gentlemen in official station, particularly in Her Britannic Majesty's Government, in securing permission to examine their records, and of those in the State Paper Offices at London, Paris and the Hague, in facilitating his labors, should receive the grateful acknowledgments of the writer.
Copies of the English documents herein referred to are now in Mr. Brown's library, he having given orders, previous to the author's visit to England, to have every thing pertaining to Rhode Island, and much more besides, copied for his private collection ; which was done under the supervision of Henry Stevens, Esq., a gentleman whose experience eminently qualified him for the task.
Many of these authorities extend beyond the limits of this volume, and with a large number of new ones, both local and general, will be used in the later portions of the work.
The thanks of the writer are due to many friends who have ren- dered assistance in various ways to lighten his labors : to Mr. John Carter Brown, to Hon. William R. Staples, late Chief Justice of the State, the editor of Gorton, and author of the Annals of Providence, to Judge George A. Brayton of the Supreme Court, to Dr. David King and Rev. Henry Jackson, D. D. of Newport, to Hon. John R. Bartlett, Secretary of State, to William J. Harris, Esq., and others, all deeply interested in whatever pertains to the history of their State, who have given efficient aid by the loan of books and manuscripts.
viii
PREFACE.
The first object attempted in this work has been to make it reliable both as to facts and dates; that it should be a standard authority upon the subject and period of which it treats. To accomplish this design no pains have been spared, and it has been kept steadily in view even at the risk of making the book less readable than it might have been. Many subjects are mentioned that, to the general reader, can have little or no interest, the value of which can only be understood by those who consult history for a specific purpose. For the benefit of this latter and more limited class of readers, the reference notes are made more nume- rous than they would otherwise have been. The most important dates have been verified by a tedious mathematical process, unnecessary here to describe, but which is essential to accuracy in many cases, owing to a strange diversity that existed in the mode of dating under the Julian calendar before the adoption of the Gregorian or New Style in 1751. The Julian year began on the 25th of March. February was the 12th month and March the 1st month of the year. Many papers between the first and twenty-fifth of March, bear date as of the coming year, while others are dated correctly, according to the Julian system, as of the expiring year. This diversity of course throws a doubt upon the true date of all correlative documents throughout the year, and has led many writers into error. That the reader need not be misled on this point the double date of the year, between January 1st and March 25, is given in the margin. If it is desired to reduce the day of the month to New Style, eleven days are to be added to the marginal date.
That, notwithstanding the labor and care bestowed upon these pages, they contain some errors of fact or date, perhaps important ones, it would be presumptuous to deny. The more one explores the labyrinth of historical investigation, the less positive will he become of the entire accuracy of his conclusions. A conscientious desire to arrive at the truth, is all that the author dares to claim in submitting this work to the judgment of his peers. That it will grate harshly upon the ears of some, whose views upon the questions of politics and theol- ogy involved in the settlement of this State, differ from those of its
ix
PREFACE.
founders, he is well aware. That some may assail it upon these grounds is not improbable, and for such he is prepared ; while at the same time he courts a generous criticism that may aid his future labors.
So far as was compatible with the above mentioned objeet, he has endeavored to make the work interesting to those who read simply for the sake of reading; but he can claim nothing upon this score. The minutiæ of local or of State history, demand an attention to details which broader fields do not require, and limit, in the same proportion, the power of the pen. To make a State history both authentic and popular, where the ground has not already been occupied, would require it to be too voluminous. To enlarge upon the philosophy of the funda- mental principles involved in the settlement of Rhode Island, would afford a pleasing relief from the labor of eritieal research; but this can be better done by the reflecting reader, or it may furnish a theme for some future historian, more fitted for the task than the writer feels himself to be, who will reap the laurels that he must forego.
PROVIDENCE, May 17, 1858.
ABBREVIATIONS.
R. I. H. C .- Rhode Island Historical Collections, in 5 vols.
R. I. Col. Rec .- Rhode Island Colonial Records, 3 vols. now published, 1636- 1706.
Conn. Col. Rec .- Connecticut Colonial Records, 2 vols. now published, 1636- 1677.
