Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I, Part 46

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

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When news of the battle of Lexington reached Rhode Island on the night of April 19, 1775, no time was lost; in the morning not less than 1000 armed and disciplined soldiers began to march toward Boston, among them the Kentish Guards, Nathanael Greene in the ranks, noticed particularly because of his limp, by John Howland who watched from the side- walk. The Rhode Island troops returned after having crossed the colony line and marched into Massachusetts, where they were met by a message that the British army had been driven back into Boston and that the movement for the time being was at an end. The General Assembly met at Providence two days later, April 22. The session was called for urgent rea- sons and devoted principally to military measures. Twenty-five hundred pounds of powder and one-quarter part of the lead, bullets and flints belonging to the colony were apportioned to the towns. May II was designated as a day of "fasting, prayer and humiliation." Samuel Ward and William Bradford were sent to Connecticut to consult with the General Assembly there on "measures for the common defence of the four New England colonies." Nathanael Greene replaced Samuel Ward on this delegation, as the latter had already been reappointed a delegate to attend the Continental Congress, soon to meet at Philadelphia. Resolving "at this very dangerous crisis of American affairs ; at a time when we are surrounded with fleets and armies, which threaten our immediate destruction ; at a time when the fears and anxieties of the people throw them into the utmost distress and totally prevent them from attending to the common occupations of life; to prevent the mischievous consequences that must neces- sarily attend such a disordered state, and to restore peace to the minds of the good people of

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this colony, it appears absolutely necessary to this Assembly that a number of men be raised and embodied, properly armed and disciplined, to continue in this colony as an army of observation, to repel any insult or violence that may be offered to the inhabitants; and also, if it be necessary for the safety and preservation of any of the colonies to march out of this colony and join and cooperate with the forces of the neighboring colonies," it was voted to enlist 1500 men "with all the expedition and dispatch that the nature of the thing will admit." Against this measure Governor Wanton, Deputy Governor Sessions, and two Assistants, Thomas Wickes and William Potter, "professing true allegiance to his majesty King George III," protested "because we are of opinion that such a measure will be attended with the most fatal consequences to our Charter privileges; involve the country in all the horrors of a civil war; and, as we conceive, is an open violation of the oath of allegiance which we have sev- erally taken upon our admission into the respective offices we now hold in the colony." As a precaution for safety because of the exposed situation of Newport, it was ordered that the election meeting of May, 1775, should be held in the Colony House in Providence.

GOVERNOR WANTON DEPOSED-Joseph Wanton was reelected as Governor in May, 1775, but did not attend the session of the General Assembly and was not engaged as Governor. He sent a message to the General Assembly, pleading "indisposition" as his reason for absence, and urging consideration of a compromise proposed in a resolution adopted by the House of Commons, February 27, 1775. This resolution promised exemption from duties, taxes and assessments to colonies which of and by themselves undertook to contribute a share of the expense of the common defence and to make provision for the support of civil government and administration of justice in the colonies, approved by his majesty and Parliament. This belated compromise offer was interpreted in America as a device intended to divide them and destroy the union. Not all of the colonies were as ready to fight for liberty as were Rhode Island and Virginia. The compromise had the appearance of a concession to the colonial assertion of an exclusive right to tax themselves. It was too late, however; no colonial assembly accepted the bait. Far from acceding to Governor Wanton's request, the General Assembly pursued the warlike policy inaugurated in the preceding year. Governor Wanton had neglected to issue the proclamation of May II as a day of fasting and prayer as ordered by the Assembly of April 22, and he refused to sign the commission for officers of the "army of observation." For these three reasons, that is: (I) neglect to take the engagement of office ; (2) failure to proclaim the day of fasting, and (3) refusal to sign commissions, "by all which," the General Assembly resolved, "he hath manifested his intentions to defeat the good people of these colonies, in their present glorious struggle to transmit inviolate to posterity those sacred rights they have received from their ancestors," and expressly forbade the Deputy Governor and Assistants or any of them to administer the oath of office to Joseph Wanton unless in open and free Assembly and "with the consent of such Assembly," and declared that until Joseph Wanton took the oath "as aforesaid, it shall not be lawful for him to act as Governor of this colony in any case, whatsoever; and that every act done by him in the pretended capacity as Governor shall be null and void." The Governor-elect was thus suspended from office during the pleasure of the General Assembly.

