Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I, Part 10

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I > Part 10

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

*Commencement address at Rhode Island State College, June 19, 1922.

R. I .- 4

RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY

government into a theocracy, of which he was the high priest. No man could be a freeman unless he was a member of the church-an arrangement which very soon disfranchised a great majority of the people. The magistrates were governed by the laws laid down in holy writ-as interpreted by Cotton and his fellow clergymen. No dissent from their interpre- tation was permitted. If a man seeking the truth by the light of his own conscience spoke such dissent, they put a cleft upon his tongue. If he listened to such dissent, they shaved off his ears. And if he ventured to disagree with them upon the question of whether justification came by faith or works, they tied him to a post and laid a lash upon his naked back. This was no soil in which democracy could grow. 'Democracy,' said John Cotton, 'I do not con- ceive that ever God did ordain as a fit government either for church or commonwealth. If the people be governors, who shall be governed?' And Winthrop, his associate, said : 'Democracy amongst civil nations is accounted the meanest and worst of all forms of gov- ernment in Israel.'

"Roger Williams and Thomas Hooker followed their companion of the Sempringham road to Massachusetts, but from the rigid and cruel theocracy which they found that Cotton was establishing there Williams was banished and Hooker fled. In striking contrast to the sentiment of Cotton and his followers, Hooker declared to his followers in their new settle- ment at Hartford that 'the choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God's own allowance' and that 'the foundation of authority is laid, firstly, in the free consent of the people.' There you have the principle of democracy boldly and clearly declared. And, under the guidance of Williams, his followers in Providence agreed to subject themselves 'in active or passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for the public good of the body in an orderly way by the major consent of the present inhabitants, masters of families, incorporated together into a township, and such others whom they shall admit into the same, only in civil things.' There you have both democracy and toleration put into actual operation as the basis of a civil state."

THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT-The conflict that drove Blackstone, Williams, Hutchin- son, Clarke, Gorton and Hooker from Massachusetts was the irrepressible and inevitable conflict betwixt Democracy and Theocracy. Democracy could not thrive in the same atmos- phere with theocracy. The two may not exist side by side; one must eventually destroy the other, unless, as happened in New England, courageous souls, confident in truth, go outside the gates. In the end democracy must prevail. "If there is to be peace and order and prog- ress among men, they must listen to the opinions of others and be free to express their own. That is toleration. And if the pyramid of society is to be stable, it must rest upon its base, and not upon its apex ; men must ultimately be governed in their conduct toward each other in civil matters by the will of the majority ; that is democracy."* Had Massachusetts merely cast out the elite of progressives who became leaders in establishing democracy elsewhere, the offence would be serious; it is vastly more to her discredit that she followed them into exile with unabated vindictiveness. Perhaps it was a consciousness of error; perhaps it was a maddening jealousy ; certainly avarice and greed for wealth and power urged the Massachu- setts magistrates forward in their plan to bring all of New England under control of Massachusetts.

With reference to Roger Williams the record is clear. He was beloved of Winthrop of Massachusetts, with whom he corresponded constantly; of Winslow of Plymouth; of Haynes and Hooker of Connecticut, one the Governor who banished him from Massachu- setts, and the other the preacher who argued against him; of John Milton, the poet, and of Sir Harry Vane, to mention only a few of his contemporaries. He was beloved by all the Indians, Wampanoags and Narragansetts-the only white man in New England who never

*Walter F. Angell, ubi supra.

RELATIONS WITH MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT

lost the complete confidence of the Indians. Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, a Scotch royalist, captured at the battle of Worcester in 1651 and imprisoned in Windsor Castle, was released on parole principally because of the intercession of Roger Williams. In the epilogue to his work on a universal language published in 1653, Sir Thomas wrote thus of Roger Williams: "The enumeration of these aforesaid courtesies will not permit me to forget my thankfulness to that reverend preacher, Mr. Roger Williams of Providence in New England, for the manifold favours wherein I stood obliged to him above a whole month before either of us had so much as seen the other, and that by his frequent and earnest solicitation in my behalf of the most special members both of the Parliament and Council of State; in doing whereof he appeared so truly generous, that when it was told him how I, having got notice of his so undeserved respect towards me, was desirous to embrace some sudden opportunity whereby to testify the affection I did owe him, he purposely delayed the occasion of meeting with me till he had, as he said performed some acceptable office, worthy of my acquaintance ; in all which, both before and after we had conversed with one another, and by those many worthy books set forth by him to the advancement of piety and good order, with some whereof he was pleased to present me, he did approve himself a man of such discretion and inimitably sanctified parts, that an Archangel from heaven could not have shown more goodness with less ostentation."

