PROPOSITION FOR THE UNION OF THE COLONIES.--ACTIVE MEASURES
TAKEN LOOKING TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE.--DELEGATES ELECTED
TO CONGRESS.--DESTRUCTION OF TEA AT PROVIDENCE.--TROOPS
RAISED.--POSTAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED.--DEPREDATIONS OF THE
BRITISH.--"GOD SAVE THE UNITED COLONIES."
The 22d of June, 1772, was memorable in the history of humanity,
for it was on that day that Mansfield solemnly declared as Lord
Chief-Justice of England that slavery could not exist on English soil.
This declaration met with a hearty response in Rhode Island. On the
17th of May, 1774, the citizens of Providence met in town meeting to
take counsel together upon the questions of the day. Two resolves of
this meeting stand fitly side by side. An intestate estate comprising
six slaves had fallen to the town. In the meeting it was voted that it
was "unbecoming the character of freemen to enslave the said negroes,
that personal liberty was an essential part of the natural rights of
mankind, and that the Assembly should be petitioned to prohibit the
further importation of slaves, and to declare that all negroes born in
the Colony should be free after a certain age."
In the June session of 1774 the question was brought before the
Assembly. "Those" says the preamble, "who are desirous of enjoying
all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend
personal liberty to others."... Therefore, says the bill, "for the
future no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this Colony." To
perfect the act clauses were added defining the condition of slaves in
transit with their masters, and protecting the Colony against pauper
freedmen.
Having taken this high ground concerning the individual, they took
ground equally noble concerning the Colony, "resolving that the
deputies of this town be requested to use their influence at the
approaching session of the General Assembly of this Colony for
promoting a Congress, as soon as may be, of the representatives of
the general assemblies of the several colonies and provinces of North
America for establishing the firmest union, and adopting such measures,
as to them shall appear the most effectual to answer that important
purpose, and to agree upon proper methods for executing the same." Thus
in Rhode Island the condemnation of slavery and the call for union went
hand in hand.
The time for hesitation was past. Event came crowding upon event.
Virginia, also, called for a Congress. But it was on Boston chiefly
that all eyes were fixed. Her example had strengthened the hands of
the discontented, and both the King and his Parliament had resolved
to make her a warning example of royal indignation. For this the bill
closing her port and cutting off her commerce and known in history as
the Boston Port Bill was passed. It was to go into operation the 1st of
June, 1774. Never did a great wrong awaken a more universal resentment.
Old jealousies and rivalries were forgotten in the sense of a common
danger. On the 1st of June the voice of mourning and commiseration was
heard throughout the land. Virginia set it apart as a day of fasting
and prayers. From every Colony came contributions in sheep and oxen
and money. Rhode Island sent eight hundred and sixty sheep, thirteen
oxen, four hundred and seventeen pounds in money. Boston in this day of
suffering was for her no longer the Boston of the Atherton Company and
disputed boundary lines.
But intelligent as Rhode Island had proved herself in her political
measures, she could not altogether raise herself above the ignorance
of her age in sanitary measures. The small-pox was in Newport, and
inoculation was still an undecided question. Should the legislature be
asked to declare for it or against it? After four days of discussion it
was decided in the negative by a close vote.
We have already seen that a special tribunal had been organized to
follow up the question of the Gaspee. In its instructions directions
were given to send their prisoners to England for trial. Hutchinson,
the renegade Governor of Massachusetts, proposed to annul the charter
of Rhode Island. The committee applied to Samuel Adams for counsel. "An
attack upon the liberties of one colony," was his answer, "is an attack
upon the liberties of all."
The new year, the eventful 1773, began amid anxious doubts and firm
resolves. The Assembly was sitting at East Greenwich, the Gaspee
court at Newport. "What shall I do?" asked Chief-Justice Hopkins. The
Assembly bade him follow his own judgment. "Then for the purpose of
transportation for trial," said the brave old man, "I will neither
apprehend any person by my own order nor suffer any executive officers
in the Colony to do it." The question fortunately never rose, but
questions equally important were at hand.
The burning of the Gaspee was a sudden outbreak of popular indignation.
To thoughtful minds it was a still more alarming indication of popular
feeling that the senior officer on the station, Captain Keeler, of the
Mercury, should have been seized and verdicts of trespass and trover
found against him in the colonial courts. But England did not heed the
warning.