M. C. R .- Massachusetts Colonial Records, 6 vols. now published, 1628-1686. M. II. C .- Massachusetts Historical Collections, in series of 10 vols. each, of which 3 series are completed, and 4 vols. of the fourth. The figure before the letters denotes the series.
Br. S. P. O .- British State Paper Office.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. 1620-1636.
PAGE
Introduction-From the Settlement of New England to the Banishment of Roger Williams, . .
1
Appendix A .- Early Life of Roger Williams, . 47
CHAPTER II. 1636-1638.
The Antinomian Controversy, .
51
CHAPTER III.
The Aborigines of Rhode Island-Pequot War, .
. 72
CHAPTER IV.
History of Providence from its Settlement, 1636, to the Organization of the Government under the Parliamentary Charter, May, 1647, . 97
CHAPTER V.
History of Aquedneck from its Settlement, March, 1638, to the Organi- zation of the Government under the First Charter, May, 1647. . 124
CHIAPTER VI.
History of Warwick and Narraganset down to the Formation of the Government under the First Patent, May, 1647, 163
xii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII. 1647-1651.
History of the Incorporation of Providence Plantations from the Adop- tion of the Parliamentary Charter, May, 1647, to the Usurpation of Coddington, August, 1651, . 200
CHAPTER VIII. 1651-1663.
From the Usurpation of Coddington, August, 1651, to the Adoption of the Royal Charter, November, 1663, 237
Appendix B .- Proceedings in the case of John Warner, . 287
CHAPTER IX. 1663-1675.
From the Adoption of the Royal Charter, November, 1663, to the Com-
mencement of King Philip's War, June, 1675, . 290
Appendix C .- Errors of Grahame and Chalmers, 370
Appendix D .- Atherton Company Correspondence, . 378
Appendix E .- Conspiracy against John Clarke exposed, 383
CHAPTER X. 1675-1677.
From the Commencement of Philip's War, June, 1675, to the Trial of the Harris Causes, November, 1677, 387
CHAPTER XI. 1678-1686.
From the Renewal of the Struggle for the Soil of Rhode Island, 1677-'8, to the Suspension of the Charter, June, 1686, . 439
Appendix F .- Answers of Rhode Island to the Board of Trade, 488
CHAPTER XII. 1686-1700.
From the Commencement of the Andros' Government to the Close of the Seventeenth Century, 492
Appendix G .- Founding of Trinity Church, Newport, . 559
THE
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION-FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND TO THE BANISHMENT OF ROGER WILLIAMS.
1620-1636.
THE direct causes which led to the settlement of New CHAP. England, had been in active operation for nearly seventy I. years before that event transpired. The more remote in- fluences that led to this result date back to the com- mencement of the English Reformation. The spirit of re- sistance to clerical authority and papal aggression, was first inculcated in Great Britain by John Wickliffe, Pro- fessor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. It soon spread to the continent of Europe, where the teachings of Huss and Jerome, in opposition to the claims of the hierarchy, roused the vengeance of the Council of Con- stance, and led to their martyrdom.