In a period noted for strong animosities and personal hatreds, in which there might be a reasonable doubt because of an abundant opportunity for choice as to who was the most hated man in New England, there is no doubt that Roger Williams was the outstanding candidate for the honor of being the best beloved man in New England. Yet the hatred of the Massa- chusetts magistrates never was abated, in spite of the fact that time and again Roger Williams rendered service for Massachusetts that was transcendental, including the saving of all New England, probably, when his intervention turned the Narragansett Indians from an alliance with the Pequots in 1636.

ENDURING VINDICTIVENESS-Roger Williams expressed his own expectation that per- haps the edict of banishment might be modified and himself honored for this signal service, undertaken at urgent request of Massachusetts and at the risk of his life. Winthrop appears to have been disappointed that nothing was done. As a matter of fact, a suggestion that the edict of banishment be repealed was made at a meeting of the council, and met with strenuous objection. Some of the contemporaries of Roger Williams in Massachusetts, writing after- ward, omitted altogether any mention of Roger Williams' agency in negotiating the treaty with the Narragansetts which saved New England from extinction. When, in 1642-1643, Roger Williams was entrusted with the mission to procure a charter in England, because of his banishment from Massachusetts he was not privileged to sail from Boston; instead he went to New Amsterdam (New York) to take ship for Europe. While in New Amsterdam, at the request of the Dutch, he interceded with the Long Island Indians, who had risen against the colonists and had slain many, including Anne Hutchinson and her family, and restored peace. On the return from England Roger Williams carried a letter addressed to the Gov- ernor and Council of Massachusetts and signed by twelve influential English Puritans, which he presented with his request for permission to pass from Boston to Rhode Island. The request was granted "after some demur and hesitation." Again, in October, 1651, when Roger Williams was once more on his way to England, his petition for safe conduct was granted grudgingly : "Liberty to Mr. Williams to pass through our jurisdiction to England, provided he carry himself inoffensively according to his promise with reference to the consent of our honored magistrates." The bitterness of the controversy appears in the exchange of arguments with John Cotton in "The Bloody Tenent of Persecution," a plea by Roger Wil- liams against religious persecution ; "The Bloody Tenent Washed and Made White in the

RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY

Blood of the Lamb," an answer by John Cotton; and "The Bloody Tenent Made Yet More Bloody through Mr. Cotton's Attempt to Wash it White," a rejoinder by Roger Williams.

RHODE ISLANDERS MALTREATED-In instances of other Rhode Islanders reprisals by Massachusetts took even more drastic form. A joint letter addressed by the Governors of Hartford, New Haven and Aquidneck in 1640 to the Governor of Massachusetts inquiring concerning the Massachusetts policy with reference to the Indians was answered in the instance of Hartford and New Haven, but no answer was sent to Aquidneck "as men not to be capitulated withal by us, either for themselves or the people of the island where they inhabit, as their case standeth." Rhode Island was constrained in 1642 to "treat with the Governor of the Dutch to supply us with necessaries, and to take of our commodities at such rate as may be suitable," because of the unkindliness, bordering on hostility, of the neighbor- ing colony. Rhode Island's application for admission to the New England confederacy met "utter refusal" in 1643. An application to Massachusetts for powder in July, 1644, for defence against a possible Indian uprising was refused, and the colony was thus left without defence. In that year the General Court enacted a law punishing with banishment anyone who should openly or secretly speak against the orthodox Massachusetts doctrine regarding baptism, thus effectually barring Baptists. When, therefore, in 1651, John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes and John Crandall, members of the Baptist Church at Newport, visited William Wit- ter, an aged blind resident of Lynn, Massachusetts, also a Baptist, who was unable to go outside the colony to attend church, and John Clarke preached on Sunday, July 20, for the consolation of the blind man, the house was invaded by constabulary and the three Newport men were arrested. The constables carried a search warrant directing them to go to the house of William Witter and search "for certain erroneous persons, being strangers, and them to apprehend and in safe custody to keep." The prisoners were committed and held in jail eleven days until the next county court, July 31. "Without producing either accuser, witness, jury, law of God or man," the prisoners were sentenced to pay a fine, in each instance, or to be whipped. When John Clarke asked Governor Endicott, who imposed the sentences, by what law he was punished, the Governor told him he "had deserved death, and said he would not have such trash brought into this jurisdiction." John Clarke appealed from the sentence, and was set at liberty on August II, after being three weeks in cus- tody. Crandall's fine was paid. Obadiah Holmes refused to pay the fine, and would not suffer friends to pay it. When, on being sentenced, he said: "I bless God I am counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus," Wilson, the minister who had cursed Anne Hutch- inson, struck him in open court and cursed him saying: "The curse of God or Jesus goes with thee." Holmes was beaten on Boston Common, receiving thirty lashes on his bare back from a three-corded whip. Although "in many days, if not some weeks, he could take no rest, but as he lay upon his knees and elbows, not being able to suffer any part of his body to touch the bed whereon he lay," he told the magistrates: "You have struck me as with roses. Although the Lord hath made it easy for me, yet I pray God it may not be laid to your charge." When John Clarke died in 1676, Obadiah Holmes succeeded him as minister of the First Baptist Church at Newport. Obadiah Holmes was one of the progenitors of Abraham Lincoln, whose lovable character, long suffering and martyrdom for a great love of mankind have made him endeared of all Americans .*

