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Settlement of Rhode Island

When Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts he took refuge among the Narragansett Indians, who occupied the country at the head of Narragansett Bay  Canonicus, the chief, held the good man in high esteem, and presented him with a large tract of land, which the devout Williams named "Providence" in remembrance of the manner in which he believed God had directed him thither.  Settlers from Massachusetts followed him, and all were hospitably received and kindly treated.  The fullest religious liberty was allowed, and even when Anne Hutchinson visited Williams, he treated her like a sister.  Williams obtained a charter in 1644 from the Parliament and it was confirmed in 1654.  The new one granted by Charles II in 1663 united all the colonies into one, under the name Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.  This is still the legal name of the State, which retains its two capitals, Providence and Newport, the Legislature meeting alternately in each.  The charter of Charles II suited the people so well that it remained in force until 1842, when Thomas Dorr headed a rebellion which resulted in the establishment of a new charter.

The existence of Rhode Island was threatened by the claim of Connecticut to all the land on the west to the shore of Narragansett Bay, while Plymouth insisted that the land on the east to the shore of the same bay belonged to her.  Rhode Island stoutly resisted, and succeeded in 1741 and 1752 in fixing her boundaries as they are today, which make her the smallest State in the Union.
  

Source:  A New History of the United States, The Greater Republic by Charles Morris, LL.D., W. E. Scull, 1899. 

 

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Colonial Rhode Island

 

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