CHARTER GRANTED TO PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.--ORGANIZATION UNDER
IT.--THE LAWS ADOPTED.
We have seen that in 1643 Roger Williams had been sent to England as
agent to solicit a charter for the three colonies of Narragansett
Bay. He found the King at open war with the Parliament, and the
administration of the colonies entrusted to the Earl of Warwick and a
joint committee of the two Houses. Of the details of the negotiation
little is known, but on the 14th of March of the following year,
a "free and absolute charter was granted as the Incorporation of
Providence Plantations in Narragansett Bay in New England." It was not
such as Charles would have given. But one fetter was placed upon the
free action of the people--"that the laws, constitutions, punishments
for the civil government of the said plantation be conformable to
the laws of England"--and that was made powerless by the qualifying
condition that the conformity should extend only "so far as the nature
and constitution of that place will admit." Civil government and civil
laws were the only government and laws which it recognized; and the
absence of any allusion to religious freedom in it shows how firmly
and wisely Williams avoided every form of expression which might seem
to recognize the power to grant or to deny that inalienable right.
The regulation of the "general government" in its "relation to the
rest of the plantations in America," was reserved "to the Earl and
Commissioners."
Yet more than three years were allowed to pass before it went into
full force as a bond of union for the four towns. Then, in May, 1647,
the corporators met at Portsmouth in General Court of Election, and,
accepting the charter, proceeded to organize a government in harmony
with its provisions. Warwick, although not named in the charter, was
admitted to the same privileges with her larger and more flourishing
sisters.
This new government was in reality a government of the people, to whose
final decision in their General Assembly all questions were submitted.
"And now," says the preamble to the code, "sith our charter gives us
powere to governe ourselves and such other as come among us, and by
such a forme of Civill Government as by the voluntairie consent, &c.,
shall be found most suitable to our estate and condition:
"It is agreed by this present Assembly thus incorporate and by this
present act declared, that the form of Government established in
_Providence Plantations_, is Democratical; that is to say, a Government
held by y^e free and voluntairie consent of all or the greater part of
the free Inhabitants."
In accordance with this fundamental principle all laws were first
discussed in Town Meeting, then submitted to the General Court, a
committee of six men from each town freely chosen, and finally referred
to the General Assembly. The General Court possessed, also, the power
of originating laws, by recommending a draft of law to the towns,
upon whose approval the draft obtained the force of law till the next
meeting of the General Assembly.
The first act of this first Colonial Assembly was to organize by
electing John Coggeshall Moderator, and secure an acting quorum by
fixing it at forty. It was next "agreed that all should set their hands
to an engagement to the Charter." Then, after some provision for the
union of the towns, the formation of the General Court and the adoption
of the laws "as they are contracted in the bulk," Mr. John Coggeshall
was chosen "President of this Province or Colonie; Wm. Dyer, General
Recorder; Mr. Jeremy Clarke, Treasurer, and Mr. Roger Williams, Mr.
John Sanford, Mr. Wm. Coddington and Mr. Randall Holden, Assistants
for Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and Warwick" respectively. Then,
entering boldly upon its independent existence, the little Colony--a
State in all but the name--proceeded to examine the body of laws which
had been prepared for its acceptance. One of the most significant of
them, as indicating their commercial aspirations, was their adoption of
the laws of Oleron for a maritime code; and another, as illustrating
their consciousness of their perilous position in the midst of savages,
still able to strike sudden blows, though no longer strong enough to
wage long wars, the revival and extension of "the Statute touching
Archerie," and the enactment of a stringent militia law. The laws
against parricide, murder, arson, robbery and stealing, show that
there were men in the community who were believed to be capable of
these crimes. The law against suicide, and still more the law against
witchcraft, are too much in harmony with the general spirit of the
age to warrant a severe condemnation. The punishment provided against
drunkenness reads as though it were not an infrequent offence. Marriage
was regarded as a civil contract. The law of debt was wise and humane,
forbidding the sending of the debtor to prison, "there," it says with
simplicity and force, "to lie languishing to no man's advantage,
unless he refuse to stand to their order." The character of the whole
code was just and benevolent, breathing a gentle spirit of practical
Christianity and a calm consciousness of high destinies. "These," it
says, "are the laws that concern all men, and these are the Penalties
for the transgression thereof; which by common consent are Ratified and
Established throughout this whole Colonie; and otherwise than thus what
is herein forbidden, all men may walk as their consciences persuade
them, every one in the name of his God."
By the same Assembly it was ordered, "that the seale of the Providence
shall be an anchor." A free gift, also, of one hundred pounds was made
to Roger Williams, "in regarde to his so great travaile, charges, and
good endeavors in the obtaining of the Charter for this Province." This
sum was "to be levied out of the three towns;" and how far the island
was in advance of the main-land may be seen by the distribution of the
levy which assigns fifty pounds to Newport and thirty to Portsmouth,
while Providence was held at twenty. Of Warwick, still poor and weak,
nothing was asked.
The spirit of this first legislation may be comprised in four articles:
the first of which provides for the protection of the citizen against
the government by guaranteeing liberty of property and person, and
restricting criminal suits to the violation of the letter of the law.
The second forbids the assumption of office by any who are not legally
chosen, and the extension of official action beyond its prescribed
bounds. The third by making the charter and acts of the Assembly the
sources of law, secures the rights of minorities. And the fourth,
displaying a comprehension of the true principles of public service
which succeeding generations would do well to study, required that
every citizen should serve when chosen to office or pay a fine,
and that his service should receive an adequate compensation. The
engagement of state and officer was reciprocal--the officer binding
himself to serve the state faithfully, and the state to stand by her
officers in the legitimate exercise of their functions.