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The Rhode Island 
 Declaration of Independence 
 
 May 4, lyjd 
 
 LIPPITT 
 
THE 
 
 RHODE ISLAND 
 Declaration of Independence 
 
 CHARLES WARREN LIPPITT 
 
 GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND 
 1895 - [ 897 
 
 AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 Rhode Island Citizen's Historical Association 
 
 ON THE i3prH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE j ^ ; 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND 
 
 MAY 4, 1906 
 
Copyright. 1907, 
 By CHARLES WARREN LIPPITT. 
 
 Gift 
 
 Author 
 
 (Person; 
 
 Pkkss of E. L. Freeman Company, 
 Providence, R. I. 
 
To THE Members of the 
 
 ^Ipht Minnh (^xtx^mB Iftatotral Aaannattou, 
 
 THIS EFFORT TO ESTABLISH THE PRIORITY 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY THE COLONY OF RHODE 
 ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
i 
 
THE RHODE ISLAND DECLARATION 
 OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 This celebration to-day is undouljtedly the first formal 
 public recognition of the anniversary of the Rhode Island 
 Declaration of Independence. In the northern part of 
 the State the efforts of a single citizen, James S. Slater, 
 have annually for several years directed attention to this 
 important occasion. The National Society of Colonial 
 Dames of America in Rhode Island, and the Bristol 
 Chapter of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the 
 American Revolution, have also held their annual meet- 
 ings on May fourth, for a number of years, in honor of 
 this anniversary. 
 
 The adjustment of this question is not between our- 
 selves and our enemies. On the contrary, we now en- 
 gage in friendly examination of official records to ascer- 
 tain which colony was foremost in such formal action 
 against the encroachments of parliament as to constitute 
 separation from Great Britain. If any other colony 
 substantiates, by unquestionable facts, claims prior to 
 ours, however sad it may be to yield our position, let us 
 remember it is relinquished to our friends and fellow 
 countrymen. 
 
 It is our duty to determine if the honor of the first 
 colonial declaration of independence rightfully belongs 
 
to the people who occupied these Plantations in Revo- 
 lutionary times. We would indeed be recreant descend- 
 ants if we did not claim, substantiate, and perpetuate, 
 the rightful honor of our ancestors. 
 
 May 31, 1775, a committee of the county of Mecklen- 
 burg met at Charlottestown and passed a preamble and 
 twenty resolutions. They are entirely concerned with 
 the affairs of that county and do not declare themselves 
 in favor of independence, or renounce allegiance to Great 
 Britain. They represent a commendable effort to main- 
 tain order and preserve the peace of their community 
 during the interval between the failure of the representa- 
 tives of Great Britain to conduct the government and 
 satisfactory arrangements for some other acceptable 
 authority to accomplish that object, as the following 
 resolution declares: 
 
 '^ XVIII. That these Resolves be in full force and vir- 
 tue, until instructions from the Provincial Congress, 
 regulating the jurisprudence of the province, shall pro- 
 vide otherwise, or the legislative body of Great Britain, 
 resign its unjust and arbitrary pretentions with respect 
 to America." 
 
 The resolutions of a county do not control a state, and 
 the provisions arranged for Mecklenburg applied only to 
 that county, and were not binding on any other. 
 
 After these resolutions had been adopted, published 
 in several newspapers, and copies forwarded to the au- 
 thorities in Great Britain, by some unfortunate circum- 
 stances they were entirely overlooked and forgotten. 
 It was not until Mr. Peter Force, the compiler of the 
 
''American Archives," announced in the National In- 
 telhgencer of Dec. 18, 1838, over sixty-three years later, 
 his discovery in the ''New York Journal," June 29, 1775, 
 and subsequently in the "Massachusetts Spy," of July 12, 
 of that year, partial copies of these resolutions, that they 
 again came to light. A copy of the entire series was sub- 
 sequently found in the year 1847 in a copy of the 
 "South Carolina Gazette," June 13, 1775. Later Mr. 
 Bancroft, Minister of the United States at London, found 
 an entire series of the Mecklenburg Resolutions of May 
 31st, 1775, in the British State Paper Office, as published 
 in the South Carolina Gazette of June 13, 1775. The 
 copy of this paper was forwarded to the British Secretary 
 of State by the colonial governor of Georgia in 1775, that 
 "His Lordship might see the extraordinary resolves of 
 the people of Charlottestown in Mecklenburg County." 
 
 On the 30th of June, 1775, Governor Martin of North 
 Carolina also forwarded a copy to the British Secretary 
 of State. 
 
 On Friday, April 30, 1819, a little short of 44 years 
 after these events in Mecklenburg County, the "Raleigh 
 Register and North Carolina Gazette" published an article 
 calling attention to a Declaration of Independence made 
 by citizens of Mecklenburg County in North Carolina on 
 May 20, 1775, eleven days before the meeting of May 31st 
 referred to above. This document claims that the cit- 
 izens of Mecklenburg, which then included the present 
 county of Gabarrus, inspired by the occurrences in 
 Massachusetts, organized themselves to protect their in- 
 alienable rights and liberties. On May 19, 1775, a meet- 
 
ing was held composed of two delegates from each mili- 
 tary company in the county. They were vested with 
 unlimited powers. The news of the battle of Lexington 
 arrived on the day the meeting assembled. After a 
 long discussion of the objects for which they had con- 
 vened, a series of resolutions was unanimously enacted. 
 The declaration, which has attracted' so much attention, 
 is contained in the second and third of these resolutions, 
 as follows : 
 
 '*2. Resolved, That we the citizens of Mecklenljurg 
 County, do hereby dissolve the political bonds which 
 have connected us to the Mother Country, and hereby 
 absolve ourselves from our allegiance to the British 
 Crown, and abjure all political connection, contract or 
 association with that Nation, who have wantonly tramp- 
 led on our rights and liberties — and inhumanely shed the 
 innocent blood of American patriots at Lexington." 
 
 ''3. Resolved, that we do hereby declare ourselves a 
 free and independent People, are and of right ought to 
 be, a sovereign and self governing Association, under the 
 control of no power other than that of our God and the 
 General Government of the Congress; to the mainte- 
 nance of which independence, we solemnly pledge to each 
 other our mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and 
 our most sacred honor." 
 
