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The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
(commonly known as Rhode Island) is the smallest state in
the United States, and the state with the longest official
name. Rhode (pronounced "Road") Island is part of the New
England region, and was the first of the thirteen original
American colonies to declare independence from British rule,
signaling the start of the American Revolution.
The state's common name, Rhode Island, actually refers to
the largest island in Narragansett Bay, also known as
Aquidneck Island, on which the city of Newport is located.
The origin of the name is unclear. Some historians think
that Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, upon
discovering Block Island, just southwest in the Atlantic
Ocean, named it Rhode Island because of its similarity in
shape to the Greek island of Rhodes. Later settlers,
mistaking which island Verrazzano was referring to, gave the
name to Aquidneck Island instead. Other historians believe
that the name is derived from Roodt Eylandt, Dutch for "red
island," given to the island by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block
due to the red clay on the island's shore.
Despite most of the state being part of the mainland, the
name Rhode Island leads some out-of-staters to believe that
the entire state is an island. Nicknamed "The Ocean State,"
every point in the state is within 30 miles of sea water.
In 1614 the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited the island
that is now called Block Island. Native American inhabitants
included the Narragansett tribe, occupying most of the area,
and the closely related Niantic tribe. Most of the Native
Americans were decimated by introduced diseases, intertribal
warfare, and the disastrous King Philip's War, but remnants
of the Niantic merged into the Naragansett tribe, where they
remain on a federally recognized reservation.
In 1636 Roger Williams, after being banished from the
Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, settled at
the tip of Narragansett Bay. He called the site Providence
and declared it a place of religious freedom. This is the
article of agreement Roger Williams and others made, and
every person who decided to live in Providence had to sign
it: “We, whose names are hereunder written, being desirous
to inhabit the town of Providence, do promise to submit
ourselves, in active or passive obedience, to all such
orders or agreements as shall be made for public good by the
body in an orderly way by the major consent of the
inhabitance, masters of families, incorporated together into
a township, and such others as they shall admit into the
same only in civil things.” Rhode Island was a charter
colony, Roger Williams received a charter to build the
colony.
In 1637, Anne Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts for
expressing her beliefs that people could talk to God by
themselves, not necessarily through a minister. She and some
others, including William Coddington and John Clarke,
founded the town of Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island. In 1639,
Coddington left Portsmouth and founded Newport on Aquidneck
Island.
In that same year a formal government was established for
the island. William Coddington was the first governor and
Philip Sherman was the first Secretary. In 1643 Samuel
Gorton founded Shawomet, which is now called Warwick. In
1644 the name of Aquidneck Island was changed to Rhode
Island.
John Clarke was granted a Charter in 1663 for Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations, which effectively united the two
colonies into one. Under the terms of the charter, only
landowners could vote. Before the Industrial Revolution,
when most people were employed as farmers, this was
considered democratic. The original charter was used as the
state constitution until 1842.
In 1664, the seal of the colony was adopted. It pictured an
anchor and the word HOPE.
The relationship between the New Englanders and the Native
Americans was at first strained, but did not result in much
bloodshed. The largest tribes that lived near Rhode island
were the Wampanoag, Pequots, Narragansett, and Nimpuc. One
native named Squanto, from the Wampanoag tribe, stayed with
the pilgrims and taught them many valuable skills needed to
survive in the area. He also helped greatly with the
eventual peace between the colonists and the natives.
Roger Williams had won the respect of his colonial neighbors
for his skill in keeping the powerful Narragansett on
friendly terms with local white settlers. In 1637, the
Narragansett were even persuaded to form an alliance with
the English in carrying out an attack that nearly
extinguished the warlike Pequots. However, this peace did
not last long. By 1670 even the friendly tribes who had
greeted Williams and the Pilgrims became estranged from the
colonists, and smell of war began to cover the New England
countryside.
The most important and traumatic event in 17th century Rhode
Island was King Philip's War,which occurred during
1675–1676. King Philip (his British nickname, his real name
was Metacomet) was the chief of the Wampanoag Indians. The
settlers of Portsmouth had purchased their land from his
father, Massasoit. King Philip rebelled against the English.
The first attacks were around Narrangansett Bay but spread
throughout New England.
Rhode Island was the first of the British colonies in
America to declare its independence on May 4, 1776. However,
Rhode Island was the last of the original 13 states to
ratify the United States Constitution (May 29, 1790) - doing
so after being threatened of having its exports taxed as a
foreign nation.
As the Industrial Revolution moved large numbers of workers
into the cities, a permanently landless, and therefore
voteless class developed. By 1829, 60% of the state's free
white males were ineligible to vote.
Several attempts had been made to address this problem, but
none passed. In 1842 Thomas Dorr drafted a liberal
constitution which was passed by popular referendum. However
the conservative sitting governor, Samuel Ward King, opposed
the people's wishes, leading to the Dorr Rebellion. Although
this collapsed, a modified version of the constitution was
passed in November, which allowed any white male to vote
that owned land or could pay a $1 poll tax.
In addition to industrialization, Rhode Island was heavily
involved in the slave trade during the post-revolution era.
Slavery was extant in RI as early as 1652, and by 1774, the
slave population of RI was 6.3%, nearly twice as high as any
other New England Colony. In the late Eighteenth century,
several Rhode Island merchant families began actively
engaging in the triangle slave trade. Notable among these
was the Brown family, for whom Brown University is named,
although some important Browns became prominent
abolitionists. In the years after the Revolution, Rhode
Island merchants controlled between 60 and 90 percent of the
American trade in African slaves.
During the Civil War, Rhode Island was one of the Union
states. Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men, of which
1,685 died. On the home front, Rhode Island, along with the
other northern states, used its industrial capacity to
supply the Union Army with the materials it needed to win
the war. Rhode Island's continued growth and modernization
led to the creation of urban mass transit and improved
health amd sanitation programs. After the war, in 1866,
Rhode Island abolished racial segregation throughout the
state. Post-war immigration increased the population. From
the 1860s to the 1880s, most of the immigrants were from
England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and Quebec. Towards the
end of the century however, most immigrants were from South
and Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean. At the turn of
the century, Rhode Island had a booming economy, which fed
the demand for immigration. In the years that lead up to
World War I, Rhode Island's constitution remained
reactionary, in contrast to the more progressive reforms
that were occurring in the rest of the country. During World
War I, Rhode Island furnished 28,817 troops, of whom 612
died. After the war, the state was hit hard by the Spanish
Influenza.
Since the Great Depression, the Rhode Island Democratic
Party has dominated local politics. For years, the Speaker
of the House, always a Democrat, has been one of the most
powerful figures in government. The Democratic Party
represented a coalition of labor unions, working class
immigrants, intellectuals, college students, and the rising
ethnic middle class. The Republican Party has been
restricted to the rural and suburban parts of the state, and
occasional "good government" reform candidates, who
criticize the state's high taxes and the excesses of
Democratic domination. Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey,
Governor Donald Carcieri of East Greenwich, and former Mayor
Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci of Providence ran as Republican
reform candidates.
Although enormously well-liked, Cianci has had his share of
legal problems. In 1984 he pleaded no contest to assault and
received a five-year suspended sentence. He spent the rest
of the 80's hosting a radio talk show. In 1991 he ran for
mayor and was reelected. In 2002, however, he was indicted
for racketeering, conspiracy, and extortion and is serving a
five-year sentence.
Despite a perceived culture of corruption, Rhode Islanders
overwhelmingly support and re-elect Democrats to positions
of authority, where issues involving education, health care,
and liberal causes are promoted.
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