USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 1 > Part 22
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
1These figures are according to the census of 1748, taken by order of the Board of Trade. Douglass, Summary, ii, 89, is the printed authority for this census, giving a total of 32,773-28,439 whites, 3,077 negroes, and 1,257 In- dians. (Also copied in R. I. C. R. v, 270.) These figures differ, however, from those obtained by Arnold, Hist. of R. 1. ii, 173, from English records, where the total is given as 34,128, with 29,750 whites, and the remainder blacks and Indians.
The growth of population had caused most of the towns to be divided. West Greenwich was set off from East Greenwich in 1741, Coventry from Warwick in 1741, Exeter from North Kingstown in 1743, Middletown from Newport in 1743, and Richmond from Charlestown in 1747. Providence had previously been quartered in 1731 into Providence, Smithfield, Gloucester and Scituate. The increase of the number of towns had also made it necessary that the proceedings of the assembly, which had always been copied by the secretary and sent to each town, should henceforth be printed. The first issue, a six page folio printed in Newport, is that for the session of October, 1747.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE HOPKINS WARD PERIOD.
Scareely had the confirmation of her eastern boundary and the Treaty of Aix-la-chapelle assured to Rhode Island a probability of peace and quiet, when a fieree politieal struggle and a renewed foreign war broke out at almost the same time, as if to make her existence one of continual storm and stress. These eoming eonfliets-the one preventing good government or united effort in any eause, and the other requiring men and money far beyond her strength-were destined to test the resources and reeuperative power of the colony to the utmost. It was fortunate that the plaeing of her currency on a somewhat sounder basis was brought about before the arrival of these trying events. In August, 1750, an attempt was made by the house of deputies to obtain another loan of £50,000.1 This aroused a storm of protest, and in September, seventy-two inhabitants, ineluding some of the most prominent and intelligent men in the eolony, wrote a petition directly to the King. They told in general terms of the evil consequences of this currency-of its depreciation and ruinous effects on those who were so unfortunate as to hold large amounts of it-and said that the colony had now outstanding £525,335 in bills, £390,000 of which was upon loan. Yet in spite of the faet that these bills had sunk over one-half in seven years, there was a certain class who still desired further issues and who even now were attempting to get a vote for £50,000 more passed through the assembly. This was the landholding elass, who, "having generally mortgaged their farms, or plantations, as seeurity for the bills of eredit they have taken upon loan, have found it to their interest to multiply sueh bills, that they may depreciate and lessen in value, and which they have reeourse to, as a legal expedient of wiping away their debts without labor; whereby the laudable spirit of industry is greatly extinguished and
1Potter's Account in Rider's Hist. Tract, viii, 81, where there is an apparent discrepancy in the dates given. The action in August and the petition in Sep- tember precede the creation of the ninth bank, which was in March, 1751, not 1750.
13-1
194
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
Your Majesty's trading subjcets greatly discouraged for want of produce and remittances". The petition thus coneluded : "Sensible of the misfortune and hardships we labor under, we do therefore most humbly pray Your Majesty that the legislature or authority of this government, may be prevented and effectually restrained from making or emitting any more bills of publie ercdit upon loan without Your Majesty's royal permission, and be commanded to stop and reeall this intended emission of August last from eireulating or being offered or taken in payment of debt, or from passing any acts whereby any extant bills of public credit may be either debased in value or post- poned in their period of being drawn in; and that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to interpose in this matter, in sueh manner as in your royal wisdom shall seem meet to relieve us from the injury and oppression of a flood of fluctuating, sinking paper bills of public eredit".1
It was a dangerous precedent, this of carrying grievanees directly to the King. But it may have seemed necessary to these petitioners, oppressed as they were by an assembly which had already obstinately refused to listen to their protest. The House of Commons took action upon the petition in March, 1751. Being legally unable to interfere with Rhode Island in the exercise of her charter rights, they got around this difficulty by basing their law chiefly upon the evil effeets of the eurreney upon the other colonies. They stated that "the great rise in the value of silver and in the exchange, occasioned by the repeated emissions of bills of credit, particularly in Rhode Island, had been the means of defrauding the ereditors in all the four governments of a great part of their property, and by introducing confusion into dealings had proved a great diseouragement to the trade of these kingdoms". They decided that the introduction of bills of eredit is- sued in one eolony into the other three colonies whereby the "ereditors of all the four colonies were defrauded", could be prevented only by aet of Parliament, and therefore resolved that this currency should be "regulated and restrained", and that a bill should be prepared for the purpose. Such a bill was finally brought in and passed, whereby the issue of paper money by the colonial government subsequently to September 1, 1751, was absolutely prohibited. It also forbade the passing of any laws postponing the time of payment of bills already issued. The colony might, however, with the King's consent, issue bills of eredit to meet eurrent expenses or in ease of extraordinary
1R. I. C. R. v, 312. For further protest, Oct. 10, 1750, see Newport MS. Town Rec. 1679-1776, p. 466-476.