 These resolutions from time to time have attracted 
 considerable attention. No contemporary evidence of 
 their authenticity has 3^et been discovered. The action 
 of the supposed meeting of May 19th and 20th, 1775, 
 rests upon the memory of certain citizens of Mecklen- 
 l)urg County who put them in writing, after the long 
 
period of time referred to, from their recollection of the 
 proceedings of the meeting. 
 
 Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were alive in 
 1819, at the time the Mecklenburg Resolutions of May 
 20, 1775, were published in the ^^ Raleigh Register and 
 North Carolina Gazette." Their intimate acquaintance 
 with the circumstances attending the formation of the 
 American nation in 1775 developed a keen interest in 
 the subject. A copy of the Mecklenburg Resolutions 
 was forwarded to Mr. Jefferson by Mr. Adams in a letter 
 dated June 22, 1819. Mr. Jefferson replied in a com- 
 munication to Mr. Adams dated July 9, 1819, in which 
 he refers to many of the actors and the events of the time 
 when these supposed resolutions first appeared, and dis- 
 credits their authenticity from his general knowledge of 
 all the circumstances. Mr. Adams in two letters to the 
 Rev. William Bentley, one dated the 15th of July and 
 one the 21st of August, 1819, unqualifiedly joined in the 
 position taken by Mr. Jefferson. In the last of the two 
 letters, Mr. Adams states: 
 
 "4:. Is it possible that such resolutions should have 
 escaped the vigilant attention of the scrutinizing, pene- 
 trating minds of Patrick Henry, R. H. Lee, Mr. Jefferson, 
 Mr. Gadsden, Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Jay, Mr. Sherman, Mr. 
 Samuel Adams, Haud credo. I can not believe that they 
 were known to one member of Congress on the fourth of 
 July, 1776." 
 
 It has also been possible to secure two letters of Mr. 
 John Adams, not heretofore published, expressing in 
 most emphatic terms his condemnation of the Mecklen- 
 
10 
 
 burg Resolutions of May 20, 1775 (Exhibit A). It is 
 evident that neither Mr. Jefferson nor Mr. Adams had 
 any faith in the correctness of the Mecklenburg Declara- 
 tion of Independence of May 20, 1775. 
 
 Four of the reputed signers of the Mecklenl)urg De- 
 claration of May 20, 1775, were Thomas Polk, John Mc- 
 Knitt Alexander, John Pfifer, and Waightstill Avery. 
 These gentlemen, with two others, represented the county 
 of Mecklenburg in the Third Provincial Congress of 
 North Carolina, that met on the 21st of August, 1775. 
 On the 23rd of August, a committee of the Congress 
 reported a so-called test, to substantiate the loyalty and 
 patriotism of the members of the Congress, which reads 
 as follows: 
 
 '^We, the subscribers, Professing our Allegiance 
 TO THE King, and Acknowledging the Constitutional 
 Executive Power of Government, do solemnly pro- 
 fess, testify, and declare that we do absolutely believe 
 that neither the Parliament of Great Britain nor any 
 member or constituent branch thereof have a right to 
 impose taxes upon these Colonies to regulate the internal 
 policy thereof: and that all attempts by fraud or force 
 to establish and exercise such claims and powers are 
 violations of the peace and security of the people, and 
 ought to be resisted to the utmost," etc. 
 
 '^In testimony whereof we have hereto set our hands, 
 this 23rd of August, 1775." 
 
 Gentlemen of courage, honor and integrity, willing to 
 risk their lives and their property in the cause of American 
 liberty, could not on the 20th of May, 1775, have pledged 
 
11 
 
 themselves to the so-called Mecklenburg Declaration of 
 Independence, and a little over three months afterward 
 in the presence of the delegates of North Carolina as- 
 sembled in the Third Provincial Congress have willingly 
 subscribed to the above test, which was signed by the 
 four delegates from Mecklenburg County, as well as by 
 all of the other members of said Congress. 
 
 In addition the delegates from Mecklenburg County 
 joined with the other members of the Congress in unani- 
 mously adopting an address to the Inhabitants of Great 
 Britain, pledging themselves in most vehement language 
 as loyal subjects of His Majesty, King George the Third. 
 (Exhibit D.) It is equally impossible to beheve that 
 these gentlemen could have joined in enacting the sup- 
 posed Mecklenburg Resolutions of May 20, 1775, and on 
 September 8, 1775, have formally bound themselves by 
 the unusually explicit protestations and statements of the 
 address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain. Such 
 action is entirely irreconcilable with the approval of the 
 supposed Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of 
 May 20, 1775, but is not incompatible with the authentic 
 Mecklenburg Resolutions of May 31, 1775. 
 
 The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence has 
 been most completely and critically examined and dis- 
 cussed in an article in the North American Review for 
 April, 1874, by Mr. James C. Welling, that abundantly 
 proves from the official records of North Carolina, and 
 other equally authoritative sources, that the supposed 
 Mecklenburg meeting of May 20, 1775, and the resolu- 
 tions claimed to have been adopted thereat, never oc- 
 
12 
 
 ciirred, but that these circumstances were confused with 
 the authentic resohitions passed at the meeting actually 
 held on May 31, 1775. 
 
 James Fiske, in the American Revolution, character- 
 izes the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence as a 
 ''legend/' Frothingham, after a careful investigation, 
 states that he has not met with any contemporary refer- 
 ence in manuscript or in print to prove the existence of 
 the convention or the public meeting which -is said to have 
 passed these resolutions. 
 
 Some recent claims in behalf of the Mecklenburg meet- 
 ing of May 20th, 1775, have been carefully investigated 
 by A. S. Salley, Jr., in a pamphlet published in Columbia, 
 South Carolina, 1905, conclusively proving that the 
 supposed declaration of independence of May 20th, 1775, 
 has been undoubtedly mistaken for the authentic Meck- 
 lenburg resolutions on May 31st, 1775, which are not 
 claimed to be a declaration of independence. 
 
