USA > Rhode Island > A short history of Rhode Island > Part 4
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There was still another ground of contention. Who should take the lead in restoring the
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charter government ? The Island towns claimed it on the ground of superior wealth and popula- tion, the main-land towns because they had always held fast to their charter. There were double elections and two Assemblies, and the dispute grew so warm as to threaten a permanent division. At the same time the Island towns en- tered zealously into the Dutch war, issuing let- ters of marque and making captures which led to new controversies with the United Colonies. Williams became alarmed, and leaving Mr. Clarke in charge of their common business hurried back from England to meet the danger. Sir Henry
Vane, who had already been a firm friend of Rhode Island, wrote in a public letter, "Are there no wise men among you ? no public, self- denying spirits who can find some way of union before you become a prey to your enemies ?"
At last, in August, 1654, a full Court of Commis- sioners met at Warwick, and on the 31st set their hands to articles of reunion. To meet the diffi- culties that arose from the different acts of inde- pendent assemblies, it was agreed that all such acts should be held good for the towns and per- sons who originally took part in them. Then the charter was once more made the fundamental law of the land, and finally the General Assembly recognized by fixing the number of delegates from each town at six for all purposes except the election of officers. Two days were then devoted to general legislation, and among other
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acts the delicate question of a Sunday law was reconciled with the distinguishing principle of the Colony, by referring the matter to the several towns under the head of a day "for servants and children to recreate themselves." 1420924
As the danger of civil commotions passed away, came the danger of an Indian war. The Narra- gansetts had old quarrels with the Indians of Long Island, and in 1654 a new quarrel broke out between them. For the Colony itself there was nothing to fear from the Narragansetts with whom it had always maintained friendly rela- tions. But should the Long Island Indians pre- vail, an inroad upon the main would bring them dangerously near to the new towns. The United Colonies, proceeding as usual with a high hand, summoned Ninigret, the chief sachem of the Narragansetts, to Hartford. He refused to go, saying that the enemy had slain a sachem's son and sixty of his people-all he asked of the Eng- lish was that they would let him alone. "If your Governor's son were slain," he said, "and several other men, would you ask counsel of another nation how and when to right your- selves ?" The spirit of the Narragansetts was not yet broken. Williams, who was then Presi- dent, wrote to the government of Massachusetts defending the Indians, asserting that the war was a war of self-defence, and that the Narragansetts had always been true to the English. But the Commissioners were resolved upon war, and with-
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out listening to his remonstrances sent Captain Willard with a body of troops to seize the re- fractory chief. The wily Indian took post in a swamp where the troops were unable to reach him. The Commissioners were sorely annoyed, but Massachusetts, listening, perhaps, to the en- ergetic representations of Williams, refused to sanction the war, and without her cooperation it could not be carried on.
There were still dissensions and jars, but the Colony throve and grew in industry and strength. Newport above all increased in wealth and popu- lation. In estimating the population, however, we must bear in mind that not every inhabitant was a freeman, nor every resident a legal inhab- itant. A probationary residence was required before the second step was reached and the resi- dent became an inhabitant with certain rights to the common lands, the right of sitting on the jury and of being chosen to some of the lower offices. This, also, was a period of probation, and it was only after it had been passed to the satisfaction of the freemen that the name of the new candidate could be proposed in town meet- ing for full citizenship. Even then he had to wait for a second meeting before he could be admitted to all the rights and distinctions of that honorable grade.