The suspension was confirmed at each of the two sessions of June, and the session of August ; at the October session the office of Governor was declared vacant, because "Joseph Wanton, by the whole course of his behavior . . . hath continued to demonstrate that he is inimical to the rights and liberties of America and is thereby rendered totally unfit to sus- tain said office." The correspondence passing between Joseph Wanton and colonial officers was friendly in tone. His late colleagues recalled his vigorous defence of the Charter and of colonial liberties throughout his years of service as Governor; he differed with them only in his unwillingness to risk by an appeal to arms the association with England. There was no rancor in his letters; nor was there any disposition in the General Assembly to treat Joseph

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Wanton otherwise than in a spirit of kindness, although the leaders recognized that he could not, consistently with his views, join them heartily in the program of resistance by force of arms. In February the sheriff of Newport County was directed to demand surrender of the Charter and other papers and colony property in the possession of the deposed Governor; the sheriff reported that he had visited the Wanton home in the absence of the owner, and carried away a chest containing the property wanted. Of the others who joined Governor Wanton in the protest against the "army of observation," Darius Sessions, Deputy Governor, was not reelected ; in October he wrote a letter to the General Assembly, craving forgiveness, and was "received into their favor and friendship." William Potter, on explanation, was "reinstated in the favor of the General Assembly" on June I. The name of Thomas Wickes appeared in one of the colonial committees of safety, indicating that he, too, had made peace with the Assembly.

The Secretary of the colony had removed his records and office from Newport to Provi- dence before the opening of the May session, 1775. The General Assembly ordered the Gen- eral Treasurer, "with the colony's treasure," to remove to Providence. The Assembly pro- ceeded with legislation for the thorough organization of the "army of observation." Soldiers were enlisted "in his majesty's service, and in the pay of the colony of Rhode Island, for the preservation of the liberties of America." The army was organized as a brigade of three regiments, with Nathanael Greene in command as Brigadier General, and Thomas Church, Daniel Hitchcock, and James M. Varnum, respectively, as Colonels. Each regiment consisted of eight companies, and there was besides a train of light artillery. Arms and ammunition equipment, tents and provisions were purchased for the complete equipment of the brigade. An issue of £20,000, lawful money bills, was authorized as a means whereby to finance extraordinary war expenditures. An embargo on shipments of food out of the colony was ordered, to assure abundant supplies for the soldiers. Within a month Brigadier General Nathanael Greene and his three regiments of Rhode Island soldiers, a train of light artillery and a siege battery of heavier guns, had joined the American army encamped on the heights about Boston, in which a British army lay besieged.

FIRST NAVAL ENGAGEMENT-H. M. S. "Rose," Captain James Wallace, stationed at Newport in 1775, interfered so vexatiously with Rhode Island shipping that the General Assembly, in June, directed the Deputy Governor to write to Wallace and "demand of him the reason of his conduct toward the inhabitants of this colony in stopping and detaining their vessels; and also demand of him the packets which he detains." Governor Cooke wrote, as directed, assuring Wallace, in the concluding paragraph of the letter: "So long as you remain in the colony, and demean yourself as becomes your office, you may depend upon the protection of the laws, and every assistance for promoting the public service in my power. And you may also be assured that the whole power of the colony will be exerted to secure the persons and properties of the inhabitants against every lawless invader." Wallace replied : "Although I am unacquainted with you or what station you act in, suppose you write on behalf of some body of people; therefore, previous to my giving an answer, I must desire to know whether or not you, or the people on whose behalf you write, are not in open rebel- lion to your lawful sovereign and the acts of the British legislature !"

One of the packets had been converted into a tender for the "Rose" and armed. The colony had already chartered and armed two vessels, the "Washington," carrying eighty men, ten four-pound guns and fourteen swivel guns; the "Katie," carrying thirty men. Abraham Whipple commanded the larger vessel and the fleet as Commodore. On June 15, the day on which Wallace answered Governor Cooke's letter, Commodore Whipple engaged the armed packet, and in a short but decisive battle captured her off the shore of Conanicut. This was the first naval engagement in the Revolution, fought by a vessel commissioned as a unit in the navy of Rhode Island against an armed vessel in the service of the British King. This