 Notwithstanding the active warfare existing during 
 the greater part of 1775, the colonists still entertained a 
 strong feeling of dependence upon the mother country. 
 It was apparently expected that after a short conflict 
 Great Britain would recognize their rights and enable 
 them to continue as English colonists, in the enjoyment 
 of liberties they were not willing to relinquish. Ul- 
 timate independence had not been favorably considered 
 by the mass of the colonists. The fear that it might be 
 attempted induced several colonial governments to pro- 
 test against such action. 
 
 Pennsylvania was one of the most conservative of the 
 
13 
 
 colonies. Her people were unable to contemplate final 
 separation from Great Britain. To prevent such a pos- 
 sibility, her General Assembly, November 9, 1775, in- 
 structed the State delegation in Continental Congress, as 
 follows : 
 
 "Though the oppressive Measures of the British Parlia- 
 ment and Administration have compelled us to resist 
 their violence by Force of Arms, yet we strictly enjoin 
 you that you in behalf of this Colony dissent from, and 
 utterly reject, any Propositions, should such be made, 
 that may cause or lead to, a Separation from oUr Mother 
 Country or a change of the Form of this Government. 
 You are directed to make Report of your Proceedings to 
 this House." ... 
 
 The sentiment of Pennsylvania naturally reflected 
 itself in New Jersey, and the Provincial Congress and 
 Council of Safety of the Colony, on the 28th of Novem- 
 ber, 1775, took the following action in relation to inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 "The House took into consideration the inquiry had 
 yesterday, touching the Petitions presented to this 
 House ; and it appearing from the Petitioners of the City 
 of Burlington, who were called in and heard, that they 
 signed the same from reports that some men affected in- 
 dependency, and being alarmed at such sentiments, they 
 were induced to present the Petition, hoping that the 
 House would discourage such sentiments by their Reso- 
 lutions; whereupon, the several Petitions being read the 
 second time, 
 
 "1. Resolved, That reports of Independency, in the 
 apprehension of this House, are groundless. 
 
14 
 
 ''2. Resolved, That it be recommended to the Dele- 
 gates of the Colony to use their utmost endeavors for the 
 obtaining a redress of American grievances, and for restor- 
 ing the union between the Colonies and Great Britain, 
 upon constitutional principles. 
 
 '*3. Resolved, That the said Delegates be directed not 
 to give their assent to, but utterly to reject any proposi- 
 tions, if such should be made, that may separate this 
 Colony from the Mother Country, or change the form of 
 Government thereof." 
 
 Maryland entertained similar conservative sentiments. 
 The convention of the state assembled December 7, 1775. 
 Undoubtedly reflecting the opinion of a considerable 
 majority of her people, it placed upon its journal a de- 
 claration 
 
 " That the people of this province, strongly attached 
 to the English constitution, and truly sensible of the 
 blessings they have derived from it, warmly impressed 
 with sentiments of affection for, and loyalty to, the 
 house of Hanover, connected )vith the British nation by 
 the ties of blood and interest, and being thoroughly con- 
 vinced, that to be free subjects of the king of Great Bri- 
 tain, with all its consequences, is to be the freest members 
 of any civil society in the known world, never did, nor 
 do entertain any views or desires of independency. 
 
 ''That as the}^ consider their union with the mother 
 country upon terms that may insure to them a permanent 
 freedom, as their highest felicity, so would they view the 
 fatal necessity of separating from her, as a misfortune 
 next to the greatest that can befal them." (Exhibit B.) 
 
 Intimately associated with these commonwealths by 
 proximity and business connections, New York took a 
 
15 
 
 similar position. Her provincial congress on the 14th, 
 of December, 1775, "Resolved, That it is the opinion of 
 this Congress that none of the people of this colony have 
 withdrawn their allegiance from His Majesty. That the 
 turbulent state of this colony arises not from a desire to 
 become independent of the British Crown, but solely 
 from the oppressive Acts of the British Parliament, de- 
 vised for enslaving His Majesty's liege subjects in the 
 American colonies, and the hostile attempts of the minis- 
 try to carry these Acts into execution." 
 
 Delaware joined her neighbors in the opposition to 
 independence and instructed its delegates in the Conti- 
 nental Congress to promote reconciliation. (Exhibit C.) 
 North Carolina took a stronger position. Her third 
 Provincial Congress unanimousl}^ adopted, September 
 8th, 1775, an " Address to the Inhabitants of the British 
 Empire" containing the following clauses: 
 
 "We have been told that Independance is our object; 
 that we seek to shake off connection with the parent 
 State. Cruel Suggestion! Do not all our professions, 
 all our actions, uniformly contradict this?" 
 
 "We again declare, and we invoke that Almighty 
 Being who searches the Recesses of the human heart, 
 and knows our most secret Intentions, that it is our most 
 earnest wish and prayer to be restored with the other 
 United Colonies, to the State in which we and they were 
 placed before the year 1763, disposed to glance over any 
 Regulations which Britain had made previous to this, 
 and which seem to be injurious and oppressive to these 
 Colonies, hoping that at some future day she will be- 
 
If, 
 
 nignly inteipose and remove from us ever>' cause of com- 
 plaint/' ^Exhibit D.; 
 
 PSven in New England such ideas prevailed. Ports- 
 mouth, New Hampshire, Decem>jer 25, 1775. in.structed 
 its delegates in the State Provincial Congress against the 
 formation of a local government, fearing that such action 
 would provide their enemies "with arguments to per- 
 suade the good fjeople that we are aiming at independ- 
 ence, which we decidedly disavow." 
 
 The necessity of providing for those portions of the 
 country' not in actual control of the English forms of 
 goverrjment to maintain public order forced action of a 
 temfxjrar\' character in .some of the colonies. January' 5, 
 1776, the Provincial Congress of New Hampshire en- 
 acted a fonri of government to continue during the pres- 
 ent unhappy and unnatural contest with Great Britain, 
 Tlie preamble makes the asual recital, and closes as 
 follows : 
 
 " Protesting and Declaring that we never sought 
 to throw off our Dependency upon Great Britain, but 
 felt ourselves happy under her Protection, while we 
 f:ould enjoy our Constitutional Rights and Privileges. — 
 And that we .shall rejoice if such a reconciliation between 
 us and our Parent State can be effected as shall be af>- 
 proved by the Continental Congrc^ss, in whose prudence 
 and Wi.sdom we confide." 
 