But the great work was done by the Committee of Correspondence, already
formed in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 1764, but more effectively
organized in Virginia in 1775--the railroads and telegraphs of those
days. They bound the colonies in a union which doubled their strength
and fanned their zeal into a flame. Through them the earliest and
"most authentic intelligence of all such acts and resolutions of
the British Parliament, and measures of the ministry as may relate
to or affect the British colonies in America" was obtained, and a
correspondence concerning them kept up with the other colonies. In all
these preparations for the struggle, now so near at hand, Rhode Island
bore her part. And while they were going on, and as if his part had
been done, her faithful agent, proved by fourteen years of assiduous
service, Joseph Sherwood, died.
In October, 1773, the tea act went into operation, leading the
discontent still more directly to action. But as no tea was sent to
Rhode Island, and the story is well known I shall not repeat it here,
only saying that public meetings were held in all of which it was
resolved to confirm the Philadelphia resolutions. Rhode Island had
another grievance to complain of.
The story of the Hutchinson letters is well known to every reader of
American history. Some unknown friend of the colonies had put them in
the hands of Franklin, and Franklin had sent them to America. "Among
them was a letter of George Rome, written six years before, denouncing
the governments and courts of Rhode Island." It was immediately
published in newspapers and on broadsides, and in every form which
could give it circulation. Everywhere it was read with the strongest
expressions of condemnation. The author was brought to the bar of
the house of deputies, and refusing to plead, sent to jail for the
remainder of the session.
Among the acts of revenge which disgrace the English legislation of
this period, was the removal of Franklin from the responsible office
of superintendent of the American post-office. In his hands the
post-office had become a trustworthy institution, paying its way and
meeting the wants and commanding the confidence of the country. As a
means of communication it had become a bond of union. To suppress it
would be a serious blow to the social and commercial relations of all
the colonies. The blow fell, but not according to its aim. We have
already recorded the name of William Goddard as founder and editor of
the _Providence Gazette_. When Franklin was removed Goddard conceived
the idea of a colonial post-office adapted to the new relations between
England and the colonies. To secure the concurrence of all the colonies
he visited them all, explaining his plans and awakening everywhere that
confidence without which all his efforts would have been vain. It was
another step towards union.
On the eve of such a contest it was wise to count heads. A census
was ordered and gave as its result fifty-nine thousand six hundred
and seventy-eight, of whom fifty-four thousand four hundred and
thirty-five were whites, three thousand seven hundred and sixty-one
blacks, and one thousand four hundred and eighty-two Indians.
Two events of grave significance mark the month of May, 1774. General
Gage entered Boston as Governor, and a town meeting was held at
Providence wherein it was resolved, "that the deputies of this town
be requested to use their influence at the approaching session of the
General Assembly of this Colony, for promoting a Congress as soon as
may be, of the Representatives of the General Assemblies of the several
colonies and provinces of North America for establishing the firmest
Union, and adopting such measures as to them shall appear the most
effectual to answer that important purpose; and to agree upon proper
methods for executing the same."
In the same meeting it was recommended to break off all trade with
Great Britain, Ireland, Africa and the West Indies till the Boston
Port Bill should be repealed. Everywhere the warmest sympathy with
Boston was expressed and effective measures taken to assist her by
contributions of provisions and money. East Greenwich was the first
to open a subscription for her. The example was promptly followed by
Newport, Westerly and other towns in which her name had never awakened
kindly feelings before. Some of the poor sought refuge in neighboring
colonies, and found work and sympathy. Some Tories, alarmed at the
prospect of a siege, removed to Providence, but found it a dangerous
residence for men of their political creed. One of these, a hardware
dealer named Joseph Simpson, seems to have been particularly obnoxious
to the Whigs, who of a Saturday night covered his doors and windows
with tar and feathers. A public meeting was called to protest against
allowing the town to be made a receptacle of the enemies of the
country and request the council to have such persons legally removed.
Some indications of disorder appearing, another meeting was called to
"insist upon the supremacy of the laws."
Measures of defence, also, began now to attract the attention of the
Assembly. The stores at Fort George were examined. Some thirty years
before an independent company had been chartered under the name of the
Providence County Artillery. This name was now changed to Cadet Company
and the corps formed upon a regimental basis, taking its position
field days on the right. The Light Infantry Company, of Providence,
was chartered at the same session. It was to consist of a hundred men
and be stationed "in front of the left wing of the regiment." A day
of fasting and prayer was appointed and religiously observed. But the
most important step of all was the election of Stephen Hopkins and
Samuel Ward for delegates to that Congress towards which all eyes were
anxiously directed. Thus Rhode Island had been the first to propose a
Congress and the first to take action upon the proposal. In the same
session six resolutions were passed "counseling Union and an immediate
meeting of Congress to petition for redress, and to devise measures to
secure their rights." And as if they foresaw how entirely government
was passing away from the King and Parliament, they recommended also
that Congress should meet annually. Copies of these resolves were sent
to all the colonies.
