USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > A discourse delivered at Providence, August 5, l836 : in commemoration of the first settlement of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Being the second centennial anniversary of the settlement of Providence > Part 3
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A gentleman, of much antiquarian sagacity and research, is inclined to the opinion, from an ancient paper, now in his possession, that those who first came here with Roger Williams, were John Throck- morton, John Greene, William Harris, Joshua Verin, and William Arnold. This paper, however, furnishes no evidence at variance with the tradition in relation to Thomas Angell, as, on account of his non-age, his name would not appear among the first proprietors.
The records of Providence were in part destroyed by fire, and water, in Philip's war. The oldest record that now remains, is Au- gust 20, 1637. An old book, with a parchment cover, has this date on the inside of the cover, and its first record is the following : " We whose names are here under, desirous to inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active and passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public good of the body in an orderly way, by the major consent of the present inhabitants, masters of families incorporated together into a town fellowship, and others whom they shall admit unto them, only in civil things." These few words-" only in civil things," -- are of extensive significancy. They distinctly mark the great principle contended for by Roger Williams, that the magistrate should have no authority over religious concernments. This paper is subscribed by Richard Scott, William Renolds, Chad Browne, John Warner, John Field, George Rickard, Edward Cope, Thomas Angell, Thomas Harris, Francis Weeks, Benedict Arnold, Joshua Winsor, and William Wickenden-thirteen, none of whose names are in the subsequent deed of the purchase to the twelve.
It is said this was the engagement signed by the new comers, and it is inferred that the first comers had before signed a similar engagement. This seems highly probable from their names not being to this, and that this speaks of the then inhabitants as incor- porated into a town fellowship, which could only have been by their own act.
We behold here a government of perfect freedom ; none lording it over God's heritage, and all power in civil things depending on the will of the majority.
D
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In a letter which Mr. Williams wrote to the town of Providence, in 1654, after his second return from England, he says : * " I have been charged with folly (no doubt by some of his friends in Eng. land) for that freedom and liberty which I have always stood for ; I say liberty and equality both in land and government. I have been blamed for parting with Moshassuck, and afterward Pawtuxet, (which were mine as truly as any man's coat on his back,) without reserving unto myself a foot of land or an inch of voice in any mat- ter more than to my servants and strangers."
Such disinterestedness is as rare as praiseworthy, and fully war- rants the praise Mr. Callender bestowed nearly a century since :- " Mr. Williams appears, by the whole course and tenor of his life and conduct here, to have been one of the most disinterested men that ever lived ; a most pious and heavenly minded soul." +
There seems to have been as great a difference in the political views of Roger Williams, from those of his great opponent, Mr. Cotton, as in their views of religious liberty. The latter, in an ad- dress to Lord Say, observed : "Democracy I do not conceive that ever God did ordain as a fit government either for church, or com- monwealth. As for monarchy, and aristocracy, they are both of them clearly approved and directed in scripture ; yet so as referreth the sovereignty to himself, and setteth up theocracy in both, as the best form of government in the commonwealth, as well as in the church." }
Such were the free and cqual principles in land and government, in religious and civil things, upon which the Providence colony was founded.
" It is most probable (says Governor Hopkins in his History of Providenceg) the first settlers did not bring their wives and families with them at their first coming, and that they were not removed to Providence until sometime in the year 1637, for we have heard by tradition, and I believe truly, that the first male child born there, was Mr. Williams's eldest son, and whom he for that reason named
Knowles, p. 266.
t Callender's Century Sermon, p. 17.
# Savage's Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 135, note I.
§ Mass. Hist. Coll. second series, vol. 9, p. 173.
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Providence ; and this child appears by the records to have been born in the month of September, 1638."