As a picture of the times it deserves notice that there was still a struggle with crime which called for stocks and a jail ; that the sale of liquors was
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regulated by a license, and the number of taverns that could be licensed in a single town limited to three ; that the bars were closed at nine in the evening ; that a fine of ten pounds or whipping, "accordinge as ye court shall see meete," was the penalty of giving a blow in court ; that malicious language was treated as slander and made ground for legal prosecution. The Assembly seldom sat beyond three or four days, and six in the morn- ing was the usual hour of entering upon the business of the day. Absence from roll call was punished by a fine of a shilling. As an illustra- tion of the degree in which the idea of the duties of citizenship prevailed over the idea of the dig- nity of office, it deserves to be recorded that when the first justices' court was established in Provi- dence for the hearing of cases under forty shil- lings, Roger Williams though President of the Colony was appointed one of the justices, and of the other two Thomas Olney was assistant for Providence, and Thomas Harris a member of the Assembly. The principle of the reciprocal obliga- tion of citizen and state seems, as we have already observed, to have found early acceptance. High treason was recognized as a great crime and pro- vision made for sending the accused to England for trial-a dangerous measure even in that early day, and which in the following century became a just ground of alarm. But now, even Coddington not only came off unharmed from his daring usurpation, but appears again in 1656 as member
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of the Court of Trials. A written submission and a fine for refusing to give up the public records were the only penalties that he paid for his offence. Early provision was made for the pro- tection of marriage, and to give it that publicity which is essential to security the bans were an- nounced in town meeting, or at the head of a company on training days, or by a written declara- tion signed by a magistrate and set up in some place of common resort. If objections were made the parties were heard by a tribunal of two magistrates, or for final decision by the Court of Trials. Freedom in the young society was always connected with morality.
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There were still questions to arrange with Mas- sachusetts, which had not yet given up the hope of enlarging her territory at the expense of her diminutive neighbors. The Pawtuxet con- troversy which began almost with the beginning of the Colony, was a fruitful source of anxiety till 1658, when it was finally settled by the acknowledgment of the claims of Rhode Island, Roger Williams again appearing in his favorite
character of mediator. Hog Island, at the mouth of Bristol harbor, gave rise to other disputes which extended through several years. In the original purchase of Aquidneck the grass only
had been bought. To secure the fee of the land itself a second purchase was required. Other purchases also were made, which gave rise to long and vexatious disputes. Small as it was, it
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was almost inch by inch that Rhode Island won its narrow territory.
From time to time, also, there were alarms of Indians. In 1656 their movements excited so much apprehension in Providence, that a fort was built on Stamper's Hill for the protection of the town. In this same year the fundamental principles of the governments of Rhode Island and of Massachusetts were brought into striking contrast by the arrival of the Quakers. In Massa- chusetts they were imprisoned, scourged, muti- lated, put to death, and with the increase of persecution increased in numbers. In Rhode Island they were allowed to follow their own con- victions and became useful and industrious citi- zens. And when the United Colonies urged the General Assembly, not without threats, to join in the persecution, it appealed to Cromwell, asking "that it might not be compelled to exercise any civil power over men's consciences so long as human orders, in point of civility, are not cor- rupted or violated."
In these days great changes were taking place in England. Cromwell was dead. Richard Crom- well soon resigned the Protectorate. A general reaction for royalty followed, and Charles II. was received as King with general satisfaction. How would the young and dissolute monarch look upon the claims of Rhode Island ? It was well for her that at this perilous moment she was represented at the new court by so earnest, clear-
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headed and dexterous a diplomatist as John Clarke. By his exertions a new charter was ob- tained, and, on the 24th of November, 1663, ac- cepted "at a very great meeting and assembly of the Colony of Providence Plantations, at New- port, in Rhode Island, in New England." With the adoption of this charter begins a new period in the history of Rhode Island.
CHAPTER VIII.
TROUBLES IN OBTAINING A NEW CHARTER .- PROVISIONS OF THE CHARTER .- DIFFICULTIES CONCERNING THE NARRA- GANSETT PURCHASE .- CURRENCY .- SCHOOLS.
THE charter of Charles II. was a practical rec- ognition of the right of self-government. The government which it established, like that insti- tuted by the colonists in their first organization, was a pure democracy, emanating from the peo- ple and framed for their good. In form it con- sisted of a Governor, a Deputy-Governor, ten assistants, and a House of Deputies, six of whom represented Newport, four Providence, four Portsmouth, four Warwick, and two each other towns. The first appointments of Governor, Deputy-Governor, and assistants, as preparatory to a permanent organization, were made by the King. The organization once effected, they were chosen annually at Newport, on the first Wednes- day in May. The deputies were elected by the people in their respective towns. Thus election day became the great civil festival of the year, bringing the inhabitants of the towns together to interchange thoughts and feelings, and make merry with their wives and children in the chief town of the Colony.