On the 5th of September, 1774, Congress met in Philadelphia, and after
careful deliberation adopted a Declaration of Rights, and recommended
the formation of an "American Association," the chief articles of which
were "non-intercourse with Great Britain till their grievances should
be redressed, abolition of the slave trade, encouragement of home
industry, and the appointment of committees of inspection in every town
and district to see that its terms were kept inviolate." To these were
added "a petition to the King, letters to the other British colonies,
addresses to the Canadians and to the people of Great Britain, and
votes of thanks to the friends of America in Parliament." The tone
through all was decent, earnest and resolute. As they circulated
through the country the people felt that their convictions had been
faithfully represented.
In this agitated state of the popular mind a riot was stirred up in
Providence by the license question, and in East Greenwich by the Tory
question. The first was put down by the citizens, but the second called
for the intervention of the military.
The attention of the General Assembly was largely given to measures
of defence. The colonial fire-arms at Newport were distributed by
counties in proportion to their tax rate. Simeon Potter, of Bristol,
was chosen major-general, a new office created for the occasion and
subject to annual election. The militia law was carefully revised, and
provision made for the "manner in which the forces within this Colony
shall march to the assistance of any of our sister colonies if invaded
or attacked." The cannon and powder at Fort George were removed to
Providence for greater security and more convenient use. Independent
companies were formed and carefully trained. Among the Kentish Guards
were Nathanael Greene, the future liberator of the South; Christopher
Greene, the future hero of Red Bank; James M. Varnum, a future
brigadier, and others whose names reappear in higher grades as the
progress of the war brought superior merit to view. In Providence
County the militia was divided into three regiments under the command
of a brigadier.
Among the recommendations addressed by Congress to the people, was a
recommendation to stop the exportation of sheep to the West Indies,
for domestic manufactures were growing daily in importance and wool was
wanted for colonial looms. The recommendation was promptly acted upon,
and a temporary committee of inspection appointed to see it carried
out. The manufacture of fire-arms was successfully begun.
In February, 1773, the day for suspending the use of tea came. In
Providence three hundred pounds of it were publicly burned, the fire
being lighted with ministerial documents and other obnoxious papers.
While this was a doing by the "sons of liberty" in Market Square, some
other sons of liberty went round from store to store, effacing with
lamp-black the word tea on the signs.
In April there was a general muster of the militia, when it was found
that Providence County had two thousand infantry and a troop of horse
under arms, and Kent County nearly fifteen hundred. The returns of the
other counties have not been preserved.
The day of decision came. The battle of Lexington was fought. The
tidings reached Providence in the night. By the next day a thousand
armed men were on the road to Boston. But before they could reach it
expresses met them announcing the retreat Of the British.
The Assembly met. They voted to raise an Army of Observation of
fifteen hundred men, in spite of the protests of the Governor, the
Deputy-Governor and two assistants. Nathanael Greene and William
Bradford were appointed a committee to confer with the Assembly of
Connecticut about this raising of arms. The public ammunition was
distributed--to each town its proportion. For greater security it was
voted to hold the election session of the Assembly at Providence. A day
was set apart for fasting and prayer.
The May session for the election of officers came. The dividing line
between Whig and Tory was more sharply drawn. Several changes were
made in the board of assistants. Deputy-Governor Sessions gave place
to Nicholas Cooke. Governor Wanton himself was suspended for having in
various ways "manifested his intentions to defeat the good people of
these colonies in their present glorious struggle to transmit inviolate
to posterity those sacred rights they have received from their
ancestors." A Committee of Safety was appointed, which, with the two
highest military officers, was to superintend the paying and furnishing
the troops and direct their movements when called out of the Colony.
The public offices were removed to Providence.
"The army was formed into one brigade of three regiments, each regiment
consisting of eight companies, with a train of artillery." Of this
little army, called Army of Observation, Nathanael Greene, who had
never held military rank before, was placed in command with the rank of
brigadier-general. To anticipate jealousies of rank and position it
was provided that "each regiment should occupy the flanks in rotation."
Paper money with all its evils now became a necessity, and bills of
credit were issued to the amount of twenty thousand pounds. To give
them the character of an investment they were to bear an interest of
two and a half per cent., and be "redeemable by taxation at the end of
two and five years." An embargo was laid on provisions.