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first of naval battles between the ships of America and England resulted in a glorious victory for the navy of America. Captain Wallace, somehow, had learned that Commodore Whipple had commanded the "Gaspee" expedition. Smarting with chagrin and wrath because of Whipple's victory, he wrote to the Commodore: "You, Abraham Whipple, on the 10th June, 1772, burned his majesty's vessel, the 'Gaspee,' and I will hang you at the yardarm." Whipple's answer was as complete and as laconic as Caesar's famous message, "Veni, Vidi, Vici," and Perry's announcement of the victory at Lake Erie, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." "Always catch a man before you hang him," wrote Abraham Whipple. In August, the Rhode Island navy, now mistress of the waters of Narragansett Bay, was sup- plemented by two row-gallies, fifteen oars on a side, planned to carry sixty men each, and armed with one eighteen-pounder in the bow and a battery of swivel guns.

THE DRIFT TOWARD WAR-England discontinued the American post office service that had been developed with Benjamin Franklin as Postmaster General. This action was partly a gesture of displeasure with Franklin, who while in England had presented the cause of the colonists, and partly a measure intended to interrupt the communication between colonies that was so indispensable for maintaining unity. Indeed, the post office had been an agency of inestimable value in furthering the work of the colonial committees of correspondence in their work, first, of producing that unanimity of opinion and agreement on measures that was essential for the success of the American movement so long as it continued to be merely resistant, and, secondly, in preparing for the active Revolution in its positive stages. Wil- liam Goddard, who had been the first editor and publisher of the "Providence Gazette," but was at the time in Baltimore and Philadelphia, undertook to reestablish the post office as an American system exclusively. This was at first an intercolonial enterprise; in June, 1775, the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to "join with the other colonies in establishing post offices and post riders, in order to preserve an intercourse between the different colonies, which will prove so beneficial to the public, as well as to individuals." Post offices were estab- lished at Providence, Warren, Bristol, Newport, Tower Hill (South Kingstown) and West- erly. The offices indicated the line of communication; later, when the British vessels at Newport displayed an inclination to interrupt the postal service and actually seized the mail on one occasion, the route was reorganized, with Providence as an exchange station. The Newport post rider carried mail for westward points to Providence on his way to Cambridge, and on the return trip from Cambridge received at Providence mail from the west for War- ren, Bristol and Newport. From Providence, westward mail was sent and received over the postroad to New London. This Rhode Island postal service antedated the system of post offices, established by Congress, of which it became a part by incorporation.

Following the battle of Bunker Hill the General Assembly was called together in special session at Providence on June 28. Reinforcements, consisting of six companies of sixty men each, two companies to be added to each of the regiments, were ordered enlisted, armed, equipped and sent forward to join the Rhode Island army of observation encamped near Bos- ton. The army, by vote of the General Assembly, was placed under the command and direc- tion of the Commander-in-Chief of the combined American army. One-fourth of the militia was ordered enlisted as "minute men," to meet and drill one-half day each fortnight, and to "march for the defence of the colony when and as often as they shall be called upon by the colonel of the regiment to which they respectively belong." Every man in the colony able to bear arms was ordered to "equip himself completely with arms and ammunition." An inven- tory of powder, arms and ammunition was ordered; and committees were directed to collect "all the saltpetre and brimstone" in the colony and forward it to the Provincial Congress at New York. Signal beacons were established, at Tower Hill in South Kingstown, and on Prospect Hill (Terrace) in Providence. A fire on the latter shown as a test, was seen at New London, sixty miles southwest, and at Cambridge, fifty miles northeast. The guns remaining at Fort George were removed to Newport for the immediate defence of the town. Thus was

STUART PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON, IN STATE HOUSE, PROVIDENCE

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Rhode Island prepared for defence, while watchers stationed on Tower Hill scanned the ocean for sight of a hostile squadron of ships. No one in Rhode Island any longer doubted the reality of war.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE-The statute permitting and regulating appeals from Rhode Island courts to his majesty was repealed in 1775. There remained only one more tie to be dissolved to complete the separation of Rhode Island from the mother country. That was the personal, individual allegiance of the freemen-citizens to his majesty. In 1756 the General Assembly, in the stress of the French and Indian War, and as a war measure to subdue murmuring opposition to the colony's vigorous war policy, had passed "An act for the more effectually securing to his majesty the allegiance of his subjects in this his colony and dominion of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." Under the provisions of this act any inhabitant, suspected of disaffection or disloyalty, might be called before a colonial court or officer and required to subscribe to a test oath of allegiance. The measure had not been popular, and its provisions had been enforced only in aggravating instances in Rhode Island. On May 4, 1776, the Rhode Island General Assembly repealed the statute of 1756, thus discharging the inhabitants of the colony from allegiance to the King. The name of the King was ordered stricken from all commissions, writs, civil processes and civil proceedings, and in place thereof inserted as a substitution "The Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." Thus the Rhode Island Assembly anticipated by two months the Declaration of Independence by Congress, by enacting its own Declaration of Independence on May 4, 1776. The Rhode Island Declaration of Independ- ence, in its original writing, has been identified as the work of Jonathan Arnold. The text follows :