195
THE HOPKINS-WARD PERIOD.
emergencies, provided reasonable provision for their redemption was made.1
The assembly, shortly before the action of Parliament, passed an act emitting a loan of £25,000, called the ninth "bank", giving as its chief purpose "the promoting of the raising of flax and wool", and enacting severe laws to insure its reception.2 This loan was issued just in time, for a few weeks later came the news and the documents of the Parlia- mentary act. This important matter quickly engaged the attention of the June assembly. They appointed two committees, one to inquire into the station and circumstances of the late petitioners who "call themselves inhabitants of this colony", and the other to report upon the facts stated in the petition itself. This latter committee, which included such upright men as Nicholas Cooke and Stephen Hopkins, quickly reported that although they did not believe that the figures of depreciation and of outstanding bills were exactly correct, they could not but admit that the other facts asserted in the petition were strictly true. This opinion, in view of the various animadver- sions upon the evils of paper currency contained in the petition, must have been considerable of a rebuff to the "bank loan" party. Never- theless the assembly voted to accept the report, thus denouncing their own previous action, and evidently decided to yield to Parliament's demands.
The assembly had at last come to its senses and concluded that the unnecessary flooding of the colony with great issues of paper money was detrimental to the colony's interest. The more intelligent portion of the community had already frowned upon such over-issues, but they were compelled to invoke royal intercession before any change could be brought about. The bank of 1751, therefore, was the last loan emitted while Rhode Island remained a dependency of the British crown. Bills of credit for necessary expenses of government or for emergencies were occasionally issued, but seldom of large amount until the Revolution. Rhode Island had been checked in her reckless course towards financial ruin. Those who had long been oppressed by the debased currency could scarcely believe that any power could restrain
1Eng. Stat. 24th yr., Geo. II, 1751, ch. 53; Rider's Hist. Tracts, viii, 84-88; and the reprint of the documents on the subject which was ordered to be pub- lished by the general assembly, a copy of which is in the R. I. H. S. Library. The act itself was not passed until May, 1751. Partridge opposed its passage and secured certain amendments, which, he said, "took the sting out of it". (See his letter of May 17, 1751, in "Letters 1750-1756" in secretary of state's office.)
2This act is in the printed schedule for March, 1751, p. 77. The clause relating to wool bounties, the alleged reason for the act, was repealed in the following June session.
-
196
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
the Rhode Island assembly. The good Doctor MacSparran, presiding over his flock in Narragansett, referred to Parliament's acts of re- straint and despairingly said, "Such things are only bruta fulmina ; and we shall go on, I doubt, in our old way of paper emissions unless the Lord, in mercy to us, should dispose the sovereign power to vacate our patent, and prevent our destruction by taking us out of our own hands". But the forebodings of the worthy Doctor fortunately did not come out as he expected. Rhode Island did partially revoke her paper money policy, and the charter was preserved.