Another battle, the battle of Bunker Hill, was at hand. Collisions
between the King's troops and the people were frequent. By the 1st of
June nearly a thousand men of the Rhode Island Army of Observation
with their artillery were encamped on Jamaica Plains. The committees
of inspection for enforcing the American Association were very active.
Articles of war were framed. Tories were jealously watched. The
suspension of Governor Wanton was a bold step resolutely persevered in.
He attempted to explain and defend his conduct, but his explanations
were not accepted.
The persecutions of the Gaspee were renewed by Sir James Wallace,
Captain of the Rose frigate, and brought on an action between a tender
of the frigate and a colonial sloop commanded by Captain Abraham
Whipple. After some sharp firing on both sides, the tender was driven
ashore under Conanicut and captured. Wallace already owed Whipple
a grudge for his part in the burning of the Gaspee, and wrote him:
"You, Abraham Whipple, on the 10th of June, 1772, burned His Majesty's
vessel, the Gaspee, and I will hang you at the yard-arm. James
Wallace." To which Whipple replied: "To Sir James Wallace, Sir: Always
catch a man before you hang him. Abraham Whipple."
This was no longer a sudden uprising of popular indignation against
insufferable wrong, but a conflict between two regular armed
vessels--the first naval battle of the War of Independence. It led
directly to the equipping of two vessels, the Washington and the Katy,
for the defence of the Colony--the largest carrying ten four-pounders
and fourteen swivels, with a crew of eighty men--the smallest with
thirty men.
In this June session in which the foundations of the navy were laid,
William Goddard's postal system went into operation six weeks before
its adoption for all the colonies by Congress.
During this same eventful month of June the waters of Narragansett
Bay were the scene of another bold enterprise. The Rose frigate, Swan
sloop-of-war, and a tender were lying with five prizes in Newport
harbor. Other vessels came in sight and the royal squadron set out in
pursuit of them, following them up the bay and leaving the five prizes
unprotected. No sooner did the people of Newport see the opportunity
than they seized it, boarded the prizes and carried them off in
triumph.
The next event of general interest was the battle of Bunker Hill. An
extra session of the Assembly was called. Committees were appointed to
take account of the arms and ammunition in the Colony and report it
to Congress. Saltpetre and brimstone were sent to the powder mills of
New York. Fort George was dismantled. A signal post was established
on Tower Hill, and a beacon at Providence, on Prospect Hill. The
Colony was put upon a war footing, every man able to bear arms being
required to hold himself in readiness for active service. A fourth
of the militia were held for minute men and drilled half a day every
fortnight. The independent companies were drilled with them. The Army
of Observation, which now numbered about seventeen hundred men, was
placed under the command of Washington. Everywhere were sights and
sounds of war.
The national fast day came, July 20th. From every pulpit, from
every family altar, rose fervent prayers for Almighty guidance and
protection. For Newport it was a day of terror, for Wallace, enraged at
the desertion of some of his men, threatened to bombard the town. Two
days he lay in position before it. On the third he sailed away.
Providence harbor was now fortified between Field and Sassafras Points,
and a battery of six eighteen-pounders erected on Fox Point. The Beacon
was proved and found to shed its light over an area extending from
Cambridge to New London and Norwich, and from Newport to Pomfret. All
through August the preparations for war continued. The live stock was
removed from Block Island and the islands of the bay. The incipient
navy was enlarged and the Rhode Island delegates in Congress instructed
"to use their whole influence for building at the Continental expense,
a fleet of sufficient force for the protection of these colonies, and
for employing them in such manner and places as will most effectually
annoy our enemies, and contribute to the common defence of these
colonies." This recommendation led to the appointment of a committee of
which Governor Hopkins and John Adams were members, and which presently
laid the foundation of the Continental Navy.
From time to time there were sudden alarms. Once it was given out that
Providence was to be attacked, and the works in the harbor were manned
and the troops called out. But Wallace, contenting himself with taking
a brig from the West Indies and plundering the shores, retired down
the bay. In October he was reinforced, and after holding Newport in
suspense bombarded Bristol. Domestic enemies also were to be guarded
against. George Rome reappears and is sent to Providence "to be dealt
with according to his demerits." Furnishing supplies to the enemy or
holding correspondence with them was made punishable with death and
forfeiture. Exception was made in favor of Newport on account of her
exposed situation. The sufferings of the poor both in Newport and on
the islands were so great that the Assembly found it necessary to come
to their assistance, helping some to move away and supplying others
with provisions. How business suffered may be seen by the repeal of
the statute of limitations. In November Governor Wanton was formally
removed from office and Nicholas Cooke elected in his stead. With the
burning of the Gaspee the sword was drawn, with the deposition of
Governor Wanton the scabbard was thrown away.