The year after the settlement of Providence, occurred the Pequod war. The services of Roger Williams, in preventing a union be- tween the Pequods and Narragansetts, and in attaching the latter to the English, in this war, were of vital importance to the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. What hazards he incurred to accomplish this, are best told in his own words, in his very interest- ing letter to Major Mason, of Connecticut, the hero of this war, from which we have already had occasion to make several extracts. He says : "When the next year after my banishment, the Lord drew the bow of the Pequod war against the country, in which, sir, the Lord made yourself, with others, a blessed instrument of peace to all New-England, I had my share of service to the whole land in that Pequod business, inferior to very few that acted ; for
1. " Upon letters received from the Governor and Council at Bos- ton, requesting me to use my utmost and speediest endeavors to break and hinder the league labored for by the Pequods, against the Mohegans, and Pequods against the English, (excusing the not sending of company and supplies by the haste of the business,) the Lord helped me immediately to put my life into my hand, and, scarce acquainting my wife, to ship myself, all alone, in a poor canoe, and to cut through a stormy wind, with great seas, every minute in hazard of life, to the Sachem's house." (Meaning the Narragansett Sachem, whose residence was near where Wickford now is.)
2. " Three days and nights my business forced me to lodge and mix with the bloody Pequod ambassadors, whose hands and arms, methought, wreaked with the blood of my countrymen, murdered and massacred by them on Connecticut river, and from whom I could not but nightly look for their bloody knives at my own throat also."
3. " When God wondrously preserved me, and helped to break to pieces the Pequods' negociation and design, and to make and pro- mote, and finish, by many travels and charges, the English league with the Narragansetts and Mohegans against the Pequods, and that the English forces marched up to the Narragansett country against the Pequods, I gladly entertained, at my house in Providence, the General Stoughton and his officers, and used my utmost care that
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all his officers and soldiers should be well accommodated with us."
4. "I marched up with them to the Narragansett sachems, and brought my countrymen and the barbarians, sachems and captains, to a mutual confidence and complacence cach in other.
5. "Though I was ready to have marched further, yet upon agreement that I should keep at Providence, as an agent between the Bay and the army, I returned, and was interpreter and intelli- gencer, constantly receiving and sending letters to the Governor and Council at Boston, &c. These things, and ten times more, I could relate, to show that I am not a stranger to the Pequod wars and lands, and possibly not far from the merit of a foot of land in either country which I have not."
Massachusetts and Connecticut claimed the Pequod lands by right of conquest, in this war, a portion of these lands were said to be on the east of Paucatuck river, within the boundaries of the Rhode-Island charter ; to set in their true light these claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and what Rhode-Island had a right to claim in consequence of his services, this letter was written in 1670, to Major Mason, who then was, or had been previously Dep- uty-Governor of Connecticut.
When it is considered that the victories obtained over the Pe. quods gave peace to New-England for near forty years, and how different might have been the result if the league had not been broken between them and the Narragansetts, we may perceive the importance of these services of Mr. Williams to New-England. We regret to learn, from this same letter, that, though they were duly appreciated by the worthy Governor Winthrop, that it was not even in his power to cause them to be properly acknowledged and rewarded. Mr. Williams states that, on account of these ser- vices, Gov. Winthrop " and some other of the Council motioned, and it was debated, whether or no he had not merited, not only to be recalled from banishment, but also to be honored with some remark of favor ;" and adds, " It is known who hindered, who never pro- moted the liberty of other men's consciences." The person, here alluded to, is supposed to be Mr. Dudley, who in 1634 was Gov. ernor of Massachusetts. We perceive here another illustration of the sad truth, how much easier it is to do evil than good, and that men are more ready to listen to the counsels of intolerance and fanaticism, than to the voice of liberality and gratitude.
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Within a few months after these services were rendered, an or- der was passed, by the General Court of Massachusetts, by which all the inhabitants of Providence, who came within the Mas- sachusetts jurisdiction, were liable to be arrested and taken be- fore a magistrate, and unless they abjured the charge which was contained in a letter written by their fellow-citizen, John Greene, were to be sent home, not to return within the Massachusetts juris- diction, on pain of imprisonment. Greene had been imprisoned and fined in Massachusetts, for saying that the magistrates had usurped the power of Christ, and had persecuted Roger Williams. He had been induced to retract this saying to escape the fine and further imprisonment. On his return to Providence he wrote a letter to the magistrates repeating the offence, and it being supposed that the inhabitants of Providence were of the same mind, this order was passed to prevent their ingress into the Massachusetts territory.