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Although the new charter was negotiated by John Clarke, it is impossible not to recognize in it the spirit of Roger Williams. The original right of the natives to the soil was acknowledged, practically, in other colonies; but it was ac- knowledged as subordinate to the right of the King. The royal grant preceded the actual pur- chase. But in Rhode Island the royal grant fol- lowed the Indian title-deed, and was never ac- cepted as sufficient of itself to justify the occupa- tion of Indian territory. This doctrine, so widely at variance with the received doctrine of the age, stood first in the list of heresies for which Massa- chusetts had driven Roger Williams into exile.
No less prominent in the second charter was that great principle which had formed the lead- ing characteristic of the first. "Noe person," it says, "within the sayd colonye, at any tyme hereafter, shall be any wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any dif- ference of opinion in matters of religion which doe not actually disturb the civill peace of our sayd colonye; but that all and everye person may, from tyme to tyme and at all tymes here- after, freelye and fullye have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concernments, through the tract of lande hereafter mentioned, they behaving them- selves peaceablie and quietlie, and not using this libertye to licentiousness, and profaneness, nor to the civill injurye or outward disturbance of others."
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There was much work for the new Assembly to do, and it addressed itself promptly to the task. The statute book contained laws which, arising from circumstances no longer existing, were "in- consistent with the present government." To weed these out and replace them by others better suited to the new order of things, was an early object of attention. Hitherto the assistants had not been vested with legislative authority. They now held it by the charter, and henceforth acted in con- junction with the deputies, a change which at a later day led to the division into two houses. The increase of population brought with it an increase of litigation. The original courts were not sufficient to meet the demand for legal pro- tection. They were reorganized.
There were two general courts of trials, com- posed of the Governor, with or without the aid of the Deputy-Governor, and of a body of assist- ants whose number was never less than six. Their place of meeting was Newport, the seat of government and largest town, and their regular sessions were held in May and October. Provi- dence and Warwick had each a court of trials- Providence in September and Warwick in March. But in these, as if in indication of their subor- dinate authority, neither the Governor nor the Deputy-Governer had a seat, and the number of assistants absolutely required to give validity to its acts was reduced from six to three. To com- plete their organization twelve jurors were added,
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six from each town. Their decision, however, was not final, and the cases which they had tried could be carried by appeal to the General Court. To quicken the tardy steps of justice any litigant who was willing to bear the expense, might, with the sanction of the Governor or Deputy- Governor, have a special court convened for the immediate decision of his cause.
The grand and petty jurors were chosen from the four towns, five of each from Newport, three from Portsmouth, and two from Providence and Warwick respectively. The same superiority was accorded to Newport in the apportionment of state officers, five of whom were required to live there. In this, however, Providence outranks Ports- mouth, having three allotted to her for her por- tion, while Portsmouth had but two. The duties of coroner were performed by the assistant "near- est the place occasion shall present."
Another grave question met them on the thresh- old of their work of organization. The charter left a doubt concerning the manner of choosing the state magistrates. Should they be elected by the freemen in town meeting, or by the General Assembly ? The democratic instinct prevailed, and the choice was left to the freemen.
