USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 1 > Part 31
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
1 This old inn, now known as the Mansion House, is still standing on Benefit street, opposite the Old State House. Among the Providence Town Papers Nos. 5,700, 5,701, 5,703, 5,704, 5,712, 5,717, 5,797, are many original documents relating to the visit of Washington to the town No. 5,703 is the original address of the town to President Washington and No. 5,704 is Washington's reply. Other documents are bills for candles supplied the poor to illuminate their houses, for printing tickets and programmes and services incident to the occasion.
279
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FENNERS, 1790-1811.
he made appropriate responses. At three in the afternoon, at which time, according to the South Carolina chronicler, all of Washington's companions were completely exhausted, the company sat down to a banquet in the Court House (the Old State House), which was set for two hundred plates. The inevitable toasts followed. They were thirteen in number, of which "The Congress of the United States" was first, and "The President of the United States" was second. When the latter was announced, Washington immediately arose and drank to the company present. The third toast was to the Governor and the state, the fourth to the King and National Assembly of France, the fifth to Lafayette, and the sixth to the fair daughters of America. At the conclusion of the thirteenth toast, Washington arose and proposed "The Town of Providence", and after it had been pledged in good Providence rum, immediately departed for the New York boat, which sailed about four o'clock.1
The prominence given to the French in the toasts at this banquet shows that the state in which "our French allies" had performed their chief service in the Revolution retained a warm regard for them. Almost every public occasion about this time ended with a banquet and a long programme of toasts. The newspapers of the day, which ordi- narily gave but little local news, always recorded the text of the toasts drank on the Fourth of July and on other special occasions. Even the commencement exercises of Brown University usually ended with a banquet by the "Federal Adelphi", and the drinking of toasts.
At the September session of the general assembly legislation was enacted requiring the keepers of gaols throughout the state to commit for safe keeping all prisoners arrested under the authority of the United States, in "full assurance" that Congress would make pro- vision for their support. The time for the election of congressmen was changed at this session to the third Monday in October. At an adjourned session in October the general assembly adopted an address to President Washington. His polite response was ordered to be inscribed in the public laws.
In the spring election of 1791, Arthur Fenner, who had displaced Governor Collins in the previous year when Rhode Island was a colony, was re-elected as Governor of the state. So popular a man he was that he was chosen to the office each successive year until his death in 1805, and then was succeeded by his son, James Fenner, who held the office until the triumph of the Federalists in 1811. The administration of these two men-father and son-covered a period of twenty-one years, during which many important events connected with Rhode Island's entry into the Union occurred.
1 There is a comprehensive account of Washington's visit to Providence in the Prov. Journal for Oct. 15, 1899.
280
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
In 1791 several lotteries for public purposes were granted. It was much easier at that time to raise money for such purposes than by cither regular taxation or subscription, and it was considered perfectly legitimate. The building of bridges, the laying out and improvement of roads, the erection of churches, and the raising of money for Rhode Island College were some of the praiseworthy purposes in the further- ance of which the natural propensity of mankind to indulge in games of chance was stimulated and encouraged. Commissioners to help adjust the boundary line between Rhode Island and Massachusetts were appointed at the May session of the general assembly in 1791; and at the same sitting a petition for a division of the town of Glo- cester was referred to the next session. It was discussed at the session of February, 1792, and again laid over for further consideration.
An unimportant resolution passed at the October session this year, to pay John Carr, gunner, and four oarsmen their wages for services at Fort Washington from May 8, 1790, to May 8, 1791, and the ap- pointment of a committee to consider and report upon the advisability of retaining the gunner and oarsmen in the service of the state, indi- cates that Rhode Island had not yet rendered unto Caesar all things that were Caesar's .. The fact that the national government should have sole charge of the fortifications was not fully understood until some time later. In 1792 the assembly voted to remount the cannon at Fort Washington, and to furnish suitable colors and a reasonable amount of powder for it. Probably both state and national colors were raised over it. That the former were used seems certain, for two years later an indignant correspondent in the Providence Gazette com- plains because the state colors were raised over the fort on the receipt of the false intelligence of the capture of the Duke of York by the French. In 1791 several of the well-to-do merchants and other men of means in Providence secured a charter for a bank. It was known as the "Providence Bank", and went into operation in October of that year. It was the first bank organized in the state, and its immediate success encouraged the starting of others.
