Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I, Part 37

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 37

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).

213

GROWTH OF A COLONIAL COMMONWEALTH

and in 1743, £400 were granted to assist in rebuilding the pier, the latter conditional upon satisfactory evidence that the work had been completed. The second project proposed divert- ing the flow of the Pawcatuck River in such way as to keep open a direct entrance to West- erly as a harbor. In 1734, the colony offered to bear three-fourths of the cost thereof if Westerly would furnish security for the payment of the balance, and to build and maintain the bridges that might be made necessary. Sixteen years later, nothing having been done meanwhile, the project was revived, and referred for consideration to the next General Assembly, but no further action was taken. In 1752, a variation of the project was sug- gested : that the south or east branch of the Pawcatuck be diverted into Ninigret Pond with the purpose of making a harbor at Charlestown, and, in 1761, a lottery of £20,000 was granted for the purpose. Not all lotteries were successful either as financial ventures or in accomplishing the purpose named; the project was not completed. The beginnings of a policy of conservation of natural resources were indicated by legislation (I) permitting town councils to regulate fisheries (1719) ; (2) authorizing town councils to protect the oyster fishery (1734), the purpose being to inhibit extermination of oysters in the fishery for shells to make lime; (3) regulating the construction of dams and other obstructions in streams which interfered with fish returning to spawn.

PRINTING OF LAWS-The compilation of laws printed in 1719 was not entirely satisfac- tory ; in the year of the printing a committee to correct errors was appointed. James Frank- lin, brother of Benjamin Franklin, came to Rhode Island and settled at Newport in 1727. No doubt the fact that the colony had a printer hastened the project for reprinting the laws; in 1728 a committee to revise and print the laws was appointed, and in the following year the General Assembly revised, repealed or explained certain statutes as part of the process of preparing the laws for the press. A folio volume of 243 pages, including the Charter and also the laws of 1731, carried this imprint: "Newport, Rhode Island: Printed by James Frank- lin and Sold at his Shop near the Town Schoolhouse, 1730." The text of the laws was pre- ceded by an alphabetical index of twelve pages. This edition included a new criminal code, and a new statute regulating weights and measures. One copy of this book was sent to England, and other copies of a limited edition were distributed to members of the General Assembly and to other public officers. One who marvels at the small editions of books printed in the period should recall that the printing press in use was small in size, and that each impression of the folio, usually four pages on each side, or eight in all, required two inkings, two layings of the paper, and two stalwart pulls on the heavy lever. Paper and ink both were expensive. In the same time required for this work, a modern press might roll off hun- dreds of copies. James Franklin was engaged as colony printer in 1731, at an annual salary of £20 conditional upon his printing twenty copies annually of the session laws. His widow had a similar contract in 1736. Greater attention was given to the form of laws; in 1732 the first engrossing committee was appointed, with the function of perfecting statutes. Among the statutes printed in the revision of 1730-1731 were: '(1) An act permitting the docking of estates tail (1725), following the English statute, whereby the tenant might avoid the limited inheritance thereafter by a procedure the most important part of which was payment of a fine, which accrued to the King and was called the "King's silver"; (2) repeal of a statute enacted in 1718 abolishing primogeniture in the inheritance of intestate estates; (3) laws establishing quarantines against contagious diseases, and particularly smallpox. Inocula- tion was known, but legislation permitting it was rejected by the General Assembly in 1772, after careful discussion in town meetings and almost violent opposition; hospitals for inocu- lation were introduced in 1776, the first in Providence in August of that year. The simpler preventative by vaccination was to come later.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE-Liberty of conscience continued to be respected in Rhode Island. In 1720, the Deputy's oath was amended, because of objections, so that the words