 Seven colonies, Maryland, Delaware, Penn.sylvania, 
 New Jersey, and New York, compactly situated in the 
 centre of the country^, • North Carolina in the south and 
 New Hampshire in the north, all protested against in- 
 
17 
 
 depcn(loiu'(\ A inMJoiMly of (lu^ (liirhHMi coloiiicvs, thorc- 
 foro. as late as March, 1770, stood opposed (o any separa- 
 tion from the mother count rv. 
 
 The fourth Provincial Congress of \orth Carolina u\o\ 
 at Halifax, April 4th, 1770, and was in session until 
 ^h\y 14th, 1770. A committee reported to the C()ni2;ress, 
 on April 12th, a suitable preamble reciting; the prevailiuii; 
 conditions between th(^ colonies and the mot Ium' country, 
 and one resolution, as follows: 
 
 '' Rcsohrd: 44iat the dele«!;ates for this C\)lony in the 
 Continental (^on<:;ress be em[)owered to concur with the 
 delegates of tlu^ otluM- (\)loni(\s in (hu'larini;' indejHMKUMice, 
 and forming foreign alliances, reserving to this Colony 
 the sole and exclusive right of forming a constitution 
 and laws for this Colony, and of appointing delegates 
 from time to time (under, the direction of a general re- 
 presentation thereof), to uwvi the delegates of tlu^ otluM- 
 Colonies for such })urposes as sh.all b(^ luM'caftci- pointed 
 out." (h^xhibit, E.) 
 
 After consideration tluMH^port was unanimously adopted 
 by tluM'ongress. The delegates attending tlu^ congress 
 represented about three-fourths of the colony. The res- 
 olution confines itself entirc^ly to instructions to the del- 
 egates of North (^arolina in thc^ Continental Congress. 
 It does not decree that on and after its passage the col- 
 ony of North Carolina shall be free and indei)endent of 
 the Kingdom of C\\v:\{ Britain. The legal and actu.'i] 
 condition of North (^arolina was precisely tlu^ sanu^ aft(M 
 this resolution was |)ass(Ml .-is b(>fon^ it was otTtaHMJ. As 
 an indication of tlu^ patriotic sentiments and inttMitions 
 
18 
 
 of a portion of the people of North CaroHna, it is un- 
 questionably commendable. It can not in any way be 
 regarded as severing the connection between England 
 and the colony of North Carolina. 
 
 The North Carolina resolution does not stand in the 
 same degree with the action of the Rhode Island General 
 Assembly in September, 1765, over ten years prior to 
 the passage of said resolution. At that time, the Rhode 
 Island Assembly passed a series of resolutions as follows : 
 
 Rhode Island Resolves on the Stamp Act, 
 September 16, 1765. 
 
 " This Assembly, taking into the most serious considera- 
 tion, an act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, 
 at their last session, for levying stamp duties, and other 
 internal duties, in North America, do resolve, — 
 
 '^1. That the first adventurers, settlers of this. His 
 Majesty's colony and dominion of Rhode Island and 
 Providence Plantations, brought with them and trans- 
 mitted to their posterity, and all other His Majesty's 
 subjects since inhabiting this. His Majesty's colony, all 
 the privileges and immunities that have at any time been 
 held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 "2. That by a charter granted by King Charles the 
 Second, in the fifteenth year of his reign, the colony, afore- 
 said, is declared and entitled to all the privileges and 
 immunities of natural born subjects, to all intents and 
 purposes, as if they had been abiding and born within 
 the realm of England. 
 
 "3. That His Majesty's liege people of this colony have 
 enjoyed the right of being governed l^y their own Assem- 
 
19 
 
 bly, in the article of taxes and internal police; and that 
 the same hath never been forfeited, or any other way 
 yielded up; but hath been constantly recognized by the 
 King and people of Britain. 
 
 "4. That, therefore, the General Assembly of this col- 
 ony have, in their representative capacity, the only exclu- 
 sive right to levy taxes and imposts upon the inhabitants 
 of this colony; and that every attempt to vest such 
 power in any person or persons, whatever, other than the 
 General Assembly, aforesaid, is unconstitutional, and 
 hath a manifest tendency to destroy the liberties of the 
 people of this colony. 
 
 "5. That His Majesty's liege people, the inhabitants of 
 this colony, are not bound to yield obedience to any law 
 or ordinance designed to impose any internal taxation 
 whatsoever upon them, other than the laws or ordinances 
 of the General Assembly, aforesaid. 
 
 ''6. That all the officers in this colony, appointed by 
 the authority thereof, be, and they are hereby, directed 
 to proceed in the execution of their respective offices in 
 the same manner as usual; and that this Assembly will 
 indemnify and save harmless all the said officers on account 
 of their conduct, agreeably to this resolution." — (Rhode 
 Island Colonial Records, 1757-1769, v. 6, pp. 451-452.) 
 
 These Rhode Island resolutions were characterized by 
 Judge Staples as ^'little short of a declaration of entire 
 independence of the British government." 
 
 Prof. Gammell states: "These resolutions, taken as a 
 whole, are nearly equivalent to a declaration of inde- 
 pendence." 
 
