USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I > Part 60
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The General Assembly ordered the Governor, in February, 1783, to write to Governor Hancock of Massachusetts, "and acquaint him with the disorderly and riotous behavior of sundry of the inhabitants of Uxbridge, Douglas, Dudley and other towns within the jurisdic- tion of that commonwealth, in coming into this state and violently rescuing certain prisoners from the civil authority while they were on trial, charged with the rescue of some cattle out of the possession of the collector of taxes; that he also inform . . .. Governor Hancock of the unlawful assemblies which are frequently had of sundry disaffected and evil-minded per- sons living in the towns aforesaid, the towns in this state and the state of Connecticut adja- cent to said towns, for the purpose of obstructing the collection of taxes and impeding the exercise of civil government in the said states, respectively." In Rhode Island Deputy Gov- ernor Bowen acted promptly and vigorously, and caused the arrest of "a considerable number of the most flagrant offenders"; the General Assembly approved this action and complimented the Deputy Governor for his "prudent, wise and vigorous exertions," and ordered the Attor- ney General "to make strict inquiry" and to "indict and prosecute." Thirteen of the Rhode Island malcontents, lodged in jail, in a petition to the General Assembly, confessed "that they had been acting in a riotous and illegal manner," and represented "that they are truly sensible of their error and fully determined to behave in future as peaceable and obedient citizens," and prayed "to be forgiven and restored to the favor of their country"; two of those were accepted as state's evidence against the others, who were fined and imprisoned. The occasion called for vigorous and summary action, and stringent measures to avert an insurrection were justi-
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fied; but it illustrated definitely the danger threatening the United States at the end of the Revolution because of the dissatisfaction involved in economic exhaustion.
A census taken in 1782 showed a total population of 51,913 for all towns except New Shoreham. Block Island, like Long Island, was still considered as held by the enemy. The total population in 1774* was 59,707; excluding Block Island from both enumerations, that is, deducting 575 from the census of 1774, there had been a loss of population of 7219 in eight years. Of white population, men of military age were 2510 less in number than women of corresponding age, these figures reflecting the wartime losses of men. The natural tendency to balance the distribution of population by sex was indicated in the excess of 442 boys over girls under 16 years of age. Newport was yet the most populous town, with 5532 inhabi- tants ; the town had suffered a net loss of 4677 people during the war. Providence, the sec- ond town, with 4312, had been at a standstill, with a net loss of nine in eight years. Besides the war waste of man power through casualties and disease, Rhode Island had lost population by migration, particularly of merchants and sympathizers with the British. There were some indications of a revival as early as 1782. Many who had gone from the state during the war returned and requested restoration of civil and political rights, including some merchants. Rhode Island College, in May, requested return of the college edifice, which had been used as barracks and hospital, and the removal from the college yard of buildings constructed during the French occupation. Commencement exercises were conducted in September, with a small graduating class.
The General Assembly met eight times in 1782, at Providence, in January, February, September and October; at Newport, in May and June; at South Kingstown, in August ; and at East Greenwich, in November. The Governor and Deputy Governor were reelected. Ezekiel Cornell was reelected a delegate to Congress, with three new colleagues, John Collins, David Howell, and Jonathan Arnold, of whom the last two were to play a most significant part in the debates in Congress preceding the adoption of the Constitution .; A statute forbidding counterfeiting bank bills was enacted, to protect the new currency of the Bank of North America, founded under the leadership of Robert Morris. Congress was requested to make provision for retiring all unredeemed continental bills of the old series; and continental bills of the new series were declared to be legal tender no longer. Rhode Island finances were on a strictly hard money basis, but Rhode Island had no money.