214

RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY

"as in the presence of God" might be omitted. While Sunday laws had been enacted early in the colony's history, principally to prohibit disturbance of the Sabbath quiet by boisterous youth and servants and to probihit "unnecessary drinking" in taverns, the Sabbatarians in Westerly, who observed Saturday as the seventh day, instead of Sunday as the first day of the week, were requested rather than ordered in 1725 not to do servile work on Sunday. Frequent changes in the militia laws were made, now to strengthen them, again to excuse the Quakers or other persons pleading religious belief that forbade active military service ; although some changes in the militia law sought reconciliation of the Charter direction that officers should be appointed, and the popular will that they be chosen by the company. The adjustment was found in provision for election and appointment by the Governor if the person elected were not objectionable for valid reasons. The colony, besides enforcing dras- tic statutes penalizing personal immorality, undertook somewhat to regulate behavior and public morals. No appeals were permitted from convictions of profane swearing or cursing, or of working on Sundays, or of breaking the speed laws, which forbade galloping horses in Newport and Providence. To restrict drunkenness, innkeepers were forbidden to sell liquors on credit to an amount exceeding twenty shillings (repealed, 1744). Lotteries, conducted by private agencies, were forbidden in 1733, as gambling games inducing the unwary to fool- ish expenditure of money. The marriage law was amended in 1733 to permit ministers of any denominations to officiate ; in the early days of the colony marriage had been exclusively a civil ceremony until the King authorized marriages by ministers of the Church of England, and according to the practice of the Quakers. One may wonder what might be the occasion for celebrations, and what excess thereof suggested the statute of 1731 forbidding the firing of guns and pistols, and the throwing of squibs and reckless use of fireworks. In 1727, a "vile and mutinous book" written by Edward Hardman was publicly burned.

JUDICIAL MACHINERY; OTHER PUBLIC LAWS-The organization of three counties in 1729, including also a reorganization of the court system, which thereafter included (I) justice courts of general sessions for offences against the laws; (2) inferior courts of com- mon pleas for civil cases, and (3) a general trial court consisting of the Governor and Assist- ants. The tenure of judges during good behavior was reduced to one year by a statute in 1733 which repealed elections "quam diu se bene gesserint." A court of chancery was erected in 1741, and abolished in 1744 because of popular disapproval. The practice of electing Deputies semi-annually in anticipation of the May and October sessions of the General Assembly was discontinued in 1733; thereafter Deputies were to be chosen annually at the quarter meeting preceding the general election in May. The October sessions of the General Assembly were ordered held alternately in the two counties on the mainland, that is, at South Kingstown (1733) and at Providence (1734). Except that the election meeting in May was fixed by the Charter at Newport, other sessions might be held elsewhere. Thus the first meeting of the General Assembly at East Greenwich was that of February 18, 1733-1734. Six years later a statute permitted adjournment only to the county town set for the session. In 1759 provision was made for an annual adjournment to East Greenwich from each of the other counties successively ; Newport, 1759; Providence, 1760; King's, 1761. Election day had become a holiday in Newport; to restrict expenditures, attendance of more than one company of foot soldiers was forbidden in 1733-1734. Care was taken to guard elections. In 1731, the proxies from New Shoreham were rejected because the return was not in com- pliance with law. The Smithfield proxies were rejected in 1735 because not deposited at a legal meeting. Statutes penalizing bribery and corruption at elections (1736) and illegal voting (1738) were enacted. Moderators of town meetings were forbidden (1729) under penalty to refuse to put to vote motions properly introduced ; no vote might be taken in town meeting after 1729 whereby to dispose of property owned by the town or to levy a tax or

CLAY HEAD, BLOCK ISLAND

SOUTH DRILL FIELD, U. S. NAVAL TRAINING STATION, NEWPORT

215

GROWTH OF A COLONIAL COMMONWEALTH

assessment unless the proposition for either purpose were stated in the warrant for the meeting.