In February, 1792, the general assembly passed an act to regulate the affairs of the Narragansett Indians and a committee, of which Governor Fenner was the chairman, was chosen to investigate their troubles and take the most effectual measures to end them. The rem- nant of the once powerful tribe was mostly located in the town of Charlestown, and it was required, by the terms of the act, to hold an election and make choice of a council. All Indian male adults and all adult males of mixed Indian and white parentage were authorized to participate in the election, but the sons of Indians and negroes were declared ineligible. An act was passed at the February session pro- viding for the division of intestate estates in equal shares among the surviving children. At the same sitting the question of ordering the
281
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FENNERS, 1790-1811.
election of delegates for a constitutional convention was brought up, but was side-tracked for the time by referring it to the next session. The assembly was convened in special session in August of this year because of the death of Beriah Brown, the high sheriff of Washing- ton county, there being no legal method for the appointment of his successor, except by act of the general assembly. Legislation was therefore enacted empowering the deputy sheriff to act upon the de- cease of his principal until a successor was chosen ; and to provide for vacancies caused by death of clerks of courts, the appointment of temporary successors was vested in the chief justice. A resolution was passed at this extra session to distinguish candidates for Congress upon the ballots as "First" and "Second Representative", and to reject all votes otherwise cast. A curious bit of legislation at this same session was the passage of an act forbidding horse racing or
ยท CORONATION ROCK'
1770
CORONATION ROCK, KENYON FARM ON THE OLD PEQUOT PATH, CHARLESTOWN.
On this rock it is authentically stated that Queen Esther, the latest ruler of the Narra- gansetts, was crowned in 1770. This rock is about twelve rods north of the house erected by King Thomas Ninigret.
liquor selling within one mile of the Seventh Day Baptist church in the town of Hopkinton at any time during church services. The act was of course designed to give this sect, which has always been quite strong in Hopkinton, the same exemption from week-day activities on Saturday that other worshipers were given on Sunday; but as the act applied to all days in the week, it was likely to be oppressive if carried out to the letter. At the October session it was voted to choose presi- dential electors by joint ballot of the two houses, and that in future elections the electors should be chosen by the people at large in town meeting. A resolution was passed at this session accepting the United States standard value for gold coins. The assembly's formal accept- ance of the United States standard of money was evidently considered necessary to give it legal sanction.
282
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
At the February session of the assembly in 1793 a special aet was passed granting Newport permission to hold theatrieal entertainments. In May the assembly resolved to transfer the lighthouse in Jamestown to the United States of America, "provided, nevertheless, and be it further cnacted, by the authority aforcsaid, that if the United States shall at any time hereafter neglect to keep it lighted and in repair, the lighthouse aforesaid, that then the grant of said lighthouse shall be void and of no effeet".1 Thus was the United States put on its good behavior by its smallest state. As a result of the war between Eng- land and Franee, and the eapture of certain of the latter's possessions in the West Indies, and of the uprising of the blaeks on the island of St. Domingo, many of the French inhabitants fled from their homes and came to Rhode Island, seeking refuge in the state in which the soldiers of Franee had eampaigned so pleasantly and so safely during the Revolution. Some of these exiles were destitute when they ar- rived, and others, failing to obtain remunerative employment, had to apply for aid from the towns in which they were located. The general assembly voted the necessary funds for the maintenance of such destitute persons at the October session of this year, and appro- priated money to reimburse the towns providing for them during several of the years immediately sueeeeding. By an aet passed in 1794 the charity was restricted to French exiles from St. Domingo only. In the aggregate several thousand pounds were expended for this charity, the larger portion being paid to the towns of Newport and Providence. Necessary legislation was enacted for the reorganization of the militia, in eonformanee to the act of Congress. It was organ- ized in one division of four brigades.