AFTER YORKTOWN-The Rhode Island battalion in the Yorktown campaign lost 106 men, killed in action, or dead from wounds or disease; the last was the most prolific cause of decease, smallpox, camp diseases and malignant fevers carrying off many on the march north- ward after Cornwallis had surrendered. Others were seriously incapacitated by sickness or wounds, and the battalion was reduced to less than two-thirds its normal strength. To fill up the ranks to 681 men, 259 were needed, and these were ordered enlisted in February, 1782. Quotas of soldiers were assigned to towns, with shares also in the provision of 3626 yards of white tow cloth for uniforms and 518 pairs of stockings. The General Assembly ordered 259 knapsacks and 180 leather caps. Enlistments were obtained with difficulty, because soldiers were not paid regularly and the people generally believed that the war was practically over with the victory at Yorktown. In August 200 men were called for to serve three years, to fill up the battalion losses by expiration of enlistment. Washington, in December, notified Gov- ernor Greene that unless 200 men were enlisted to raise the battalion to not less than 500 effective soldiers, some of the officers must be discharged. The Governor was directed by the General Assembly to answer "that, from the present prospect of a speedy termination of the " war, this legislature is induced to postpone the raising of any recruits for the regiment at present ; but if the event should turn out contrary to the general expectation, and the negotia-
*The pre-war census of 1774 is used for comparison instead of the census of 1776. ¡See Chapter XIV.
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tions in Europe for a general peace should prove unsuccessful; this state will immediately take measures for recruiting their regiment." A garrison of militia was maintained at New- port through the year of 1782, but there was no military activity. In April Washington requested that the fortifications in Rhode Island be demolished, lest they be occupied by the British. The powder mill was sold in August. The Governor called a special meeting of members of the Assembly on September 19, because of a report that a British fleet was moving eastward; preparations for defence were made, and cannon were removed from Butt's Hill to Providence. The alarm was needless; the British returned to New York. Negotiations for peace were in progress. Parliament had denounced the war and proclaimed advocates of it public enemies. Carleton arrived in May, 1782, with offers of "peace and truce," which were rejected because they did not include independence. The signing of a preliminary treaty was announced in March, 1783. Congress announced the armistice, preceding the signing of a definitive treaty, on April II. Two weeks later, following publication of news of the armistice, celebrations were conducted in Rhode Island, including extensive programs in Newport and Providence. Restrictions on intercourse with Block Island were repealed, and the freemen on the island were empowered to choose Deputies to represent them in the General Assembly. The laws forbidding trade with Great Britain and other parts of the empire were repealed.
Washington took leave of the northern army, and Nathanael Greene of the southern army. The latter returned home to Rhode Island, greeted everywhere along the route as a military genius who had saved four states for the union. Washington returned home to Virginia to seek rest at Mount Vernon.
PEACE PRONOUNCED-The "Providence Gazette," on December 2, published a special edition to announce the arrival in Rhode Island, direct from London to Narragansett Bay, of a copy of the treaty of peace, which recognized the independence of Rhode Island. Rhode Island had declared independence on May 4, 1776; England had been compelled to acknowl- edge that Rhode Island was right. In the thankfulness of victory the travail and pains of seven years of war were forgotten, and Rhode Island looked forward to the future, firm in the faith that Hope strengthens.
CHAPTER XIV. RHODE ISLAND AND THE UNION.