PAPER MONEY TROUBLES-For thirty years, from 1714 to 1744, the colonial government of Rhode Island was maintained without direct taxation of property. Judicial and some other offices were sustained by fees. The principal source of revenue was the interest paid by landholders who had mortgaged their estates as security for loans issued by the colony as bills of credit. The interest was sufficient under ordinary circumstances to meet the current expenses of the government, in spite of the steady depreciation, in exchange for coin and in purchasing value, of the bills of credit with which the interest could be and was paid. So far as the government was concerned the depreciation of the interest money was offset by the larger amount of interest earned and paid as the volume of bills of credit was increased by issuing fresh loans on new mortgages. Extraordinary expenditures during wars were met occasionally by issuing bills exclusively upon the credit of the colony, without, however, the provision for repayment by taxes which had characterized the earliest issues in 1710 and immediately thereafter. The government was popular because no tax burdens were imposed by it. Paper money also was popular with debtors, usually a majority in any community, either because its steady depreciation favored them in payment of interest or principal, if they were inclined to reduce their indebtedness ; or because the same steady depreciation simplified the refunding process of borrowing currency of lower value to repay the debts already con- tracted. So far as the financial function of a government lies merely in collecting and dis- bursing money enough to discharge public indebtedness, it need not concern itself seriously with more than the current value of the medium of exchange. So long as the revenue is currency, the nature of the currency is immaterial. Eventually a depreciating currency favors the government which issues it in payment of current obligations, in the same way that a depreciating currency favors other debtors. The discussion so far has omitted the moral obligations of a government so to stabilize its currency as to favor neither debtors nor credi- tors, and to base its currency upon substantial security for redemption, thus to prevent fraud and confiscation without actual payment. While a metallic currency generally is approved by economists because of stability, it may lack the elasticity demanded by expanding business, and may need, therefore, to be supplemented by other currency. There is no essential finan- cial error in the emission of paper currency, if the currency is founded on assets that are readily convertible into cash, and if also provision is made for redemption and retirement, particularly in periods in which business slackens. The errors in the Rhode Island system lay in resting the paper currency on land, which is not quickly convertible, and in the recog- nition almost at the outset that the currency could not be redeemed readily. Depreciation began, therefore, almost immediately after paper currency was issued, and continued as the volume thereof increased. The depreciation rested most heavily on persons with fixed incomes, as the purchasing value thereof diminished. As to the honesty of the government, it should not be forgotten that the currency as issued purchased only its value in coin. This view is presented in the letter written in 1740-1741 by Governor Ward in answer to inquiries by the English commissioners of trade. The following is a summary of the letter :

"In the year 1710 we" struck "off a quantity of paper money to supply the want of silver and gold (then exceedingly scarce). Seven thousand pounds in bills were therefore emitted. .. These bills amount to £4593 15s. and passed equal to silver at eight shillings per ounce. . . . Anno 1711" we "added £6300 to the former emission, which likewise passed equal to silver at eight shillings per ounce and amounted to £4134 7s. 6d. . . . . Husbandry and mechanical arts were the only employment of the inhabitants of this colony till about the beginning of the present century ; in consequence of which a small medium of exchange was sufficient till other emergencies required a larger." For various reasons, war, etc., "we were compelled to make an emission of £40,000 in bills of credit, anno 1715, which was issued on

216

RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY

loan at five per cent. to the inhabitants for ten years upon land security. . ... Silver was worth twelve shillings per ounce at the time of making these last bills, and their whole amount was about £ 17,000.

"1721. As the little trade of our colony . . . . had begun to revive . . . . the merchants found themselves in a capacity of rendering it more extensive through the assistance of that medium they were furnished with, by the emission of paper bills, anno 1715. They accord- ingly built more vessels, and generously advanced into a much larger trade, and everything among us seemed to be in flourishing circumstances. But the merchants of Boston . . .. bought up all the gold and silver they could lay their hands upon in this and the neighboring governments in order to pay their debt in England. This rendered these commodities very scarce, and our bills having obtained a currency amongst our neighbors in the adjacent gov- ernment, became scarce likewise. . All which obliged us to emit another £40,000, A. D.

1721. . . . . Silver was worth about sixteen shillings per ounce at the time of making these bills; and their whole amount was £ 13,125.

"The surprising growth of our commerce, occasioned in a great measure by the mer- chants being supplied with a medium of exchange . ... invited people of all sorts and con- ditions to come from all parts and settle among us. This made our colony populous, fur- nished us with mechanics of every kind, and helped us to make a further progress in trade and navigation, which required a larger medium than we had. Therefore, anno 1728, . ... the General Assembly emitted £40,000 more in bills of public credit. . ... Sil- ver was at eighteen shillings per ounce at the striking off of these bills, and their total amount about £11,666 13s. 14d." To encourage hemp raising and the whale and cod fishery "the General Assembly, anno 1731, passed an act for the emitting of £60,000 in bills of public credit. . ... Silver was worth twenty-two shillings per ounce, when these bills were emitted, and their amount was about £ 14,218 3s. 7d. To further the scheme of making a harbor at Block Island and pay for the fort, anno 1733, another bank of £ 104,000 was made. Silver was worth, at the emission of these bills, twenty-five shillings per ounce, and their total amount was about £ 21,840.