*Obadiah Holmes and his wife, Katharine (Hyde) Holmes, came to America in 1638. He was a member of an influential family, a Baptist; he and her brother had been students at Oxford. He left Massachusetts and Plymouth, each because of persecution, and settled in Newport. The youngest child of Obadiah Holmes, Lydia, married Captain John Bowne, who was instrumental in founding a successful colony at Monmouth, New Jersey. Sarah Bowne, daughter of John Bowne and Lydia (Holmes) Bowne, married Richard Salter. Harriet Salter, daughter of Richard Salter and Sarah (Bowne) Salter, married Mordecai Lincoln. Virginia John Lincoln, son of Mordecai Lincoln and Harriet (Salter ) Lincoln, was born in Southeastern Pennsylvania, May 3, 1711. He removed, in 1768, to Rockingham County, Virginia, taking with him Abraham Lincoln, grandfather of the President, who was then twenty-four years of age. Abraham Lincoln, grandfather, was killed by Indians in the wilderness of Kentucky, leaving his family unprotected and with no one to provide for

RELATIONS WITH MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT

When Anne Hutchinson walked out of the church at Boston after being excommuni- cated and cursed by the minister, she was supported on either side by William Coddington and Mary Dyer. William Dyer and Mary Dyer, his wife, were of the first settlers at Pocasset. A great many of those who followed Anne Hutchinson into exile became Friends, or Quakers, among them Mary Dyer. Quakers were tolerated in England. Two women, Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, who arrived at Boston in July, 1656, suspected of being Quakers, were stripped stark naked and examined for evidence; eventually they were shipped back to Bar- bados, whence they came. Eight Quakers, who arrived a few weeks later, were shipped back to England. The Massachusetts General Court in October, 1656, enacted legislation punishing Quakers. Nicholas Upshall, who protested against the law was fined and ban- ished in midwinter. Like Roger Williams, he was received and fed by Indians, more kindly disposed than his white Christian brethren, and eventually found his way to Rhode Island. When Quakers were permitted to land and were not molested in Rhode Island, the commis- sioners of the United Colonies protested and threatened that if Rhode Island did not take action, "we apprehend that it will be our duty seriously to consider what further provision God may call us to make to prevent the aforesaid mischief." The Rhode Island answer, sent by the Governor and assistants, was characteristic, and courageous, considering the fact that 800 were answering the fiat of 24,000:

A GLORIOUS PAGE IN RHODE ISLAND HISTORY-"As concerning these Quakers (so-called), which are now among us, we have no law among us, whereby to punish any for only declaring by words, etc., their minds and understandings concerning the things and ways of God, as to salvation and an eternal condition. And we moreover find that in those places where these people aforesaid, in this colony, are most of all suffered to declare themselves freely, and, are opposed only by arguments in discourse, there they least of all desire to come, and we are informed that they begin to loathe this place for that they are unopposed by the civil author- ity, but with all patience and meekness are suffered to say over their pretended revelations and admonitions, nor are they like or able to gain many here to their way ; surely we find that they delight to be persecuted by civil powers, and when they are so, they are like to gain more adherents by the conceit of their patient sufferings, than by consent to their pernicious say- ings : And yet we conceive, that their doctrines tend to very absolute cutting down and over- turning relations and civil government among men, if generally received."