The inhabitants of Providence were thus subjected to many incon- veniences, being in a great degree dependent, for many of the nec- essaries, and most of the comforts of life, upon their intercourse with Massachusetts.
The banishment of Roger Williams did not secure the peace of the Massachusetts church. In August, 1637, a synod was holden at Newtown, now Cambridge, in which eighty-two heretical opinions were condemned, and Mr. Cotton himself was in some danger. He however made his peace with the Church ; but some of those who supposed that they were receiving his doctrine were ultimately banished. The dissatisfaction produced, in others, by the proceed- ings of the synod, and the court, caused the settlement of Aquetneck, afterwards named Rhode-Island. It was proposed by Mr. John Clark, a learned physician of Boston, to some of his friends, in the minority in these disputes, that for peace sake, and to enjoy the freedom of their consciences, they should remove from Massachu- setts, and he was requested to seek out a place. In consequence of the heat of the preceding summer they went north, into what is now New-Hampshire ; but the coldness of the following winter, in- duced them to emigrate the next spring to the south, and some of the company, whilst their vessel was passing about Cape Cod, con- cluded to pass over land, having Long-Island and Delaware Bay in their view, as a place of settlement.
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They came to Providence, and by the advice of Mr. Williams, their attention was turned towards Sowames, now a part of Barring- ton, and Aquetneck, but, as they doubted whether these places were not in the Plymouth jurisdiction, Mr. Williams accompanied Mr. Clark, and two others, to Plymouth, to make inquiry. Sowames was claimed as within the Plymouth patent, " but they were advised to settle at Aquetneck ; and promised (by the Plymouth colony,) to be looked on as free, and to be treated and assisted as loving neigh- bors." Such is the narrative of this matter, substantially, as given by Clark, and nearly in his own words .* They concluded to follow this advice, and made a most fortunate location in regard to soil, cli- mate and situation. By the advice and assistance of Mr. Williams, they obtained a deed of the island from Canonicus and Miantinomo, which was dated on the 24th of March, 1638, new style, and was witnessed by Roger Williams, and Randall Holden. In this deed these Sachems claim the right to sell this island, in the words of the deed, "by virtue of our general command of this bay, as also the particular subjecting of the dead Sachems of Aquetneck and Kitack- amuckqut themselves, and land unto us." The island was granted to " Mr. Coddington and his friends united with him," for forty fath- oms of white beads.
And here it is but justice to the memory of Roger Wil- liams, and of another distinguished man whom he mentions, to give, in his words, what he calls "the rise and bottom of the planting of Rhode-Island." In a letter, written in 1658, he says, "I have acknowledged (and have and shall endeavor to maintain) the rights and properties of every inhabitant of Rhode-Island in peace ; yet, since there is so much sound and noise of purchase and purchasers, I judge it not unseasonable to declare the rise and bot- tom of the planting of Rhode-Island in the fountain of it. It was not price nor money that could have purchased Rhode-Island. Rhode-Island was obtained by love; by the love and favor which that honorable gentleman, Sir Henry Vane, and myself, had with that great Sachem, Miantinomo, about the league which I procured between the Massachusetts English, &c. and the Narragansetts, in the Pequod war. It is true I advised a gratuity to be presented to the Sachem and the natives ; and because Mr. Coddington and the rest of my loving countrymen were to inhabit the place, and to be
* Callender's Century Sermon, pp. 29, 30.
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at the charge of the gratuities, I drew up a writing in Mr. Codding- ton's name, and in the names of such of my loving countrymen as came up with him, and put it into as sure a form as I could at that time, (amongst the Indians,) for the benefit and assurance of the present and future inhabitants of the island. This I mention, that as that truly nobie Sir Henry Vane hath been so great an instru- ment, in the hand of God, for procuring of this island from the bar- barians, as also for procuring and confirming of the charter, so it may by all due thankful acknowledgment be remembered and re- corded of us and ours, which reap and enjoy the sweet fruits of so great benefits, and such unheard of liberties among us." *
Sir Henry Vane was Governor of Massachusetts, when Mr. Williams procured the league he thus speaks of. Sir Henry Vane, also, was " in the same condemnation," as an Antinomian heretic, with the settlers of this island ; though not personally proceeded against, yet on this account he was not re-chosen Governor, and not long afterwards left the colony of Massachusetts ; he felt, no doubt, therefore, a strong interest in favor of the emigrants to Rhode-Island.