"1738. We emitted £ 100,000 more . to the building of a large brick state house for the colony's use and to erect a lighthouse for the benefit of our navigators." This emis- sion was intended also to furnish a medium of exchange for Connecticut and Massachusetts. "Silver was at about twenty-seven shillings per ounce when these bills were emitted; and their total amount about £ 19,444 8s. Iod.

"1740. To build the colony sloop, to raise soldiers and for incidental war expenses it became absolutely necessary to emit more bills of public credit. Upon which the Assembly have this year, 1740, passed an act for issuing out £20,000 in paper bills, equivalent to silver, stated at six shillings and nine pence per ounce, to be let out at four per cent. upon loans (on such land security as hath been heretofore taken) for ten years, and then to be sunk by ten equal pay- ments. Silver is now worth twenty-seven shillings per ounce, and the whole of this bank amounts to about £ 15,555 IIS. Id." Governor Ward argued that the emission of paper currency had stimulated trade, which was "greater in proportion to the dimensions of our government than that of any colony in his majesty's American dominions"; that Massachu- setts had also profited from the rum, sugar and molasses trade carried on in Rhode Island - vessels; and that "the West Indies have likewise reaped great advantage from our trade by being supplied with lumber of all sorts, suitable for building houses, sugar works and making casks; beef, pork, flour, and other provisions, we are daily carrying to them, with horses to turn their mills, and vessels for their own use; and our African trade often furnishes them with slaves for their plantations. To all this we beg leave to add that the merchants of Great Britain have, within these twelve months, or thereabouts, received seven or eight sail of ships from this colony for goods imported here of late and sold to the inhabitants.

217

GROWTH OF A COLONIAL COMMONWEALTH

"When the whole of what we have outstanding, to wit, £ 340,000, is reduced to sterling money it will not amount to more than £88,074 16s. 1034d., a very small sum to serve for a medium of exchange. . . . . Your lordships will doubtless observe that paper bills have from the time of their being first made sunk in value till of late years, the cause whereof (which common experience hath taught us), we humbly take leave to suggest to your lord- ships. It is supposed by many that the frequent emissions of these bills hath effected their depreciation. But the contrary may be safely averred. For they always passed and were received equal to silver, at so much per ounce, till the merchants of Boston, having large quantities of goods from Europe, and supplying all the governments of New England there- with, could find no way to make sufficient remittances, but by buying up all the silver and gold they could purchase. This put those commodities on the same level with common mer- chandise ; and so they who wanted it most bid higher and higher till gold and silver arrived to the price they now bear, always taking care to rate their goods in proportion to what they last gave for sterling money. .... For these six years last past bills have continued to be equal to silver at twenty-seven shillings per ounce."

Governor Ward did not avoid the plain facts ( I) that silver had risen in value from six shillings per ounce to twenty-seven shillings per ounce in thirty years; (2) that the colony had accumulated a debt of £88,000 sterling; (3) that silver and gold had practically disap- peared from circulation ; (4) that silver and gold had been exported because of the insistence of English merchants upon payment in money current in England; (5) that little apparent effort had been made to turn the profits of what had been unquestionably a period of trade expansion and commercial prosperity toward redemption of indebtedness in such manner as to make the advances attained secure. The last scarcely could be expected; it has been char- acteristic of expansion and inflation and exploitation and commercial adventure in all time, that those who profit seldom dare to stop short of the "explosion" that precedes bankruptcy.