The Plymouth Colony at the time was sending Quakers into Rhode Island: "Humphrey Norton, one of those commonly called Quakers, . was found guilty of divers horrid errors, and was sentenced speedily to depart the government and was forthwith expelled the government by the under marshal, who was required to accompany him as far as Assonet, toward Rhode Island."

The Rhode Island General Assembly, to which the letter of the commissioners was referred by the Governor and Assistants, answered further that they still prized "freedom of consciences to be protected from enforcements .... as the greatest happiness that men can possess in this world," and that if and when the Quakers refused to subject themselves to civil duties, Rhode Island would ask advice of the "supreme authority of England . . . . how to carry ourselves in any further respect toward these people, so that therewithal there

them. There appears to have been no illiteracy in Abraham Lincoln's family except in the instance of his father, Thomas Lincoln ; and that illiteracy may be accounted for through the untimely death of Abraham Lincoln, grandfather. The Lincoln line from Obadiah Holmes is as follows :

Obadiah Holmes married Katherine Hyde. Lydia Holmes was a child of this marriage. Lydia Holmes married John Bowne. Sarah Bowne was a child of this marriage. Sarah Bowne married Richard Salter. Hannah Salter was a child of this marriage.

Hanrah Salter married Mordecai Lincoln. John Lincoln (Virginia John) was a child of this marriage. John Lincoln married Rebecca Moore. Abraham Lincoln (grandfather) was a child of this marriage. Abraham Lincoln married Bathsheba Herring, as his second wife. Thomas Lincoln was the youngest child of this marriage.

Thomas Lincoln married Nancy Hanks. Abraham Lincoln, President and Emancipator, was the second child of this marriage.

RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY

may be no damage or infringement of that chief principle in our Charter concerning free- dom of conscience," remarking that "we also are so much the more encouraged to make our addresses unto the Lord Protector, his highness and government aforesaid; for that we understand there are or have been many of the foresaid people suffered to live in England ; yea even in the heart of the nation." Whether or not the commissioners of the United Colonies appreciated the ironical suggestion of paradox, that the mother country, from which they had emigrated "for conscience sake," was more tolerant and liberal than the Massachu- setts Puritans, they made no answer to either letter.

HANGING OF MARY DYER-Meanwhile, however, the persecution of Quakers and the hanging and burning of witches proceeded. With this Rhode Island was concerned only as it affected Rhode Islanders: Mrs. Gardner of Newport, a Quakeress nursing an infant child, and Mary Stanton, nurse for the child, were arrested at Weymouth, flogged and jailed for two weeks. Thomas Harris went from Rhode Island to Boston; he was flogged, impris- oned for eleven days, five without food and water; was whipped in jail for refusing to work, and was again publicly flogged. Catherine Scott of Providence, who remonstrated when she saw the right ears cut off three Quakers in Boston, was imprisoned two weeks and publicly flogged. William and Mary Dyer accompanied John Clarke and Roger Williams to England; there Mary Dyer became a Quaker. Returning homeward, she was arrested and imprisoned in Boston, and released on bonds given by her husband to take her home imme- diately and not to suffer her to speak to anyone on the way. When she revisited Boston with Hope Clifton and Mary Scott, the latter were imprisoned, but Mary Dyer was led out to the gallows between two men, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, the three to be hanged. The two men were hanged before Mary Dyer's eyes; and then the black cap was drawn over her face, the noose was placed around her neck, her hands and feet were tied. When she had thus been prepared completely for execution, an officer read a reprieve, which he had carried in his pocket throughout the proceedings! The Puritans accused the Indians of torturing their prisoners. Mary Dyer was released, but warned that another return to Massachusetts would be followed by the death penalty. She returned in the spring of 1660 to bear witness against an unjust law ; she was hanged on Boston Common June 1, 1660.

Commenting upon the conduct of Massachusetts with reference to the Quakers, one of the most distinguished of twentieth century historians* wrote: "That the course which the Massachusetts authorities took was wholly unnecessary was proved by the events in the other colonies. What happened was largely the consequence of their own acts. Rhode Island had shown the just, and, at the same time, the wise course to pursue. As she pointed out, wherever Quakers were not persecuted, they gave no trouble. One of the glories of the present nation is its complete toleration, in so far, at least, as religion is concerned; and its hard-won liberty in no small measure is due to the people of its smallest state."