In February, 1794, the marriage law was amended so as to allow Methodist clergymen to perform the marriage ceremony, as well as those of the other denominations who were already invested with the privilege. At the Mareh session the land on Goat Island, in Newport harbor, on which the fortifications were located, was formally eeded to the United States. In October an aet was passed prohibiting theatri- cal exhibitions and other stage plays "in this eolony."
No record ean be found showing the relative strength of the two national parties in the state previous to 1794. Joseph Stanton, jr., who was elected as one of the first United States senators, and whose term expired on March 4, 1793, was of anti-Federal affiliations, and was succeeded at that time by William Bradford, a Federalist. Theo- dore Foster, Stanton's eolleague, whose term expired on Mareh 4, 1791, was re-elected for six years. There is no record of the popular vote for representatives in Congress in 1792, when Benjamin Bourn and Francis Malbone, Federalists, were chosen. They were elected in 1794
1 Acts and Resolves, May, 1793.
283
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FENNERS, 1790-1811.
by the following vote: Francis Malbone, 1,911; Benjamin Bourn, 1,880. Their anti-Federal opponents, Joseph Stanton, jr., and Peleg Arnold, received respectively 1,178 and 1,138 votes.
In May of this year (1794) an incident occurred at Newport that might very easily have assumed grave national importance. The British sloop of war Nautilus, Captain Boynton, arrived there on the 8th of that month bringing the French Governor of St. Lucie and his suite, who by the terms of capitulation were to be landed at Newport. Captain Boynton, who had landed with his first lieutenant, asked per- mission of the general assembly to purchase provisions for the ship's company, and while the request was being considered, report was received that there were thirteen Americans on the Nautilus, and that three of them had been impressed in the West Indies. The two houses took immediate action, inviting the judges of the State Superior and the United States District Courts to confer with Captain Boynton, and investigate the truth of the rumor. The British officer and his lieu- tenant, on invitation, met the court officials in the council chamber, and flatly denied that there were any American sailors among his crew. The two officers started to leave the building, but fearing to encounter the excited crowd in the corridors and outside, immediately returned. Finally the captain consented to send a line to the officer in charge of the Nautilus, directing him to muster the crew in the pres- ence of the court officers, and release the American sailors, if any should be found. As a result, six sailors declared their American citizenship, and were discharged and paid their arrears of wages. This ended the incident, but the British captain was undoubtedly intimidated. Had he acknowledged that fact, however, he would have been cashiered by the British Admiralty. As it was, the release of the impressed seamen was made to assume the appearance of an act of good will on the captain's part, and therefore neither he nor the British government could complain of either the outcome or the meth- ods by which it was brought about. But the wound rankled beneath the British naval buttons, and it was intensified by the partiality shown the French in Newport and other coast towns. On July 31, 1795, the sloop Peggy, running as a packet between Newport and New York, was stopped and searched as she was entering Newport harbor by the British line-of-battle-ship Africa (Captain Rodman Home), which was anchored near the lighthouse. Captain Home had received informa- tion that M. Fauchet, the late French minister to Washington, was on board, but the latter, being warned, had debarked at Stonington. Failing of his prey, the Africa's captain ordered the trunks of the passengers to be opened and searched, in the hope of finding some of the embassy papers. Nothing of the nature was found, however, but Captain Home sent an insolent letter to Governor Fenner, through the
284
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