Exhibiting in Rhode Island's internal politics that same tact and wisdom that had ren- dered his service invaluable in relations with England, Governor Cranston almost alone of general officers weathered the stormy political revolution and counter-revolution of 1714 and 1715, in which the issues were paper money and control of the militia. With reference to the former the mandate of the people had been so clearly expressed that for the time being opposition to paper money was not popular with politicians. When, in 1731, Governor Jencks made a deter- mined effort to check inflation by attempting to veto a bill emitting bills of credit, he ended a political career that had endured for a generation of continuous service in public office as Deputy, Assistant, Deputy Governor and Governor. Governor Jencks in his letter to England requesting rulings on his veto had announced that he did not choose to be a candidate for reelection in 1732; probably he could not have been reelected in view of the vigorous opposition to him by the paper money party, led by the redoubtable John Wanton, and of the opprobrium cast upon him by reason of his appeal to England to defeat a measure enacted into law by the General Assembly .* While the popular Wantons, William and John, were Governors the paper money party was in control of the government. The letter (supra ) written by Richard Ward, who succeeded John Wanton as Governor in 1740, stamps Ward as an apologist for, if not an advocate of, paper money. The comparatively rapid alternation of Governors, 1743-1755, thus: William Greene, 1743-1745; Gideon Wanton, 1745-1746; William Greene, 1746-1747; Gideon Wan- ton, 1747-1748; William Greene, 1748-1755, was not because of changing popular attitude toward paper money, although in 1744 four Deputies from Newport joined in signing a pro- test against the emission of bills of credit, and an Assistant, also from Newport, entered an individual protest. It is possible that in the election of 1744, the first after the erection of Middletown as a separate town by separation of the farming section from the compact "town" of Newport, the merchants of Newport had won the election of Deputies; and that the protest reflected their views as to the wisdom of further inflation. Gideon Wanton con-

*See Chapter IX.

218

RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY

tinued the family influence and the Newport ascendancy in colonial politics. While William Greene, the second Governor not a Newporter, was from Warwick, his affiliation with New- port was closer than with Providence, which with the northern group of towns was gaining rapidly in population, wealth and commerce. From the middle of the eighteenth century for twenty-five years, with the paper money issue quieted, political conflict was principally sec- tional, with Newport and King's Counties arrayed against Providence and the northern communities. Bristol County joined with Providence, while Kent County was divided between the parties. In 1746 Stephen Hopkins, one other Deputy from Providence and one Deputy from each of Scituate and Glocester protested against an appropriation for addi- tional fortifications at Newport for the general reason that Newport already had been fortified at the expense of the colony, and "that we apprehend such a sum of money . . .. will be more useful for the defence of the colony if it be kept in the treasury until it be known in what place and in what manner we shall be attacked by the enemy."

Returning from paper money as an issue in partisan politics for the time being to paper money as a distinctly economic and social issue affecting the public welfare and the develop- ment of Rhode Island as a colonial commonwealth, a significant change in the form of bills of credit was made in 1740, with the purpose of stabilizing them. Bills of credit issued from 1710 to 1738, inclusive, were in the form of promises to pay a stated amount of money and might be redeemed in currency. In 1740 a new type of bill, payable in silver at nine shillings an ounce or in gold at £6 13s. 4d. an ounce, was issued. With reference to the latter type of bill the term "new tenor" distinguished it from earlier issues, thereafter designated "old tenor." Had there been no marked depreciation in paper currency, the difference between old tenor and new tenor would be no more significant than the merely technical difference in the twentieth century between United States legal tender notes, issued as promises to pay a stated number of dollars, and silver certificates payable in silver dollars, or between both and gold certificates, payable in gold coin, so long as the United States maintains all its currency on the gold standard. Because of depreciation, however, old tenor bills, payable in silver at twenty-seven shillings an ounce, were worth only one-third as much pound per pound as new tenor bills, payable in silver at nine shillings an ounce. Even this ratio was not stable; the exchange value of old tenor currency had been reached by depreciation from eight shillings an ounce; it might vary again, and did. By 1749 the relative value of old tenor notes was one-fourth of new tenor notes of the same stated amount. Furthermore, the actual purchas- ing value of the new tenor currency might be determined, as it was, not by the amount of silver or gold promised so much as by an estimate of the ability of the colony to fulfill its . promise to redeem the bills in silver or gold. When, in February, 1743-1744, the General Assembly, seeking interest as revenue to replace that no longer earned on old issues of bills of credit, as mortgage loans were repaid in the sinking process, and actually standing in need of money "to defray the charges of the government," voted to emit £40,000 in bills of credit, new tenor, four Deputies, all from Newport signed and filed a protest against the measure for these reasons: (I) Because the rate of interest was so low, and the time of payment so remote as "necessarily to depreciate their value, as well as frustrate one of the principal ends of emitting which is to defray the charges of the government." (2) Because . . . "so large a bank at this time will be of most pernicious consequence to the trade of this

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 37

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