ARMED INVASION OF RHODE ISLAND-Thus far the persecution of Rhode Islanders had been personal and individual. In the instance of Samuel Gorton animosity against the indi- vidual and greed for land were combined in what may well be styled the most atrocious pro- ceeding in history. Gorton had been expelled from Plymouth and Portsmouth for contempt of the civil authorities; he was denied freemanship in Providence unless he would retract his outspoken opinion that the government for the time being, resting upon the consent of the inhabitants, was without authority for want of royal sanction. He was as stout a defender of religious liberty as any other Rhode Islander; but he was a stickler for legality in civil affairs. When Gorton and his followers settled in Pawtuxet and began to build houses, four Pawtuxet residents-William Arnold, Benedict Arnold (son), Robert Cole and William Carpenter-submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and were appointed

*James T. Adams, "The Founding of New England."

RELATIONS WITH MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT

justices of the peace by the Massachusetts General Court. Massachusetts also issued a war- rant addressed to Samuel Gorton notifying him that the General Court would "maintain" the four "in their lawful rights" and asserting jurisdiction of any suit he might care to enter. Gorton, of course, denied the jurisdiction, and rebuked the magistrates; this brought down upon him the vengeance of Massachusetts. Gorton and eleven associates purchased from the Indians land comprising the present towns of Warwick, West Warwick, and Coventry; and removed from Pawtuxet and the territorial jurisdiction assumed by Massachusetts. Events proceeded so rapidly thereafter that there is some reason for believing that there was a con- certed plot to discredit the sale to Gorton and bring him back into the jurisdiction assumed by Massachusetts; the strong inclination that Massachusetts had at the time, as stated by Winthrop, to procure a seaport on Narragansett Bay lends color to the accusation that the alleged plot was laid by the Massachusetts magistrates or was pursued with their connivance. William Arnold was sent by the General Court of Massachusetts into Warwick "to under- stand how things were" and to bring back a certain Indian ;* and a committee was appointed to treat with the sachems of Warwick and Pawtuxet about their submission. Arnold had bought land at Pawtuxet from Soconoco. Pomham and Soconoco submitted themselves to Massachusetts, and Pomham denied Miantonomah's right to sell Warwick to Gorton. Mas- sachusetts took up Pomham's protest, and proceeded to treat Gorton as a trespasser in War- wick. A warrant addressed to him was ignored save as it evoked an answer referring to two threats, one that Miantonomah should die because he sold land to Gorton,t and the other that Gorton should be driven off even at the cost of blood, and suggesting that Gorton was in Warwick if Massachusetts wanted him, and proferred to stay there to going to Massa- chusetts on safe conduct, which was scorned. Massachusetts then warned the Gortonists that commissioners would be sent to obtain satisfaction, accompanied by an armed guard. On September 28, 1643, three commissioners and forty soldiers, marching on Warwick, received a letter from Gorton and his followers warning them not to invade Warwick. The answer was an offer of conversations and negotiations, and a threat, if there was no repentance for misdeeds, that the settlers would be treated "as men prepared for slaughter."

The Warwick men sent their women and children into the woods and to other places of safety and fortified a house. When the Massachusetts troops passed through Providence four men from the town joined the party with the purpose of acting as conciliators. A par- ley was arranged with the four Providence freemen as witnesses. The commissioners from Massachusetts asserted their purpose to carry Gorton and his followers to Boston for trial for wrongs to subjects of Massachusetts and for blasphemy, or to put them to death and sell their property to defray the costs. The Warwick men objected to an assumption by Massa- chusetts of the dual rôle of accuser and judge, and proposed an appeal to England ; and when this was rejected, proposed arbitration by impartial men. The proposition for arbitration was referred back to the Massachusetts magistrates; the Providence witnesses urged arbi- tration to avoid bloodshed, thus: "How grievous would it be (we hope to you ) if the men be slain, considering the greatest monarch in the world cannot make a man; especially grievous seeing they offer terms of peace." The magistrates referred the matter to the elders; and the synod decided against the proposition !

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I, Part 10

Author: Carroll, Charles, author Publication date: 1932 Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716