Scarcely had Rhode Island received these important communications concerning her paper currency when the alarm of war was again sounded, this time to subject the colony to a longer and fiercer struggle than it had yet experienced. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had not settled any definite line between the English and French possessions in the New World, and as the frontier settlements gradually drew nearer to each other, a collision between the two races became inevit- able. When Washington, then a young Virginian surveyor, attacked Fort Duquesne in April, 1754, the war may be said to have commenced. Both England and France, rivals on sea as well as land, were only too willing to take up the contest and quickly assumed a mutually hostile attitude. The fourth intercolonial war, known in the colonics as the "Old French War", and in Europe as the Seven Years' War, since formal declaration was not made until 1756, had begun. "The firing of a gun in the woods of North America brought on a conflict which drenched Europe in blood".
The Lords of Trade, foreseeing a general war, had directed that the colonics should send commissioners to a Congress at Albany, where concerted action could be taken against the French and Indians. Rhode Island appointed Stephen Hopkins and Martin Howard, who joined the other delegates at Albany in June, 1754. This body, com- posed of the most able and representative men in America, renewed. the treaty with the Indians, adopted the unanimous resolution that a "union of all the colonies is at present absolutely necessary for their security and defence", and after three wecks' deliberation proposed a plan of union. Benjamin Franklin had not come to the Congress unprepared. He knew as well as any one that a plan of uniting the colonies, threatening the rights of individual governments, was liable to be received with little favor, but he hoped that the advantages of such a union and the pressure of a general war would induce the colonists to accept the scheme. The delegates, perhaps more broad- minded and far-secing than their constituencies, received it favorably.
197
THE HOPKINS-WARD PERIOD.
When it came to be voted upon by the various assemblies, however, it met with a different fate. The colonists feared the clause requiring that the union should be established by an act of Parliament, and i looked with distrust at the proposals of a "President-General" ap- pointed by the Crown, a "Grand Council" and a general treasury. Not a single colony voted to accept the plan.1
The report of the Rhode Island delegates was presented to the assembly in August, 1754. This body voted to accept the report, but "reserved to themselves a farther consideration whether they would accede to the general plan proposed". They took no further action at the time, but in March, 1755, showed their position upon the matter by directing the Governor to write to the London agent telling him "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 charter 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 answers thereunto".2
The upper house of the assembly, however, had passed a resolution finding the said plan "to be a scheme which, if carried into execution, will virtually deprive this government, at least, of some of its most valuable privileges, if not effectively overturn and destroy our present happy Constitution"." Of all the colonies Rhode Island was perhaps the most liable to regard the plan with suspicion and disfavor. Being one of the two charter colonies left in America, she had no intention of allowing the royal authority to deprive her of any of the rights which she had so tenacionsly preserved. As a strictly commercial community, she imagined that she foresaw in such a union only further restrictions upon her trade. Accustomed as she had been to a certain isolation, she came to consider it as part of her policy to persist in a spirit-call it "narrow and illiberal", or "independent and prudent" -which she adhered to until the end. There was little necessity, how- ever, for her to be apprehensive of England's interference at the present juncture. The Lords of Trade suddenly found that the plan
1The plan asfinally amended is printed in Sparks's ed. of Franklin's Works, i, 36, and elsewhere. The original certified copy of the proceedings of the Congress, sent to Rhode Island, is in the secretary of state's office, and is also noted in the John Carter Brown Catalogue, iii, no. 1067. The part taken by Hopkins in the Congress is well portrayed in Foster's Hopkins in R. I. Hist. Tract, xix, pt. 1, ch. 6.
2R. I. C. R., v, 424.
3R. I. Hist. Tract, ix, 61.
198
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
of union that they themselves had recommended promised too strong an organization, and accordingly neither approved of it nor recom- mended it to the King. As Franklin said, "The assemblies all thought there was too much prerogative, and in England it was thought to have too much of the democratie."