Sir Henry Vane, in 1643-4, was one of the Commissioners of Plantations, who, with the Earl of Warwick, granted the first char- ter to our State, by the authority of Parliament; and to the aid which he afforded Mr. Williams in procuring this charter, the latter here alludes. He speaks not only of the procuring, but of the con- firming of this charter, of which we shall have occasion to speak.
The colonists of Aquetneck, before they obtained this deed from the Narragansett Sachems, but probably not before the promise of the same, formed themselves into a political association by subscrib- ing the following compact, dated March 7, 1637-8. " We whose names are underwritten, do swear solemnly in the presence of Je- hovah, to incorporate ourselves into a body politic, and as he shall help us, will submit our persons, lives and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and to all those most perfect and absolute laws of his, given us in his holy word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby." This was signed by Wil- liam Coddington, John Clarke, and seventeen others.t This form
* Backus, vol. 1, p. 91.
+ Those who signed this act of incorporation were, William Coddington, John Clarke, William Hutchinson, John Coggeshall, William Aspinwall,
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of a body politic was certainly objectionable, as uniting civil with religious things, and shows that though the settlers of the island came there to enjoy liberty of conscience, that they were not, at this time, so well informed as to the best manner of preserving this lib- erty as the colony of Roger Williams, whose compact, as we have seen, extended only to civil things.
On the same day they elected William Coddington, their chief and sole magistrate, by the title of Judge, which is thus recorded : " We that are freemen incorporate of this bodie politick, do elect and constitute William Coddington, Esq. a Judge amongst us, and do covenant to yield all due honor unto him according to the lawes of God, and so far as in us lyes, to maintain the honor and privi- leges of his place, which shall hereafter be ratified according unto God, the Lord helping us so to do ;" which is attested by " William Aspinwall, Sec'y." In the official engagement of William Cod- dington, he covenanted "to do justice and judgment impartially, ac- cording to the laws of God, and to maintain the fundamental rights and privileges of this body politic, which shall hercafter be ratified according unto God, the Lord helping me so to do."
This was a dangerous power to place in the hands of one man, with no more definite rule to guide him in reference to offences and their punishment. And it also vested a power in the judge, over all things contained in that book, which is the Christian's rule of faith and practice. It in truth established a theocracy, and delegated to one man that power, which can only, with safety, be trusted to God. In about eleven months afterwards, (Feb. 2, 1639, N. S.) three el- ders were chosen, viz. Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall and Wil- liam Brenton," " to assist the judge in the execution of justice and judgment, for the regulating and ordering of all offences, and of- fenders, for drawing up and determining of all such rules and laws as should be according to God."
To prevent the improper exercise of this power, there was the following provision : " It is agreed and consented unto, that the judge, with the elders, shall be accountable unto the body once eve- ry quarter of the year, (when as the body shall be assembled,) of
Samuel Wilbore, John Porter, Edward Hutchinson, Jr. John Sandford, Thomas Savage, William Dyer, William Freeborne, Philip Sherman, John Walker, Richard Carder, William Baulstone, Edward Hutchinson, Sen. Henry Bull, Randall Holden.
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all such cases, actions and rules, which have passed through their hands, by them to be scanned and weighed by the word of Christ; and if by the body, or any of them, the Lord shall be pleased to dispense light to the contrary of what, by the judge and elders, hath been determined formally, that then and there it shall be repealed, as the act of the body ; and if it be otherways, that then it shall stand till farther light concerning it, for the present to be according to God and the tender care of indulgent fathers." Here was still the same defect as at first, in not separating civil from religious things, though more care was taken to guard against the abuse of this pow- er, by which the legislative, executive and judicial powers, were, for a time, thus vested in the judge and elders.