 The action of the Rhode Island legislature, taking 
 effect from and after its passage, placed the colony in 
 
20 
 
 a position, in defense of the liberties and rights of its 
 people, entirely different from the action of North Caro- 
 lina. Rhode Island enacted a law not dependent upon 
 the action of an}^ future body, not postponing the time in 
 which its action should become effective to a distant 
 period, or permitting it to rest upon the contingency of 
 the action of another legislative body; but then and 
 there, in plain, unmistakable language, the colony refused 
 to abide by the act of the English Parliament, denied the 
 right of that body to impose such taxes, and authorized 
 its official representatives to ignore all laws in relation to 
 the vexed question of the Stamp Act except those en- 
 acted by the Rhode Island legislature. It also assumed, 
 without equivocation, the antagonistic and, so to speak, 
 rebellious position of protecting its own officers against 
 the power of England in consequence of any action they 
 might take in executing the mandates of the colony of 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 May 1st, 1776, the province of Massachusetts Bay, 
 passed 
 
 •' AN ACT FOR ESTABLISHING THE STILE OF COMMISSIONS WHICH 
 SHALL HEREAFTER BE ISSUED, AND FOR ALTERING THE STILE 
 OF WRITS, PROCESSES, AND ALL LAW PROCEEDINGS, WITHIN 
 THIS COLONY; AND FOR DIRECTING HOW RECOGNIZANC(E)S 
 TO THE USE OF THIS GOVERNMENT, SHALL, FOR THE FUTURE, 
 BE TAKEN AND PROSECUTED." (Exhibit F.) 
 
 The preamble recites the grievances of the colony 
 against the King of Great Britain. 
 
 The bill provides that certain changes shall be made in 
 the legal papers named, as follows: 
 
21 
 
 First, That the name and style of the King of Great 
 Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc., 
 shall be changed to the name and style of the Govern- 
 ment and People of the Massachusetts Bay in New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Second, That they shall be dated in the year of the 
 Christian era, and shall not bear the date of the year of 
 the reign of any king or queen of Great Britain. 
 
 Third, That the money recovered and levied upon 
 recognizances or any suits upon recognizances, shall be 
 paid into the treasury^ of the colony for the use and bene- 
 fit thereof. 
 
 Fourth, Three sections of the act, the 2d, 5th, and 6th, 
 particularly specify that they shall not take effect until 
 June first, 1776, thirty days after the bill was passed. 
 
 At the close of the second section, which is perhaps the 
 most important of all in the act, the following limita- 
 tions of the enactments therein contained are incorpor- 
 ated : 
 
 First, ''Until some recommendation of the American 
 congress," 
 
 Second, ''Or act, order, or resolve, of a general Ameri- 
 can legislature," 
 
 Third, "Or of the legislature of this colony," 
 shall be made and passed, otherwise directing and pre- 
 scribing. 
 
 Certain commissions, civil and military, previously 
 issued, are continued in force by section 3, until Sep- 
 tember 19, 1776, and section 4 provides that said com- 
 
22 
 
 missions may be made conformable to the style and 
 date of this act. 
 
 The bill does not repeal any of the acts of allegiance 
 then existing in the statutes of Massachusetts, nor in 
 any way abrogate the provisions regarding allegiance in 
 the charter of Massachusetts, the fundamental law of 
 the colony. The limitation clauses clearly anticipate 
 that the act was not to be permanent and that it almost 
 inevitably would ])e superseded by acts of legislative 
 bodies then in existence or likely to be formed. Noth- 
 ing it contains justifies the claim that by the passage of 
 this act the colony of Massachusetts had severed her 
 connection with Great Britain to take effect on and after 
 its passage, or on June first, 1776. 
 
 This act was under consideration l)y the Massachusetts 
 general legislature for the greater part of the month of 
 April, and was discussed, amended, and otherwise con- 
 sidered by a conference of the two houses before it was 
 passed on May first, 1776. 
 
 Contemporary evidence clearly indicates that this bill 
 was not considered even in spirit to formally renounce 
 all allegiance. 
 
 John Winthrop, a prominent member of the Massachu- 
 setts Provincial Congress, in a letter, dated Watertown, 
 April 1776, to John Adams, states: 
 
 . . . ''Our people are impatiently waiting for the 
 Congress to declare off from Great Britain. If they 
 should not do it pretty soon, I am not sure but this 
 colony will do it for themselves. Pray, how would such 
 a step be relished by the Congress? Would they ap- 
 
23 
 
 prove of it? or would they think it too precipitate? 
 Would it endanger the breaking the union of the colonies? 
 These are very important questions, and I shall be ex- 
 tremely glad to know your sentiments upon them.". . . 
 
 Mr. Adams replies as follows, on May 6th, 1776: 
 
 . . . . '^Our people, you say, are impatiently wait- 
 ing for the Congress to declare off from Great Britain. 
 What my own sentiments are upon the question is not 
 material. But others ask to what purpose should we 
 declare off. Our privateers are at liberty, our trade is 
 open, the colonies are sliding into new governments, a 
 confederation may be formed; but why should we de- 
 clare we never will be reconciled to Great Britain again 
 upon any terms whatsoever? 
 
 '^ You ask how it could be relished by the Congress, if 
 our colony should declare off. I am happy to hear that 
 our colon}^ is disusing a certain name in all commissions, 
 acts, and law processes, and I should like very well if 
 they would choose a governor, or at least ask leave of 
 Congress to do it; but I can not advise them to make 
 any public declarations separate from our sister col- 
 onies." . . . 
 
 On June first, 1776, when three sections of the act in 
 question became a law, Dr. Winthrop replies to Mr. 
 Adams, after treating of several other matters, as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 'The style of commissions, law processes, etc., is altered 
 by an act, and instead of George the Third, it is to be 
 'The Government and People of the Massachusetts 
 Bay.' " 
 
1 
 
 24 
 
 The Boston newspapers naturally gave much space to 
 the proceedings of the Massachusetts legislature and 
 printed many acts in full, yet neither the New England 
 Chronicle in either of its five editions for May, 1776, nor 
 the Continental Journal of May 30th, 1776, the first num- 
 ber issued, makes any reference to this act of May first, 
 1776. Each of these newspapers is on file in the Boston 
 Athenaeum. Neither of the four editions of the Boston 
 Gazette for May, 1776, which was printed at Watertown, 
 where the Massachusetts assembly was in session, makes 
 any reference to this act. 
 
 The colonial newspapers at that time did not deem the 
 act of sufficient importance to print. An examination 
 of the files of some prominent English newspapers of 
 1776 indicates that it was not noticed in those publica- 
 tions. 
 
 Bancroft states, ''On the first day of May, 1776, Mas- 
 sachusetts expunged the regal style from all public pro- 
 ceedings, and substituted the name of her government 
 and people." That was all the act accomplished. 
 