There was a still graver question to be decided, requiring firmness, self-control and skilled diplo- macy. Rhode Island had never been looked upon by Massachusetts with friendly eyes. That a banished man should have become the founder of
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a new colony close upon her borders was irritat- ing to her pride. That his success as a colonizer should have cut her off from the beautiful Narra- gansett Bay was humiliating to her ambition of territorial aggrandizement. That a freedom of conscience subversive of her theological dogmas should have been the fundamental principle of the new government was irritating to her bigotry. Thus, although she did not hesitate to avail her- self of the good offices of Roger Williams to avert a dangerous war, she did not scruple to forbid the sale to citizens of Rhode Island of the powder and arms which they needed for their own protection, and exclude them from the league which the other colonies of New England had formed for their common defence. When, in 1642, four of the principal inhabitants of Pawtuxet factiously put themselves under her protection, she greedily seized the opportunity of securing for herself a foothold in the coveted territory. It was not till 1658 that this dangerous dispute was settled and the perpetual menace of mutilation removed from the northern district of the Colony soon to reap- pear in the southern. Amid the fresh recollections of this contest, the General Assembly passed a law forbidding, under the penalty of confiscation, the introduction of a foreign authority within the limits of the Colony. Both Massachusetts and Connecticut laid claim to Narragansett, a valua- ble tract in the southern part of the Colony and controlling the communication with the bay of
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that name. The claim of Rhode Island was founded upon purchase, and although her physi- cal inferiority left her no hope of success except through an appeal to the King, she was none the less vigilant in defending her rights. The neces- sity of this watchfulness was soon made manifest, for scarce a year had passed from the passage of the prohibitory law, when, in direct violation of its provisions, a company of aliens purchased Quidneset and Namcook, two large and valuable tracts on Narragansett Bay. It was like throw- ing down the gauntlet to the little Colony, for it was only by supporting the pretensions of Mas- sachusetts or Connecticut that the purchasers could hope to make their title good. An artful attempt was made to obtain the sanction of Roger Williams's name by offering him, under the title of interpreter, a liberal grant of land. But the loyal old man refused to connect himself in any way with the illegal act, and warned the company of the dangerous ground whereon they were treading.
The warning was not heeded, and Humphrey Atherton, John Winthrop and their associates, completing their bargain with the Indians, claimed the tracts as theirs by lawful purchase. New complications followed. The very next year the Commissioners of the United Colonies, following up their aggressive policy towards the Narragan- setts, imposed upon the feeble remnant of the once powerful tribe a heavy fine for alleged injuries
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to the Mohegans, and compelled them to mort- gage their whole territory for the payment of it. Atherton paid the fine, and held that his claim was strengthened by this act of unjustifiable vio- lence.
For a time hopes were entertained of inducing the company to accept the jurisdiction of Rhode Island, but they were futile. The attempt of either party to exercise legal authority in the dis- puted territory was a signal for the active inter- vention of the other. It was soon evident that the decision must be referred to England. For- tunately for Rhode Island, John Clarke was still there ..
Agents from Connecticut, also, were there peti- tioning for a new charter, and their petition was en- forced by the wise and virtuous John Winthrop. Court favor came to his aid, and he used it judi- ciously. The venerable Lord Say and Seal lent him the influence of his name, and the skillful negotiator dexterously reviving the memory of the intercourse between his father and Charles the First, succeeded in touching for a moment the callous heart of Charles II. In the season of that intercourse Charles had given Winthrop a curious and valuable ring, and now when the son of the subject came before the son of the King as a sup- pliant for a charter for his distant home, he bore that ring in his hand as a record of kind feelings on one side and reverential observance on the other. The plea was successful, and, on the
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30th of May, 1662, a charter was granted. In this charter the eastern boundary of Connecticut was extended to Narragansett River, and Narra- gansett River it was claimed was Narragansett Bay.
Great was the indignation of Rhode Island when the tidings of this arbitrary mutilation of her territory reached her. It was like introduc- ing a foreign jurisdiction into the heart of the Colony, and stripping it by a stroke of the pen of some of the chief advantages which it had promised itself from its long and painful labor of colonization. There was but one hope left, and that lay in the wisdom and firmness of John Clarke. The trust was well placed. Not for a moment did the brave man lose heart or suffer himself to grow weary in his difficult task. Of the details of his negotiations no accurate record has been preserved, but we know that, possessing no means of corruption, even if his noble nature could have stooped to it, he placed his confidence in the justice of his cause. In negotiating for a charter he had presented two elaborate petitions to the King, giving a rapid sketch of the origin and principles of the Colony, and asking for "a more absolute, ample, and free charter of civill incorporation," as for men who "had it much on their hearts (if they may be permitted) to hold a lively experiment, that a flourishing free state may stand, yea, and best be maintained, and that among English spirits, with a full liberty in re- ligious concernments."