HODE ISLAND was not admitted to the earliest American union, the New Eng- land Confederacy of 1643, because of the jealousy of contiguous commonwealths and Rhode Island's staunch maintenance of religious liberty .* It was fortunate that the altogether new and novel type of democracy in process of development in the Narragansett Bay country was thus saved for mankind; had Rhode Island been accepted and, perhaps, absorbed by the confederacy, liberty of conscience might have been strangled by the narrowness that perverted Puritanism in America. Rhode Island was not rep- resented in the intercolonial conference at Albany during King William's War ;; the invitation to send delegates was received in Rhode Island on the day set for the meeting. Stephen Hopkins and Martin Howard, Jr., represented Rhode Island at the intercolonial conference at Albany in 1754,# which approved Franklin's plan for a union of the colonies for mutual defence against French and Indians. Franklin reported from committee a project for an intercolonial delegate assembly, to meet annually, with powers to enact laws, raise and support armies, levy taxes, appoint officers, and manage Indian affairs. Eventually the Franklin plan found favor neither with Great Britain, which foresaw in the union too much strength in the American colonies, nor with the colonies, which were jealous of their own powers and feared to yield them to federal agents. The Franklin plan had in it the germs of the federal system that was to arise under the Constitution of the United States; America was not ready for union in 1754, and a federal plan lay beyond the horizon of most Americans. The Rhode Island delegates reported favorably upon the Franklin plan, and Stephen Hopkins, when his political enemies attempted to use his advocacy of the union as an argument to destroy him politically, published a pamphlet explaining and defending its provisions. The pamphlet was one of several written by Hopkins that identify him as a political genius-perhaps, statesman. The General Assem- bly, alert because of past experiences and relations with jealous neighbors and the mother country, warned the colonial agent in London "to be upon his watch, and if anything shall be moved in Parliament respecting the plan for a union of his majesty's northern colonies, projected at Albany, which may have a tendency to infringe on our chartered privileges, that he use his utmost endeavors to get it put off, until such time as the government is furnished with a copy, and have opportunity of making answer thereunto." Rhode Island in 1754 was definitely opposed to the union of the federal type proposed by the Albany conference.
Metcalfe Bowler and Henry Ward represented Rhode Island at the Stamp Act Congress, which met at New York, October 7, 1765.§ The attitude of the Stamp Act Congress was remonstrative rather than constructive; its most important result was a demonstration of unanimous, if not united, opposition to Lord Grenville's American policy. The appointment of a royal commission to investigate the burning of the "Gaspee" precipitated a round of resolutions of protest against this extraordinary inquisition; in sending a copy of Rhode Island resolutions to other colonial legislatures, Metcalfe Bowler, Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Deputies, declared that the House was "persuaded that nothing less than a firm and close union of the colonies in the most spirited, prudent and consistent measures can defeat the designs of those who are aiming to deprive them of their inestimable rights and privileges." This was an unofficial statement interpreting the attitude of the Rhode Island .General Assem-
*Chapter V.
tChapter VIII.
#Chapters VIII and XI.
§ Chapter V.
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bly as favoring union for defence; it was followed shortly by an official declaration, the first in America, by the town meeting in Providence, which, on May 17, 1774, proposed "a con- gress as soon as may be, of the representatives of the general assemblies of the several colonies and provinces of North America, for establishing the firmest union."
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS -- In June, anticipating the calling of a congress and the naming of a time and place for meeting, the Rhode Island General Assembly elected Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward as the first delegates to the Continental Congress, which met in Philadel- phia, September 5, 1774. The General Assembly also declared "that it is the opinion of this Assembly that a firm and inviolable union of all the colonies, in counsels and measures, is absolutely necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties." The delegates were instructed to "endeavor to procure a regular annual convention of representatives from all the colonies, to consider a proper means for the preservation of the rights and liberties of the colonies." Rhode Island, in 1774, though thoroughly convinced of the urgent necessity of concerted action and union in "counsel and measures," was far away from the federal plan outlined at Albany in 1754. The colony was consistent ; it desired a union in "counsel and measures" as the means whereby to assure the independence for the preservation of which it was zealous.
Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward were Rhode Island's delegates to the second Con- tinental Congress, which met at Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. The proceedings were secret. This Congress assumed direction of the war already underway; both Hopkins and Ward were influential members and each was appointed on several of the important committees through which Congress acted, there being no executive. Samuel Ward died March 25, 1776.