British viee-consul at Newport, Thomas W. Moore. He demanded that a British lieutenant, who, as he elaimed, had been taken in New- port and confined on the French frigate Medusa, then in the harbor, be allowed to come on board the Africa; that the state authorities aid him (with genuine and not pretended assistance) in eapturing British deserters; that he be allowed to purchase provisions for his erew ; and that the same neutrality be extended to the officers and erew of the Africa that was aceorded the French. And he warned the Governor that if any of his men were even impeded in the least degree by either a mob or a single person, he would consider the neutrality of the place violated, and would govern himself aeeordingly. Governor Fenner was at his home in Providenee at the time, and upon receipt of the British officer's insulting epistle, wrote to Vice-Consul Moore, express- ing astonishment that he should have forwarded such a letter, and informing him that he had sent it to President Washington. The latter, upon receipt of the letter, promptly issued a proelamation1 censuring Vice-Consul Moore, and revoking his exequatur. No official notiee was taken of Captain Home. He ehased the French frigate out to sea, and returning, resumed his anchorage near the lighthouse. On August 24, according to the deposition of Captain Tillinghast of the ship Ann of Providence, the Africa brought to his vessel and impressed three of his crew. All were British by birth, but two of them, he declared, were naturalized citizens of the United States, and had fam- ilies in America.2
At the June session of the general assembly in 1795 a resolution was adopted changing all money accounts from pounds, shillings and penee to dollars, cents and mills, and a committee was appointed to make a new estimate of property for state taxation purposes. In October, the assembly voted to change the designation of the upper house from "Assistants" to "House of Magistrates", and that of "Deputies" to "House of Representatives". The "House of Magistrates", however, never came into use.
At the February session of the general assembly in 1796, Governor Fenner laid a letter before the two houses from Senator Foster, de-
1 Dated September 5, 1795
? A foot note in the Providence Gazette of August 29, 1795, states that the British lieutenant whose release was demanded by Captain Home had been taken in a British vessel and brought to Newport on July 25, and immediately transferred to the Medusa, that he was then paroled, and had left for New York in one of our packets the next day, a fact which Vice-Consul Moore must have known, and of which Captain Home was probably not ignorant. As the captured lieutenant was plainly entitled to his freedom upon his arrival in neu- tral waters, and as his transference as a captive from one ship to another within the harbor had been made without protest, the British officer took the liberty to frame his insulting demand. In any event, it was an affair which should have been settled through regular diplomatic channels, and Home's demand was en - tirely without justification.
285
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FENNERS, 1790-1811.
fending the action of President Washington and the United States senate regarding the Jay Treaty. A joint resolution was passed expressing confidence in the President and favoring the ratification of the treaty, and this action was further strengthened in the following April by a memorial from the merchants of Providence to Congress, praying for the acceptance of the treaty. The report of the commit- tee on state valuation was rendered at the June session in 1796, and was adopted by the assembly notwithstanding the protest of several members of Providence, Bristol and Newport counties, who claimed that the estimates for their respective towns were excessive. The house refused to allow the protest to be inscribed in the records. It was published, however, in the newspapers, and at a town meeting held in Providence, June 25, it was resolved not to assess the tax, on the ground that it was excessive and unconstitutional. A committee was appointed to draft a circular letter to other towns inviting them to send delegates to a convention to be held in Providence, to consider the taxation matter, and also the question of forming a written state constitution. Delegates from eight towns in Providence and Bristol counties assembled in convention in the town house at Providence on July 26, and after some discussion adjourned to August 15, at which time it was determined to issue two circulars to be sent to the several towns, regarding the taxation question and urging the calling of a convention to form a constitution. At the October session of the general assembly a resolution was passed requesting the freemen of the several towns to instruct their representatives during the recess of the assembly on the question of calling a convention of delegates to frame a written constitution. The town of Providence rescinded the vote passed in June, refusing to assess the state tax, but it took no imme- diate measures for raising it.
Francis Malbone having declined a re-election to Congress, liis friends put forward Christopher Grant Champlin of Newport for the office, while others presented the name of William Greene of East Greenwich. The vote was close, but Mr. Champlin won by about 100 majority. Benjamin Bourn was elected the same day-August 30, 1796-without opposition, but he declined to serve, and another elec- tion was held on November 15, 1796, when Elisha R. Potter was chosen by a majority of 945 votes.