On the 16th March, 1641-2, this form of theocracy was laid aside; it was then agreed and declared that this government was "a de- mocracy, or popular government," and that the power to make laws for their government, and to depute ministers to execute them, was " in the body of freemen orderly assembled, or a major part of them." At this time was passed their first law securing the liberty of con- science, in these words : " It is further ordered, by the authority of this present court, that none be acounted a delinquent for doctrine, provided it be not directly repugnant to the government or laws es- tablished." And at the next court, 17th Sept. 1642, it was ordered, " that the law of the last court, made concerning liberty of conscience in point of doctrine, be perpetuated."
The north end of the island was first settled, which was then called Pocasset, afterwards Portsmouth. Mr. William Coddington, the chief, and at first, the only magistrate in the colony, came over with Gov. Winthrop in 1630, being then an assistant in the Massachusetts gov- ernment ; he continued to hold this office from that time until 1637, when he became dissatisfied with the proceedings of the general court in relation to Mrs. Hutchinson and her adherents. He be- longed, therefore, to the court which passed the sentence of banish- ment against Mr. Williams, and for aught that appears, approved thereof, and it does not appear, that, in 1637, he denied the power of the magistrates in religious things, though he was dissatisfied with their judgment. It is not probable that he was dissatisfied with the model of the Massachusetts government, and this may account for the fact that the one under which he was thus appointed the only magistrate, so much resembled it in its theocratical features. Cod-
E
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dington is said to have been one of the richest merchants in Boston, and that he built the first brick house there; his wealth and the high station he liad held in the Massachusetts government, had, no doubt, their influence in procuring him the power which was grant- ed him by the Rhode-Island colony, and in moulding their first form of government.
John Coggeshall, who was appointed one of the three elders, " was (says the able editor of Winthrop's Journal) a gentleman of high consideration, represented Boston in the first, second, third, sixth, seventlı, eighth and ninth courts. He was elected for the twelfth, but with Aspinwall, was dismissed from being a member, for affirm- ing that Wheelwright was innocent, and that he was persecuted for the truthı."
William Aspinwall, here mentioned, was the first secretary of the Rhode-Island colony ; he was banished by the general court of Mas. sachusetts, but in 1642, returned and made liis peace .*
On the 28th April, 1639, five of the original purchasers of the island, and four of the after comers, agreed " to propagate a planta- tion in the midst of the island, or elsewhere." t
They formed their plantation at the southwest end of the island, and on the sixteenth of May following it was called Newport. The first house built there was built by Nicholas Easton and sons.
In March, 1640, the plantation of Pocasset was ordered to be called Portsmouth ; and then it was ordered that the Chief Mag.
* Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 62. In the proceedings of the judge and elders of the Rhode-Island colony on the 7th of February, 1638-9, is the following re- cord : " Mr. Aspinwall being a suspected person for sedition against the state, it was thought meet that a stay of the building of his boat should be made, whereupon the workman was forbidden to proceed any farther."
t The following is a copy of the agreement :
" On the 28th of the second month, 1639,
" It is agreed,
" By us whose hands are underwritten, to propagate a plantation in the midst of the island or elsewhere, and do engage ourselves to bear equal charge answerable to our strength and estates in common, and that our determina- tion shall be by major voice of Judges and Elders, the Judge to have a double voice.
" Win. Coddington, Judge ; Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall, Wm. Brenton, Elders ; John Clarke, Jeremy Clark, Thomas Hazard, Henry Bull ; Wm. Dyre, Secretary.
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istrate of the island should be called Governor, the next Deputy- Governor, and the rest of the magistrates Assistants ; that the Gov- ernor and two Assistants should be chosen in one town, and the Deputy-Governor and two other Assistants in the other town. Mr. William Coddington was chosen Governor for this year, " or till a new be chosen," and Mr. William Brenton, Deputy-Governor ; Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall, William Hutchinson, and John Porter, Assistants.
On the 16th March, 1641-2, at the General Court of the free- men, (fifty-eight being present and their names recorded,) it was declared that their government was a democracy, and then was passed the ordinance in favor of liberty of conscience, as has been mentioned.
In September, 1642, a Committee was appointed to consult about the procuring of a patent for the island, and to write to Sir Henry Vane upon the subject. 1146178
In March, 1644, it was ordered that the island should be called the isle of Rhodes, or Rhode-Island.
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