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The question of a charter was for the King to decide, and we have already seen how he decided it. But the question of boundaries was within the competence of the agents of the two colonies. After much discussion it was decided to refer it to arbitration. Four arbitrators were chosen, and on the 7th of April, 1663, they rendered. their award in four articles, by one of which the Paw- catuck River was made the eastern boundary of Connecticut. The Atherton company was left free to decide under which of the two jurisdic- tions it would live.
As long as Winthrop remained, although Clarke had much to apprehend from his open opposition, he had nothing to fear from secret intrigues or willful misinterpretation. But not all the advocates of the Atherton purchase were like John Winthrop. False claims will always find base agents, and no sooner was Winthrop gone than one of these willing instruments of wrong pressed eagerly forward to his loathsome office. His name was John Scott, and the record of his meanness has been preserved in his own hand. "Mr. Winthrop," begins his confidential correspondence with Captain Hutchinson, the corresponding agent of the company, "was very averse to my prosecuting your affairs, he having had much trouble with Mr. Clarke whiles he remained in England ; but as soon as I received intelligence of his departure from the Downes, I took into the society a Potent Gentleman and 4
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prepared a Petition against Clarke, &c., as enemyes to the peace and well being of his Majestye's good subjects, and doubt not effecting the premises in convenient tyme, and in order to accomplish yr businesse, I have bought of Mr. Edwards a parcel of curiosityes to ye value of sixty pounds ; to gratifye persons that are pow- erfull, that there may be a Letter filled with Awthorising Expressions to the Collonyes of the Massachusetts and Connecticut, that the propri- etors of the Narraganset countrye, shall not only live peaceably, but have satisfaction for Injuryes already received by some of the saide Proprietors and the power yt shall be soe invested (viz) the Massachusetts and Connecticut by virtue of the saide letter will joyntlye and severallye, have full power to do us justice to all intents, as to our Narraganset concernes."
For a moment it seemed as though this vile intrigue were about to succeed. A letter from the King to the United Colonies was obtained, recom- mending the interests of the Atherton company to their protection. John Scott's "curiosityes" had done their work. The "Potent Gentleman" had not failed him. The little Colony lay un- armed at the feet of its powerful enemies. But the triumph was short. John Clarke was carefully bringing his negotiations for a new charter to a close. Surrounded by bitter and unscrupulous adversaries he still kept his own counsel, kept the object of his mission constantly in view, and,
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after much weary waiting and watching, came out triumphant. The charter of Charles the Second, as I have already stated, which so long served the Colony as a constitution and exercised such a controlling influence upon her development, passed the seals on the 8th of July, 1663. By this charter the western boundary line was fixed at Pawcatuck River, "any Grant or Claim in a late Grant to the Governor and Company of Connecti- cut Colony in America to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding." Thus the Pawca- tuck River was henceforth to be held as the same with the Narragansett River, and the question of western boundary decided in accordance with the agreement, which, "after much debate," Clarke and Winthrop had both signed in the names of their respective colonies. It is evident that there was much ignorance, and no very firm principle of action with regard to the colonies in the cab- inet of the second Charles.
While these events were passing an important change took place in the commercial medium of the country. When the colonists first began to trade with the natives, they found them already advanced in their buyings and sellings from the primitive barter of product for product to the use of a fixed medium of exchange. This me- dium, indeed, was of a purely conventional char- acter. There were neither mines of gold, nor mines of silver, nor mines of copper to perform the office of money. But the waters of their rivers and bays yielded an abundant supply of
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