Stephen Hopkins and William Ellery were elected delegates to Congress with other colony officers at the May meeting of the General Assembly in 1776. Their instructions included this significant declaration: "You are also authorized and empowered to consult and advise with the delegates of the said colonies upon the most proper measures for promoting and confirm- ing the strictest union and confederation between the said United Colonies, for exerting their whole strength and force to annoy the common enemy, and to secure to the said colonies their rights and liberties, both civil and religious . .. . and . . to enter into and adopt such measures, taking the 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." The limitation upon the authority of Rhode Island's delegates to bind the colony to any measure that interfered with colony sovereignty was on all fours with the instructions to the colony agent in 1754 "to be on his watch" for anything "which may have a tendency to infringe on our chartered privileges." William Bradford was elected to Congress in October, 1776, probably to relieve Stephen Hop- kins, whom the Assembly thanked for "his good services" and requested "to attend the busi- ness in Congress as soon as he can conveniently leave his family." Bradford declined, and Henry Marchant was elected delegate by the Assembly at the February session, 1777. He did not take his seat in Congress, however. Beginning in 1777, delegates to Congress were elected by the people annually with the Governor, Deputy Governor and Assistants, instead of by the General Assembly. The change was significant of the development (I) of an idea of permanency in the Congress, since the statutory provision for annual popular election reached beyond the appointment of delegates to an occasional conference, which might be left to the Assembly ; (2) of a relation between the people of the state and Congress that would not admit the intervention of the General Assembly as an electing body; and (3) of the actual existence of a union of the states, (a) permanent through a continuing Congress, and (b) popular because of a direct relation with the people. Popular election of Congressmen was the first clear manifestation of nation-mindedness no longer satisfied through action exclusively by states. It came as a modification of the polity of Rhode Island which took place as natu-
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rally as the separation of the General Assembly into two houses because of a recognition of diversity of town and whole colony interest, and the invention of proxy voting in general elections through town election meetings to make possible and practicable the plan for popular election roughly outlined in the Charter. Rhode Island had been developing, perhaps uncon- sciously, a consciousness of union paralleling the course of events moving steadily, inevitably and irrevocably toward solidarity in the United States of America. The delegates elected in May, 1777, and thereafter, received commissions from the Governor instead of instructions from the General Assembly, except upon matters that required Assembly ratification. Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery and Henry Marchant were the first delegates to Congress elected by the people. They were reelected in 1778 and 1779. John Collins was also elected in 1778 and 1779. The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America was the work of the representatives of a people united in a common enterprise but not bound together by any formal agreement or contract.
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION-Congress, on November 15, 1777, adopted, and two days later presented to the states for ratification "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," to become effective and binding when approved by unanimous action of the states. In a letter accompanying the Articles of Confederation, Congress, which had had the matter under con- sideration since June of the preceding year, declared: "To form a permanent union, accom- modated to the opinions and wishes of the delegates of so many states differing in habits, produce, commerce and internal police, was found to be a work which nothing but time and reflection, conspiring with a disposition to conciliate, could mature and accomplish. Hardly is it to be expected that any plan, in the variety of provisions essential to every union, should exactly correspond with the maxims and political views of every particular state. Let it be remarked that after the most careful inquiry and the fullest information, this is proposed as the best which could be adapted to the circumstances of all, and as that alone which affords any tolerable prospect of general ratification. . ... This salutary measure can no longer be deferred. It seems essential to our very existence as a free people, and without it we may soon be constrained to bid adieu to independence, to liberty and safety, and blessings which, from the justness of our cause, and the favor of our Almighty Creator, visibly manifested in our protection, we have reason to expect if, in a humble dependence on His divine providence, we strenuously exert the means which are placed in our power."
The Rhode Island General Assembly instructed its delegates "to accede to and sign the said Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union in such solemn form and manner as Congress shall think best adapted to a transaction so important to the present and future generations ; provided that the same be acceded to by eight of the other states." The General Assembly also suggested amendments to the proposed articles, and instructed the delegates to endeavor to have amendments adopted and incorporated, but directed the delegates to sign, even if the amendments were not approved by Congress .* Rhode Island thus was first to ratify the Articles of Confederation; the Rhode Island delegation signed the engrossed parch- ment carrying the full text on July 9, 1778, with delegates from the other New England states, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. The Articles of Confedera- tion did not become effective until Maryland made the ratification unanimous on March I, 1781. Rhode Island's propositions for amendment suggested representation by one delegate instead of the minimum of two stipulated, adjustment of taxes by estimates made at least once in five years, and surrender of state interests in public lands to the Confederation for the benefit of all. The second article preserved the sovereignty that Rhode Island had been unwill- ing to relinquish, thus : "Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, independence, and every
*Chapter XIII.