 The sentiments of Rhode Island in relation to taxa- 
 tion and independence were much more decided than 
 those of the other colonies. In 1732-33 the colony pe- 
 titioned the House of Commons against the Sugar Act, 
 then pending before that body, and therein Rhode Island 
 first proclaimed the principle that afterward became the 
 war-cry of the Revolution: "No Taxation without Rep- 
 resentation." Her people unquestionably committed 
 the first overt acts in connection with the Revolution. 
 The attack upon the St. John in 1764, followed soon 
 
25 
 
 after by the burning of the Maidstone's boat on the com- 
 mon at Newport, in 1765, and the capture and destruc- 
 tion in Newport Harbor in 1769 of the King's armed sloop 
 Liberty, indicated the feeling of the people concerning 
 the oppressive measures of Great Britain. The.State was 
 fortunate in her leaders. Governor Ward, years before 
 the question of independence was generally discussed, 
 had foreseen the probabilities, and as early as 1766, in 
 writing to his son, said: ''These colonies are destined to 
 an early independence, and you will live to see my words 
 verified." 
 
 In the troubled times of the Stamp Act, Bancroft 
 states : ''The Rhode Island Governor stood alone among 
 the governors in his refusal to take the oath to support 
 the Stamp Act." 
 
 Governor Ward had unusual influence with the people 
 of the State, and his personal views undoubtedly contrib- 
 uted to Rhode Island's prominent position in colonial 
 affairs. His rival in the politics of the State, Governor 
 Stephen Hopkins, was equally clear in his anticipations 
 of coming events. Without hesitation his opinions were 
 freely expressed. 
 
 In October, 1774, Colonel Paul Revere was in Phila- 
 delphia. During his visit he chanced to be in conversa- 
 tion with several of the congressional delegates at a time 
 when Hopkins was present. The probability of England's 
 repealing the obnoxious acts was the subject of discussion. 
 Suddenly turning and facing the company, he said : 
 
 "Gentlemen, those of you who indulge this opinion, I 
 think, deceive yourselves. Powder and ball will decide 
 
26 
 
 this question. The gun and bayonet alone will finish the 
 contest in which we are engaged, and any of you who 
 can not bring your mind to this mode of adjusting the 
 question had better retire in time, as it will not, perhaps, 
 be in your power after the first blood shall have been 
 shed." ' 
 
 The Rhode Island Assembly met May 1st, 1776, at 
 the State house on Benefit street, in Providence. On 
 May fourth the act separating the colony from Great 
 Britain was passed unanimously in the upper house, 
 and with sixty members of the lower house present all 
 but six voted in favor of the bill and it became a law. 
 
 AN ACT REPEALING AN ACT, INTITLED " AN ACT FOR THE MORE, 
 EFFECTUALLY FECURING TO HLS MAJEFTY THE ALLEGIANCE 
 OF HIS SUBJECTS, IN THIS HIS COLONY AND DOMINION OF 
 RHODE-ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS;" AND 
 ALTERING THE FORMS OF COMMIFFIONS, OF ALL WRITS AND 
 PROCEFFES IN THE COURTS, AND OF THE OATHS PREFCRIBED 
 BY LAW. (Exhibit H.) 
 
 The preaml)le states in concise and pertinent language 
 the cause of the colony against the king. Its first clause : 
 
 " Whereas, in all states, existing by compact, protec- 
 tion and allegiance are reciprocal, the latter being due 
 only in consequence of the former," 
 
 testifies to the world a fundamental principle of allegi- 
 ance and government. The remainder of the preamble 
 charges George III with a total failure to protect, and 
 with such positive acts of oppression that no other course 
 is open to the colony except self-protection by force. 
 
27 
 
 The first enactment logically follows and repeals al- 
 legiance in the colony and dominion of Rhode Island to 
 the Kingdom of Great Britain. 
 
 The second enactment follows with equal propriety. 
 All legal forms heretofore in use, by which the people of 
 the State indicated their dependence upon the sovereign 
 of Great Britain, were forever swept away. The name 
 of the king upon all public papers was abolished, and 
 there was substituted, ''The Governor and Company of 
 the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence 
 Plantations." 
 
 From that time Rhode Island became a free and inde- 
 pendent State. 
 
 Immediately upon the passage of the act it was printed 
 on a suitable broadside, duly signed by the authority of 
 the colony, and distributed. It was at once noticed in 
 the local papers. The next morning the Providence 
 Gazette forever removed from the head of its columns 
 the arms of Great Britain and substituted therefor the 
 arms of Rhode Island. The proclamation was forwarded 
 to the assemblies of other colonies and was prominently 
 noticed in newspapers of the day. 
 
 The Boston Gazette of May 20, 1776, mentioned the 
 act by title as having been passed. 
 
 The Continental Journal of May 30, 1776, prints the 
 Rhode Island act of May 4th in full. 
 
 The New England Chronicle of May 23, 1776, prints the 
 Rhode Island act of May 4th in full, giving it the im- 
 portant place of nearly all the first column of the first 
 page. 
 
28 
 
 The Remembrancer for 1776, a magazine published in 
 London and entitled an Impartial Repository of Public 
 Events, prints the Rhode Island act of May 4, 1776, al- 
 most entire. 
 
 The Rhode Island declaration was published in promi- 
 nent English papers. The London Chronicle for August 
 3, 1776, printed the whole of the Rhode Island act, 
 giving it nearly a column. It is indexed in the news- 
 paper: ^^ Rhode Island, all Allegiance to the Crown of 
 Britain Renounced by the General Assembly." 
 
 The national Declaration of Independence of July 4, 
 1776, was printed in the London Chronicle of August 17th, 
 of the same year. 
 
 The Rhode Island act was also printed in the following 
 London papers: 
 
 The Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, No. 
 2249, August 5th, 1776. 
 
 The Daily Advertiser, August 5th, 1776. 
 
 The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, August 5th, 
 1776. 
 
 The Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, August 6th, 
 1776. 
 
 No mention was found in any of these papers of the 
 Massachusetts act of May first, 1776. 
 