Meanwhile new emissions of bills of credit were made and the
overwhelming debt overwhelmingly increased. But it was no longer the
debt of a single colony but a part of the war debt of all the colonies,
and therefore Congress assumed forty-five thousand pounds of it as
such. Of this forty-five thousand pounds a hundred and twenty thousand
dollars were presently paid. One more battle was fought in Narragansett
Bay, and one more day set apart for fasting and prayer.
We have seen that Rhode Island had called for a navy. In November
Congress took the subject up, appointed a marine committee and voted
to arm and equip four vessels. Esek, brother of the Governor, was put
in command of them with the title of commodore. Two hundred and fifty
Rhode Islanders followed Arnold through the wilderness, and none of all
the invading army bore with greater fortitude the privations of the
weary march or fought more gallantly under the walls of Quebec than
Christopher Greene, Samuel Ward and Simeon Thayer, all of whom we shall
meet again on the ramparts of Red Bank. Over a hundred were sent to
Philadelphia under Captain Whipple, to serve in the new navy.
Meanwhile at Newport and on the islands the presence of the British
squadron held men in constant alarm. A considerable force was encamped
at Middletown, and a constant watch kept up to guard against the secret
machinations of the disaffected. Row gallies patrolled the bay and a
night guard was established. But in spite of every precaution the trees
were cut down on Hope Island, twelve dwelling houses were burned and
their occupants plundered on Conanicut, and the live stock carried
off wherever a secure landing could be effected. General Lee, who
had been sent from Cambridge to direct the fortifying of the island,
made his entrance into Newport at the head of eight hundred men, and
after imposing upon the suspected a comprehensive oath and giving
instructions for the erection of fortifications, returned to the army.
To express their sense of his services the Recess Committee voted "that
one of the best beds, with the furniture taken from Charles Dudley, be
presented to General Lee."
In the last days of December there was a riot in West Greenwich to
prevent the enlistment of minute men. In the middle of January there
was some sharp fighting on Prudence Island. In the course of the first
day the British, who had come up in twelve vessels, landed two hundred
and fifty men, drove off a body of a hundred minute men, burned seven
houses and carried away a hundred sheep. Next day reinforcements
arrived from Bristol and Warren and the fighting was renewed. This time
the victory was with the Americans, and after a battle of three hours
the enemy were driven to their ships with a loss of fourteen killed
and many wounded. War in one of its worst forms raged at all the most
vulnerable points of Narragansett Bay.
And thus the gloomy days went by, slowly but surely bringing nearer and
nearer the now inevitable problem of independence. Rhode Island, with
her hundred and thirty miles of coast line, her two navigable rivers,
and triple passage from the ocean, was in constant exposure. We have
seen how she was harassed by Wallace in January, 1776. In February
more houses and a windmill were burned and more stock plundered on
Prudence, and a descent for plunder made on Point Judith. With this
last the names of several persons suspected of being Tories were mixed
up, giving the Committee of Safety much to do. Difficulties between
the citizens of Newport and the soldiers under General West, encamped
on the island, arose in a measure from the same cause. West resigned
because men whom he had arrested as Tories had been set at liberty by
the Assembly. Among them was Governor Wanton.
The first act of the eventful drama closes with the evacuation of
Boston, on the 17th of March. For a day it was believed that the
British fleet was entering the bay, but the alarm proved false. The
American army went to New York, passing through Rhode Island on its
march.
While these events, so grievous in the present, so full of a glorious
future, were passing, Samuel Ward, who had so nobly represented the
highest conscience and culture of Rhode Island in the Continental
Congress, was dying of small-pox in Philadelphia--the advanced post of
civil heroism. An upright and conscientious man, who had drawn from
books and men those lessons which make men wise in judgment and firm in
principle and bold in action. Had he lived a few weeks longer his name
would have been foremost among the signers. A marble monument was voted
him by Congress, "in testimony of the respect due to his memory, and in
grateful remembrance of his public services."
The last Colonial Assembly of Rhode Island met on the 1st of May.
On the 4th, two months before the Congressional Declaration of
Independence, it solemnly renounced its allegiance to the British
crown, no longer closing its session with "God save the King," but
taking in its stead as expressive of their new relations, "God save the
United Colonies."