A period of quiet succeeded the Bohemian struggle, until the laxity of the pontifical court, under Leo X., gave rise to the Reformation of Luther. From that time
VOL. I .- 1
2
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. I. the history of Europe presented a continuous scene of ac- tion and reaction upon the fundamental principles of re- ligion and politics. The inquisitive mind of Germany was occupied in speculations which were to open a new and brighter era to humanity. England, already in some degree prepared for the mighty movement, soon asserted her sovereignty by severing her allegiance to the church of Rome. The spell of the Papacy was broken ; the first great result of the Reformation was achieved. A spirit of inquiry was awakened, which could neither be quelled by the fire of persecution, nor controlled by the decrees of princes or parliaments. During the reign of Edward VI., the English Liturgy was completed and promulgated as the ecclesiastical law of the land. The priestly vestments were retained in the service, although strenuously opposed by many of the reformed clergy. The more resolute Prot- estants resisted at the outset all attempts to fasten upon them the livery of a church from whose communion they had withdrawn. Uniformity was the rock upon which the early Reformers split. The first demonstration of nonconformity occurred at Frankfort. The virulent per- 1554. secution of the Protestants, which commenced upon the accession of Queen Mary, caused great numbers of them to seek refuge on the continent. A small church was gathered at Frankfort, who objected to the use of some portions of King Edward's service book. These were sup- planted the next year by a party of their countrymen under Dr. Cox, who restored the English forms in full as prescribed by King Edward, and were hence called " Con- formists." Most of the others went to Geneva, where they were kindly received by Calvin, were there organized, and adopted a liturgy agreeable to that of the French churches. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth was the signal for the return of the exiles, and the permanent though gradual establishment of the Protestant Faith. The reign of Elizabeth was emphatically the age of prerog-
3
THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
ative in England. Never did the authority of the crown CHAP. maintain itself so absolutely. Although some of the Stuarts I. afterwards attempted to exercise arbitrary power in repeat- 1554. ed instances, yet none of them wielded so uncontrolled a sceptre, or conducted with the firmness or the success that characterized the last of the Tudors. Mary had been a bigot in religion ; Elizabeth became a tyrant in prerog- ative ; and because theology was the prevailing topic of the times, she seized upon that as the most convenient medium for confirming and manifesting her authority. The earliest enactments of her first parliament were to this end. The act of uniformity, prescribing the regula- tions of church service, preceded by a single day the act of supremacy, which vested in the queen the right of ecclesiastical control. Immediately upon the passage of these acts two parties arose in the Protestant Church, one 1559 April. favoring the royal prerogative, the other, somewhat more true to the spirit of the Reformation, maintaining that in things indifferent, liberty should be allowed. Both were at this time pretty nearly agreed in points of doctrine, in the necessity of uniformity in public worship, and in the right of the civil power to enforce it. The prerogative party, or Conformists, held that the will of the queen was the only guide in church affairs ; the Puritans, that coun- cils or synods were the proper tribunals. The idea of freedom of conscience as applied to the individual was un- known, or unrecognized, by cither party. It was reserved for another age and a distant land to develop in its full significance the grand result of the Reformation.
The passion of Elizabeth for pageantry of every kind, together with her inordinate love of power, were the chief causes which distracted her reign. The one inclined her to retain as far as possible the gorgeous ceremonial of the church of Rome, the other led her to punish those who desired a simpler ritual and plainer robes. The severity of her measures against the Puritans at length resulted in
4
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. the separation, which commenced in 1566. The press had I. already been closed against them by a decree of the Star 1559. Chamber. The opposition of a large portion of the peo- ple to the Romish vestments, and to certain ceremonies, of trifling import in themselves, which could easily have been assuaged by temperate policy, was increased by the exercise of arbitrary power. Accordingly, after solemn delibera- tion, a number of the deprived ministers, with their friends, determined to withdraw from the communion of the established church, and laying aside the English Liturgy, they adopted the Geneva forms. Henceforward there was to be no longer a cordial union of Protestants against Popery, but rather a union of the prerogative and papal parties against the Puritans. This was less apparent during Elizabeth's reign than in that of her successor. But the Reformation in England, so far as the government was concerned, had attained its culminating point. The breach thus commenced rapidly widened. The doctrinal articles of the church, some of which, in the opinion of many learned and pious men, were too strongly tinctured with Erastian principles, began to be questioned. Other sects arose, distinct in many respects from the Puritan church, and carrying the principles of the separation to a greater extent, but all who were zealous for the Reforma- tion, were indiscriminately branded with the same invidi- ous epithet. In vain did the Puritans seek to appease the resentment of their enemies by disowning the sec- taries. Papists, Familists, Baptists and Brownists, were denounced by the Puritans with equal zeal as by the Pre- latists, and alike held up as worthy of persecution ;1 but the attempt thus made to ingratiate themselves with their rulers was without success. In proportion as the ranks of non-conformity were augmented, the severity of government increased, and exile, or death, for crimes of
1 Neal, 312.
5
REIGN OF JAMES I.
conscience, became more frequent as the long reign of Elizabeth drew to its close.1
CHAP. I.