 Governor Cooke wrote to General Washington, on May 
 6, 1776, as follows: "I also enclose a copy of an Act dis- 
 charging the inhabitants of this Colony from allegiance 
 to the King of Great Britain, which was carried in the 
 House of Deputies, after a debate, with but six dissen- 
 
29 
 
 tient voices; there being upwards of sixty members 
 present." 
 
 Not only in the daily publications, but in many his- 
 tories recognized as authorities upon American affairs, 
 the Rhode Island act is prominently noticed. 
 
 E. Benjamin Andrews, in his History of the United 
 States, says: "May 4 (1776), Rhode Island formally de- 
 clared her independence of Great Britain, by a solemn 
 act, abjuring her allegiance to the British crown. . , . 
 It constitutes Rhode Island as the oldest independent 
 state in America." 
 
 Bancroft, in his History of the United States, says: 
 "The despondency and hesitation of the assembly of 
 Pennsylvania was in marked contrast with the fortitude 
 of Rhode Island, whose general assembly, on the fourth 
 day of May (1776), passed an act, discharging the in- 
 habitants of that colony from allegiance to the king of 
 Great Britain. . . . The overturn was complete ; the 
 act was at once a declaration of independence, and an 
 organization of a self-constituted republic." 
 
 Bryant and Gay, History of the United States, after 
 referring to the act of May fourth, 1776, and quoting 
 largely from it, then states: "Thus the first colony to 
 declare her absolute independence of the crown, was 
 Rhode Island." 
 
 Chief Justice Job Durfee states: "She was the first 
 to enact and declare independence. In May, preceding 
 the declaration of the fourth of July by the Continental 
 Congress, the general assembly of this state repealed the 
 act more effectually to secure allegiance to the king, and 
 
30 
 
 enacted an oath of allegiance to the state, and required 
 that all judicial processes should be in the name of the 
 state, and no longer in His Majesty's name; whereby, 
 Rhode Island, from that moment, became, and is at this 
 day, the oldest sovereign and independent state in the 
 western world." 
 
 Green, History of Rhode Island: ''The last colonial 
 assembly of Rhode Island met on the first day of May 
 (1776). On the fourth, two months before the congres- 
 sional 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!' " 
 
 Mo wry. History of the United States: "The first state 
 acti*ally to declare herself independent of Great Britain 
 was Rhode Island. This act was passed ^ay 4, 1776." 
 
 Smith, The Thirteen Colonies: "In this wise, in May, 
 1776, the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, before 
 any other colony declared their absolute independence of 
 the British crown." 
 
 Judge Staples, in Rhode Island in the Continental Con- 
 gress, referring to the act of May 4, 1776, states: " It is 
 believed to be the earliest vote of the kind passed by any 
 of the colonies. It severed the connection between Rhode 
 Island and the British crown, and the English colony of 
 Rhode Island became henceforth a sovereign state." 
 
 These authorities unquestionably confer on Rhode 
 Island priority in declaring independence. 
 
 The Connecticut Assembly convened May 9, 1776, and 
 
31 
 
 during the session passed an act repealing an act of 
 this colony, entitled, ^'An Act Against High Treason." 
 It was also enacted that all writs and processes in ''law 
 or equity shall issue in the name of the Governor and 
 Company of the Colony of Connecticut, instead of his 
 Majesty's Name." . . . and ' 'that no writ or process 
 shall have or bear any date save the year of our Lord 
 Christ only." The oaths of allegiance and supremacy 
 were repealed and new forms of oaths in harmony with 
 the above acts were prescribed. 
 
 At a convention of the colony of Virginia on Wed- 
 nesday, May 15, 1776, a preamble and two resolutions 
 were unanimously passed. The principal resolution is 
 as follows : 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, that the delegates appointed 
 to represent this colony in General Congress, be instructed 
 to propose to that respectable body to declare the United 
 Colonies free and independent states, absolved from all 
 allegiance to, or dependence upon, the crown or parlia- 
 ment of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of 
 this colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures 
 may be thought proper and necessary by the Congress 
 for forming foreign alliances, and a confederation of the 
 colonies at such time and in the manner as to them shall 
 seem best: Provided, that the power of forming govern- 
 ment for, and the regulations of the internal concerns of 
 each colony, be left to the respective colonial legislatures." 
 
 In response to the advice of the Continental Congress, 
 the colony of New Jersey on July 2, 1776, agreed upon a 
 set of charter rights and the form of the constitution, 
 which contained this clause : 
 
32 
 
 '^ Provided always, and it is the true Intent and Mean- 
 ing of this Congress, That if a Reconcihation between 
 Great Britain and these Colonies should take Place, and 
 the latter be again taken under the Protection and Gov- 
 ernment of the Crown of Great Britain, this Charter shall 
 be null and void, otherwise to remain firm and inviolable." 
 
 After a diligent search in the published acts of the 
 colonies of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
 South Carolina, and Georgia, no act in any way sepa- 
 rating these colonies from Great Britain has been dis- 
 covered. 
 
 South Carolina, Feb. 13, 1777, established an oath of 
 abjuration and allegiance to the state. 
 
 ^The legislative body that enacted the Rhode Island 
 Declaration of Independence was established by the 
 charter of the colony granted in 1663 by King Charles 
 the Second. It had been since then the duly recognized 
 government of Rhode Island. It was not elected for a 
 special purpose, but for the general government of the 
 colony. It was not a provincial assemblage, created in 
 the emergency caused by the failure of Great Britain's 
 authorities to maintain order and before the formation 
 of another staple government. It did not vehemently 
 protest that it had no thought of independence and 
 legislated only to cover the interval until the authority 
 of Great Britain should be restored. It did not disavow 
 nor seek to explain its own acts tending toward independ- 
 ence. Rhode Island understood and appreciated her 
 rights. She made no apologies. The period of dignified 
 petition for the recognition of her liberties had passed. 
 
33 
 
 Without hesitation or undue debate, with the courage of 
 conviction and the determination to be free, the authority 
 that had governed the colony for nearly one hundred and 
 thirteen years forever terminated its allegiance to Great 
 Britain. 
 