Soon after the Albany Congress aetive military operations were taken by both sides. The war comprehended the conquest of Canada and the reduction of the French in the great valleys of the St. Law- renee and the Ohio. The Rhode Island assembly, upon receipt of orders from Whitehall, convened, and for the first three sessions in 1755 occupied themselves with military preparations. . The old routine of regulating the militia, manning the forts, replenishing military stores, organizing independent companies, and enlisting volunteers, was again gone through with. Four hundred men were voted for the expedition against Crown Point, and £60,000 of bills of credit, redeem- able within two years, were issued to meet these sudden expenses.
In the meanwhile General Braddock, supported by British regulars and southern provineials, had been defeated at Fort Duquesne iu July, 1755. The news of this disaster only inspired the colonists to further effort in the Crown Point expedition. Rhode Island imme- diately voted 150 extra men and hurried them to Albany. Although some of the assembly thought this action unwise, since the eolony had already exeeeded her quota, the colony was heart and soul in the projeet. The towns were officially aiding in the cause, and even the ministers were exhorting their eongregations to war. Thomas Pollen in a stirring sermon, preached in May, 1755, upon the embarkation of some of the troops, thus coneludes his appeal: "Go fight for your country, your liberty, your property, and your religion. Transmit to your posterity, that public safety and happiness which Providence shall entrust to the conduet of your arms. And may the ark of the Lord ever go before you. May his pillars of a eloud by day and of a fire by night proteet and guide you in your marches. And may the conquest ye shall gain over your enemies be rewarded with honor here and with a erown of glory hercafter." Jonathan Ellis at Little Compton and Joseph Fish at Westerly preached to their respective congregations on the justice of the war and prayed for the success of the armies. William Vinal, presiding over his floek at Newport, delivered a most rhetorical sermon on the defeat of Braddoek. "How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Braddock, thou wast slain in our low places by the cowardly foe, lurking among the reeds, afraid to meet thee on equal ground. We are distressed for
199
THE HOPKINS-WARD PERIOD.
thee, dear Braddock, -very pleasant hast thou been to us! Alas, that it was for so short a time ! How are the mighty fallen! How are the weapons of war perished !" Then after a scathing reproof to "degen- erate New England", and also an excellent digression upon proper military preparations, he thus advances to the "argument of excitation and encouragement": "To arms, then-To arms, ye descendants of ancient heroes, ye sons of honor and renown! Rise, ye fathers of your country ! Let every noble principle that resides in your patriot breasts, awaken into new life and action, excited by the best motives, inspirited by the most glorious cause-religion, liberty, self-defence".1
It was most unfortunate for Rhode Island that, during this critical period of a foreign war, she should be beset by a political controversy, more severe and bitter than she had ever yet known in her annals. Almost synonomously with the breaking out of the French war, there commenced in Rhode Island a personal and party contest, known as the Ward and Hopkins controversy, that was destined for a space of thirteen years to subordinate both local and colonial issues to the caprices of party judgment. For a clear understanding of this ap- proaching struggle, a brief explanation of the existing social and economic conditions is necessary, as well as some account of the terri- torial political relations.
During all the early years of the colony Newport was predominant, not only in legislative affairs, but also from a social and economic point of view. Her eminent men had successively held the highest offices and the trend of legislation had long been in favor of the section where their interests lay. But in course of time a change in these conditions was gradually effected-a change brought about to a great extent through the influence of Stephen Hopkins, whose efforts were seconded by the Browns and other leading citizens of Providence.2 In 1727 a Providence man, in the person of Joseph Jencks, had been elected governor, and soon after that date the town scemed to take on a new growth. The population notably increased, long lacking town im- provements were established, and commerce and business developed accordingly. Since 1732 the governor's chair had been occupied by men identified with Newport interests. The Wantons and Wards were Newport families, and Governor William Greene, of Warwick, whose election in 1743 was regarded with disfavor by the island town, quickly
1These sermons, all printed in 1755, are in the R. I. Hist. Soc. and the Red- wood Library. The titles are given in Hammett's Bibliography of Newport.
2For Hopkins's efforts in raising Providence to political influence, see Fos- ter's Hopkins in R. I. Hist. Tracts, xix, ch. 5.