AN ACT OF INDEPENDENCE

BY THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, PASSED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT THE OLD STATE HOUSE IN PROVIDENCE, MAY 4, 1776.

AN ACT

Repealing an act, entitled "An act, for the more effectually securing to His Majesty the allegiance of his subjects in this, his Colony and dominion of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." And altering the forms of Commissions, of all writs, and processes in the Courts, and of the oaths prescribed by law.

Whercas, in all states existing by compact, protection and allegiance are reciprocal, the latter being only due in consequence of the former; and,

Whereas, George the Third, King of Great Britain, forgetting his dignity, regardless of the compact most solemnly entered into, ratificd and confirmed to the inhabitants of the Colony by his illustrious ancestors, and till of late, fully recognized by him, and entirely departing from the duties and character of a good King, instead of protecting, is endeavoring to destroy the good people of this Colony, and of all the United Colonies, by sending fleets and armies to America to confiscate our property, and spread fire, sword and desolation throughout our country, in order to compel us to submit to the most debasing and detestable tyranny; whereby we are obliged by necessity. and it becomes our highest duty, to use every means with which God and nature have furnished us, in support of our inviolable rights and privileges, to oppose that power which is exerted only for our destruction.

Be it therefore enacted by this General Assembly, and by the authority thereof it is enacted, that an act, entitled "An act for the more effectually securing to His Majesty the allegiance of his subjects, in this his Colony and dominion of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," BE, AND THE SAME IS HEREBY REPEALED.

And be it further enacted by this General Assembly, and by the authority thereof, it is enacted, that in all commissions for offices, Civil and Military, and in all writs and processes in law, whether original, judicial or executory, civil or criminal, whereon the name and authority of the said King is made use of, the same shall be omitted, and in the room thereof, the name and authority of the Governor and Company of this Colony shall be substituted in the following words to wit :

THE GOVERNOR AND COMPANY OF THE ENGLISH COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS

That all such commissions, writs and processes shall be otherwise of the same form and terms as they heretofore were; that the Courts of law be no longer entitled nor considered as the King's Courts;

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and that no instrument in writing, of any nature or kind, whether public or private, shall, in the date thercof, mention the year of the said King's reign.

PROVIDED, nevertheless, that nothing in this act contained shall render void or vitiate any commission, writ, process or instrument heretofore made or executed, on account of the name and authority of the said King being therein inserted.