The general assembly, at the February session in 1797, endorsed the alien and sedition laws of Congress, in reply to resolutions condemning them, received from the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia. On August 4, of this year, President Adams visited Providence, and was received at the wharf by prominent citizens with a military escort. Salutes were fired, bells were rung, the college was illuminated, and he was presented with an address. The large trade enjoyed by Provi- dence with the states to the southward and with the West Indies ex-
286
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
posed it to contagious tropical discases. In August of this year the yellow fever made its appearance in the India street section of the town, and during that month and the next, thirty-six persons died with it. Doubtless with a view of guarding against such visitations in the future the general assembly passed a law relating to drainage and tlie assessment upon abutting owners in Providence. Public mectings were held during the year in Providence and other towns in the interest of a constitutional convention. In a Fourth of July oration at Provi- dence, Colonel George R. Burrill, a prominent Federalist leader, made an elaborate argument in favor of the formation of a constitution. At the October session of the general assembly, a proposition to call a con- stitutional convention was negatived by a large majority. Elisha R. Potter, of South Kingstown, who was elected to Congress in 1796, re- signed in July, 1797, and Thomas Tillinghast, Republican, was elected in his place by 53 majority.1 This was the first victory in the state for the anti-Federalists, who now called themselves Republicans, of which we have any record. At the regular congressional election in August, 1798, Tillinghast was defeated for re-election, he receiving but 1,415 votes to 2,836 and 2,680 given respectively to the Federal candidates, C. F. Champlin and John Brown.2
At the annual town meeting in Providence, April 21, 1798, patriotic resolutions were adopted respecting troubles with France that had arisen from the capture of American merchant vessels on the high seas by the war vessels and privateers of the French republic. The resolutions were forwarded to President Adams. At the June session this year, the towns of Providence, Tiverton, North and South Kingstown, Bar- rington, East Greenwich and Coventry, having neglected to assess the state tax ordered in June, 1796, the general treasurer was directed to issue executions against the delinquents ten days after the rising of the assembly. This brought the protesting towns to terms. They assessed the tax, but Providence was for many years thercafter (and several other towns as well) very tardy in the collection of the state tax, while Newport constantly exhibited a clean record in this respect. To soften the peremptory course adopted against the delinquent towns, however, a committee was appointed at the October session, the same year, to examine the general estimate of valuation. The committee reported, at a subsequent session, that the estimate was a just and equitable one.
1 Providence Gazette, November 4, 1797. There are no official records of this election. The Federalists had presented the name of James Burrill, jr., of Providence, as Mr. Potter's successor. The Republicans, according to the state- ment of a correspondent in the Providence Gazette of August 5, 1796, opposed Mr. Burrill, on the ground that he was a lawyer. At the election, August 29, Mr. Burrill received 180 majority in Providence, but the country towns are supposed to have generally supported Tillinghast.
2 One of the famous " Four Brothers", descended from Chad Brown, an asso- ciate of Roger Williams.
-
287
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FENNERS, 1790-1811.
At the June session of the general assembly in 1799, a resolution presented by John Smith of Providence, for calling a convention of delegates, elected on the basis of one delegate for cach thousand inhab- itants, for the purpose of forming a state constitution, received its quietus in the house by the adoption of the previous question, by a rising vote. At the October session, the house voted-50 to 9- against exempting members of the Friends denomination from mili- tary duties. An act to establish free schools passed the house at this session, but was held up by the senate until the next February session, when it concurred. The assembly also adopted resolutions favoring direct taxation to defray national expenses, and requesting the state's representatives in the two houses of Congress to use their best efforts to secure the adoption of such a system. The term "Senators" was used for the first time in May of this year to designate members of the upper house. Fort Adams, the largest fortification in the United States, with one exception, was dedicated on July 4 of this year.
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.