V.V
THE HOME OF JOHN WANTON, SON OF GOVERNOR GIDEON WANTON, AT NEWPORT.
201
THE HOPKINS-WARD PERIOD.
showed that his influence was in favor of Newport rather than Provi- dence. During his incumbency the rapid development and increasing power of Providence in various lines served to stimulate the growth of an anti-Providence sentiment in Newport and its vicinity, a sentiment that was still further promoted by discussion in the northern part of the state of Stephen Hopkins as successor to Governor Greene. Hopkins had been in public life since 1732, made rapid advancement and also was prominent in business undertakings. In 1754 he was run as a candidate against Governor Greene, but was defeated. The Newport influence was now entirely given over towards retaining the Warwick governor in the chair as against the succession of the Provi- dence candidate. The following year, leading up to the election of 1755, was filled with political trickery and party virulence. Hopkins's opponents seized upon his known approval of the Plan of the Albany Congress, and endeavored to show that he had exceeded the bounds of his commission, and had tried to foist upon the assembly a project that was dangerous to the welfare of the colony. For his own defence and for political reasons, Hopkins published a pamphlet, March 29, 1755, entitled "A True Representation of the Plan formed at Albany", in which he printed the action of the colony and the proceedings of the Congress, and appended a few pages of "personal defence". He asserted that he had performed only his duty, and accused the general assembly of carelessly neglecting all consideration of the Plan until seven months later it was brought up for discussion, solely to blast his (Hopkins's) reputation. "Can the valuable privileges of this colony", he concludes, "be safe in those hands, where everything else seems to be neglected, but what will serve their private purposes? As I am a candidate for an office, I sincerely desire all men may put their country's interest in the first place, and give their votes only where they think 'tis most safe".
Within a fortnight after the publication of Hopkins's pamphlet, there was issued a reply over the anonymous signature of "Philo- lethes". This latter tract is an excellent specimen of electioneering literature, reckless in its misstatement of facts, and filled with acri- mony and abuse.1 It evidently did not accomplish its purpose, for in the succeeding election of May, 1755, Hopkins was chosen governor of the colony.
The issue was now fairly joined. The different sections of the colony gradually adopted the view of either Providence or Newport, according as their interests lay. As before stated, Newport had long
1These two pamphlets are reprinted in Rider's Hist. Tracts, no. 9.
202
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
been predominant in political, commercial and social respects, but across the bay in Narragansett county dwelt a population distin- guished for its wealth and culture, and with aristocratie leanings. North of this was Kent county,1 chiefly an agricultural district, like the outlying sections of Providence county, and somewhat bound to the northern town by business and social relationships. Exactly op- posite, on the eastern shore of the bay, lay Bristol county, with grow- ing commercial interests. Hence, in the approaching elections, it was not strange that the people of the Narragansett country acted with Newport against Providence. Bristol, mainly for commercial reasons, adhered to Providence, and the same was true of the northern part of Kent county. These conditions presented a fair field and were to a noticeable extent a factor in the causes which led to the beginning and subsequent prosecution of this bitter political contest.
It is needless to say that the enemies of Governor Hopkins took every opportunity to complain of the acts of his first administration, and his re-election in 1756 only served to increase their exertions in this direction. They alleged that he had exercised his official power in an unwarranted manner; that he had set aside some acts of the assembly relating to the existing war; had placed his sons in positions of trust for which they were not well equipped; had charged excessive compensation for service as a member of the war committee; that the disposition of certain property under war regulations had contributed to his own pecuniary interests, with further and more vague charges.2 The contest, at first largely one of territorial feeling, now became much more personal, while at the same time the freemen in Newport con- tinued in the assumption that their town was entitled to first place in all matters of governmental control. Her citizens were educated, able men, versed in public affairs, and to them it seemed ridiculous that they should have to resort to the Scituate hills for a governor. Provi- dence, of course, took the opposite view, and realizing its own growth, felt justified in resisting Newport's influence.
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.