R. I .- 23
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power, jurisdiction and right which is not, by this confederation, expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled." This proposition is somewhat similar to the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was insisted upon later by Rhode Island before ratifi- cation, thus: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor pro- hibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people." The dif- ficulties besetting Congress under the Articles of Confederation arose from insufficient grant of power in the articles. It was unfortunate, perhaps, for Rhode Island and the United States, that Stephen Hopkins, though elected to Congress from 1775 to 1779, did not attend the ses- sions after September, 1776. Through his ability and influence it is possible that the agree- ment for union proposed by Congress in 1777 might have approached nearer to a federal plan of the type to which Hopkins had given his support in 1754; and that Congress might have been entrusted with adequate functions.
THE FLAG OF RHODE ISLAND-There was a sentiment for union in Rhode Island; it was manifested not only in the resolutions adopted as early as 1774, but also in the first flag of Rhode Island. The latter is impressive in its symbolism. It carries a union of thirteen white stars on a canton of blue, needing only additional stars to produce the galaxy of forty-eight in the Star-Spangled Banner. It represents an orderly union of independent, sovereign states, and symbolizes unmistakably the Rhode Island idea, which was adopted in the Federal Con- stitution. It is exactly the indissoluble union of indestructible states dear to the hearts of Americans. Hanging in the rotunda of the State House in Providence, to the right of the southern entrance, are two Rhode Island flags that were carried by Rhode Island regiments in the Revolutionary War. One is that of the First Rhode Island Continental Infantry. It is a white silk flag fifty-one inches wide and forty-five inches long, but fringed and torn in such manner as to indicate that probably it was longer. In the field it carries the Anchor of Hope, the emblem of Rhode Island, in blue over a scroll, upon which is painted "R. Island Reg't." In the upper corner, next to the staff, is a union or canton of blue, on which are painted thirteen white five-pointed stars, arranged in parallel lines, alternately three and two, in a design suggesting a diagonal cross imposed upon a perpendicular-horizontal cross, indi- cating a thoroughly organized interrelation. Indeed, the arrangement of the stars on the Rhode Island flag is the most perfect that could be devised to display a thorough integration without the dissolution of identity. It has been likened to the combination of the crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick in the British ensign, to indicate the close union of England, Scotland and Ireland. The blue of the union in the Rhode Island flag has so faded with the passing of a century and a half that it appears to be a very light blue now; probably it was of a much deeper blue color in 1775. While no authentic record has been found to establish the time when this flag was made or when it first came into possession of the First Rhode Island Continental Infantry, there is good reason for believing that it was carried from Rhode Island by the "army of observation" when it marched in 1775 to join the Continental army gathering about Boston to besiege the British army. It entered Boston, when Greene led the Rhode Island Brigade into the town after the evacuation by the British. It was on the field of battle at Long Island, Harlem, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Ger- mantown, Monmouth, Rhode Island and Yorktown. It is consistent with the facts that Gen- eral Greene's Rhode Island Brigade was the best disciplined, best armed, best equipped and most soldierly in the American army around Boston that the brigade should carry a flag with other equipment so excellent and complete in detail that it attracted attention to the Rhode Island troops. Samuel Abbott, in his "Dramatic Story of Old Glory," mentioned the Rhode Island flag as one of the banners carried by the continental troops before Washington unfurled the Grand Union flag at Cambridge on January I, 1776; as did also Peleg D. Harrison in "The Stars and Stripes and Other American Flags." The Rhode Island flag was carried through the war. Of it the "Geographic Magazine" said: "Fashioned from white silk with
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