SIGNIFICANCE OF DECLARATION-The significance of the Rhode Island Declaration of Independence was recognized immediately. Governor Cooke, writing to General Washington on May 6, said: "I also enclose a copy of an act discharging the inhabitants of this colony from allegiance to the King of Great Britain, which was carried in the House of Deputies, after a debate, with but six dissenting voices, there being upward of sixty members present." The General Assembly had been elected by the people within a few days of the Declaration, and there scarcely could be any doubt of the people's sentiment. Governor Cooke's letter con- tinued : "The lower house afterward passed a vote for taking the sense of the inhabitants at large upon the question of independence; but the upper house represented to them that it would probably be discussed in Congress before the sense of the inhabitants could be taken and transmitted to the delegates; in which case the colony would lose their voice, as the dele- gates would be under the necessity of waiting for instructions from their constituents; and further observed that the delegates, when they should receive a copy of the vote renouncing allegiance to the British King, and their instructions, could not possibly be at a loss to know the sentiment of the General Assembly upon this; the matter was dropped." Immediately after its passage, the act of May 4, 1776, was printed in the form of a proclamation duly signed and attested, and copies were posted conspicuously in public places throughout Rhode Island. Other copies were sent to the assemblies of the twelve remaining American colonies. Colonial newspapers gave the Declaration further publicity. The "Providence Gazette and Country Journal" of May II, 1776, carried a brief paragraph as follows: "The General Assembly at their late session passed an act entitled," etc. The "Providence Gazette and Country Journal" on May II and thereafter no longer carried the royal arms of Great Britain at the head of its columns; the "Gazette" had declared its independence and had cast its lot with Rhode Island. The "Boston Gazette" of May 20 mentioned the passage of the Rhode Island act. The "Continental Journal" printed the Rhode Island act in complete text on May 30. The "New England Chronicle" of May 23 printed the Rhode Island act in full, giving it the place of primary importance in the news, at the top of the first column of the first page. In England, also, the momentous action taken by Rhode Island was keenly appre- ciated. The "London Chronicle" for August 3, 1776, printed the full text of the Rhode Island Declaration of Independence, giving it nearly a column under the headline "Rhode Island. All allegiance to the Crown of Britain Renounced by the General Assembly." Other publications by London newspapers were as follows: "Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser," "Daily Advertiser," "Gazeteer and New Daily Advertiser," August 5; and "Morning Post and Daily Advertiser," August 6. The lapse of three months before pub- lication in England indicated the delay in the travel of news across the Atlantic Ocean in 1776. The "Remembrancer." an "Impartial Repository of Public Events," printed in London in 1776, published the Rhode Island act of May 4, 1776, in complete text. Stephen Hopkins, on May 15, wrote to Governor Cooke: "I observe that you have avoided giving me a direct answer to my queries concerning independence; however the copy of the act of the Assem- bly, which you have sent me, together with our instructions, leave me little room to doubt what is the opinion of the colony I came from." The instructions contained this significant caution : "Taking greatest care to secure to this colony, in the strongest and most perfect manner, its present established form, and all the powers of government, so far as relate to its internal police and conduct of our own affairs, civil and religious." In this statement lay an exposition of the principle that would guide Rhode Island in its attitude toward the Con- federation of the United States, and toward the Constitution of the United States in the critical period preceding ratification. The instructions also authorized Rhode Island's dele-

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gation to Congress to join with their colleagues from other colonies in "treaties with any prince, state or potentate," which would be altogether inconsistent with continued allegiance.

The Rhode Island General Assembly adjourned on Sunday, May 5, 1776, the day fol- lowing the declaration. On May 6 Governor Cooke issued a proclamation setting apart a day of prayer and fasting in the state. From this proclamation, in complete accord with the act of May 4, all mention of the King's name and the customary prayer for the King were omit- ted. Instead the proclamation included a prayer for America in the form, "God Save the United Colonies." The General Assembly met again at Newport in June. On Sunday, June 16, the Governor, Deputy Governor and other general officers, and the seventy-two members of the General Assembly signed a document which set aside for all time any doubt as to the meaning of the act of May 4. This document clinched the Rhode Island Declaration of Inde- pendence in the following language : "We, the subscribers, do solemnly and sincerely declare that we believe the war, resistance and opposition in which the United Colonies are now engaged against the fleets and armies of Great Britain, is on the part of said colonies, just and necessary : And that we will not directly nor indirectly afford assistance of any sort or kind whatever to the said fleets and armies during the continuance of the present war, but that we will heartily assist in the defence of the United Colonies." At the same June session action was taken to seize and take over the customs houses, and to replace English revenue officers with Rhode Island revenue officers. Imports from England and from English colonies were permitted, but exports to England were forbidden. The English court of admiralty established at Newport was abolished ; the sheriff of Newport County was ordered to demand from the advocate general of the court his English commission and to deliver it to the Gov- ernor of Rhode Island. The seizure of customs houses and the abolition of the court were of themselves acts of war. To deal effectively with treason, suspected of alleged Tories, the formal engagement of allegiance signed by the general officers and members of the General Assembly was prescribed for signature by persons whose loyalty was doubted. Arrest and imprisonment followed failure to sign. The engagement of June 16 confirmed the act of May 4. The several other measures of the June session served to indicate the firmness of purpose with which the General Assembly and the people of Rhode Island had entered upon the war to maintain their independence. The effect of these measures appeared in the unre- laxed earnestness with which Rhode Island continued to bear its share in the seven years of tremendous struggle. And the example of the people of Rhode Island was not lost upon the people of the United Colonies. On July 4 Congress adopted the immortal Declaration of Independence, two months after Rhode Island had pointed out the way.

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Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I, Part 46

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