1559.
The union of the crowns of Scotland and England, in the person of James I., inspired the Puritans with a new but delusive hope. This fickle prince, whose con- summate vanity as a man, was the source of his weakness as a monarch, very soon forgot the precepts of the Scottish church, which he had sworn to support, and became the tool of ambitious prelates and designing courtiers. Six months after he came to the throne, occurred the celebrated conference at Hampton Court, between the bishops and the Puritans, at which the king himself presided, and made his first public display of that combination of pedan- try with tyranny which has made his character, when viewed in the light of history, the object of mingled aver- sion and contempt. The result of that conference crushed the hopes of the Puritans. The triumphant bishops, no longer doubtful of their position, at once proceeded to urge severe measures against the whole body of Protestant non-conformists, and secretly to court the favor of the papal party. At the death of Archbishop Whitgift, Bancroft, bishop of London, was raised to the See of Can- terbury. This haughty prelate revived the persecution of the Puritans, and conducted it with unparalleled rigor, excommunicating many who would not receive a set of canons prepared by himself and passed by an obsequious convocation, although not confirmed by parliament. He it was who first asserted in England the divine right of the order of bishops, and prepared the church for the usurpations of Laud, which afterwards involved the United Kingdom in civil war.
.
To bring the kirk of Scotland under the dominion of the English hierarchy was a favorite project of James, and was actively promoted by the intrigues of Bancroft. This was a bold design, against which the armorial bearings and
1 For the last three years of her life she became more tolerant.
6
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. I. motto of Scotland might have furnished a significant warn- ing. It was an index of that aggressive and intolerant 1559. spirit which drove a large number of the English non- conformists into voluntary exile. Holland became a refuge for those whom persecution deprived of their native home. The larger portion of the refugees were rigid Separatists, whose views, crude as they might appear at the present time, were very much in advance of those held by the mass of non-conformists in respect to the essential objects of the Reformation. These were the men who, with their descendants a few years later, made the first permanent settlement of New England. The Puritans for the most part remained in England, still clinging to the slender chance of some favorable current of affairs. The succes- sion of Archbishop Abbot to the high position vacated by the death of Bancroft, gave them renewed hope. He is described as a thorough Calvinist, a sound Protestant, and as being suspected of Puritanism. But his views, al- though they served for awhile to mitigate the asperities of the times, failed to effect permanent relief. The worthy primate soon became unpopular at court, and fell into disgrace. The pretensions of King James to arbi- trary power increased, and all who opposed the preroga- tive, although friends of the established church, were de- nounced as Puritans, as well as those who were Calvinists in theology, or reformers in church government and wor- ship. The former were called State Puritans, the latter Doctrinal Puritans. The two, when united, comprised a majority of the nation. The Arminian party, of whom most of the newly appointed bishops, with Laud at their head, were the leaders, allied with the Papal faction in supporting the king. Such was the condition of affairs at the close of the reign of James I.
Meanwhile, a portion of the refugees in Holland, after twelve years' residence in that country, resolved to emi- grate to America. Protracted negotiations with the
7
DEPARTURE OF THE PILGRIMS.
Virginia Company to secure a patent to lands, and with CHAP. merchants in London to provide the necessaries for cmi- I. gration, together with earnest consultations with their 1620. friends in England, now occupied the attention of the Pilgrims. After their departure from Holland, further delays awaited them at the English ports. Twice were they compelled by the insufficiency of their transports to return, and on the second occasion their smaller vessel, the Speedwell, of sixty tons, in which they had first em- barked at Delft Haven, was abandoned as unseaworthy. At length, on the 6th of September, 1620, the Mayflower Sept. 6. finally set sail from Plymouth, with her precious freight of one hundred souls,1 to seek a better land beyond the seas.
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