 The act was in entire harmony with the past history 
 of the colony. Its repeated overt acts against the 
 authority of England, extending from 1764 to 1772, had 
 placed it far in advance of the other colonies in the 
 entirely unofficial popular uprisings against Great Brit- 
 ain. They were followed as a legitimate consequence 
 by the first unofficial suggestion for a permanent Congress 
 of the American colonies, published in the '^ Providence 
 Gazette "for May 14, 1774: 
 
 '^It seems to be the universal opinion in America, that 
 the Union of the Colonies is of the greatest Importance to 
 their Security, and therefore ought to be pursued by 
 every good Man in this Country. It is hoped that the 
 Wisdom of this great People will ever be exerted to make 
 the Union perpetual; and for this Purpose it is proposed 
 that there be an Assembly of the American States, 
 consisting of Deputies from the Representative Body in 
 each Colony, to form a League and Covenant for the 
 Colonies to enter into, and fix the Union upon a basis 
 which may, by the Blessing of Heaven, be durable as the 
 World, and lay a foundation for Freedom and Happiness 
 in America to all future Ages." (Exhibit K.) 
 
 The official acts of Rhode Island in some respects ante- 
 dated the irrepressible popular efforts of her people in 
 behalf of liberty. As early as 1732-33 the colony, 
 through its agent in London, officially petitioned and 
 
34 
 
 protested against the passage of the Sugar Act ])y the 
 EngHsh House of Commons. It proclaimed the then 
 novel principle that the people of Rhode Island could not 
 rightfully be taxed by the House of Commons, as they 
 were not represented in that body. This official claim 
 of the Revolutionary contention ''No Taxation without 
 Representation" was emphatically rejected. 
 
 Rhode Island in her Stamp Act Resolutions, Sept. 
 16, 1765, was the only colony to direct her colonial offi- 
 cers to defy the power of Great Britain and to execute 
 the laws of the colony. 
 
 The first official call for the Continental Congress was 
 voted at the Providence town meeting held May 17, 
 1774. 
 
 ''That the deputies of this town be requested to use 
 their influence at the approaching session of the General 
 Assembly of this colony, for permitting 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 adopt- 
 ing 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." 
 
 Rhode Island was the first to elect congressional dele- 
 gates. On June 15, 1774, less than a month after the 
 passage of the Providence resolutions, her General Assem- 
 bly elected Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward to repre- 
 sent the colony in the Continental Congress. 
 
 April 25, 1775, the Rhode Island Assembly authorized 
 an army of observation of fifteen hundred men. 
 
35 
 
 June 15th, 1775, the Rhode Island legislature authorized 
 the first Colonial Navy, and placed it under the command 
 of Commodore Abraham Whipple. The day he received 
 his commission, after a sharp action, he defeated the 
 tender of the Rose frigate, drove her upon the Conani- 
 cut shore, and captured her stores and outfit. This was 
 the first action between an official vessel, duly commis- 
 sioned by any of the colonies, and any vessel in the ser- 
 vice of the King. To Commodore Whipple, therefore, 
 belongs the honor of firing the first cannon upon the seas 
 in the defense of American liberty against any portion 
 of the King's navy. 
 
 Rhode Island's energetic action on the sea in her own 
 behalf was followed, August 26, 1775, by the formal in- 
 structions of her General Assembly to the colony's Con- 
 gressional delegates 
 
 "to use their whole influence, at the ensuing Congress, 
 for building at the Continental expense, a fleet of suffi- 
 cient 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 defense of these colonies" 
 
 Bancroft states, after citing these circumstances, 
 ''This was the origin of our navy." 
 
 In May, 1775, it becai^e evident that Governor Wanton 
 was not in harmony with the people of the colony. He 
 had just been elected for the seventh time. In various 
 ways he had exhibited decided opposition to the cause 
 of colonial defense, and had even refused to sign the 
 commissions for the officers of the new army. 
 
36 
 
 '^By all which he hath 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." 
 
 With the decision and courage that usually marked 
 the action of the colony he was disqualified by the As- 
 sembly. Nov. 7, 1775, Governor Wanton, having con- 
 tinued his opposition to the cause of liberty, was for- 
 merly deposed, the ofhce of Governor declared vacant, 
 and the Deputy-Governor, Nicholas Cooke, elected to fill 
 the vacancy. 
 
 By such successive steps Rhode Island approached 
 independence, and the colony became, by enactment. May 
 4th, 1776, a free and independent republic. Her people, 
 inspired with ardent patriotism, hesitated at no sacrifice 
 to maintain their position. 
 
 On sea as on land, the armed forces of the colony strove 
 valorously for the colonial cause. In privateering, the 
 State was particularly successful, and secured large 
 profits from these enterprises. The activity and success 
 of the State's private armed vessels gained wide repu- 
 tation, and caused Providence to be known as the ^'Hor- 
 net's Nest." 
 
 At Trenton, in 1777, a considerable portion of Washing- 
 ton's army consisted of Col. Hitchcock's brigade, formed 
 in greater part of three Rhode Island regiments, Hitch- 
 cock's, Varnum's, and Lippitt's. These men participated 
 in the action at Assunpink Creek, joined in the fateful 
 march the following night, and fought at Princeton in 
 the morning. After the contest, and on the field of ])at- 
 
37 
 
 tie, Gen. Washington, taking Col. Hitchcock by the hand, 
 expressed high admiration of his conduct and that of 
 his troops and desired him to convey his thanks to the 
 brigade. 
 
 At Springfield, in 1780, a portion of Col. Angell's 
 regiment, consisting of 170 men, in checking for forty 
 minutes the advance of 1,500 of the enemy, rendered sig- 
 nal service to the Continental cause. Washington highly 
 complimented this regiment in general orders, and wrote 
 to Gov. Greene, as follows: — 
 
 ''The gallant behavior of Col. Angell's, on the 23d 
 instant at Springfield, reflects the highest honor upon the 
 officers and men. They disputed an important pass 
 with so ojjstinate a bravery that they lost upwards of 
 forty in killed, wounded, and missing, before they gave up 
 their ground to a vast superiority of force." . . . He 
 adds, in conclusion: "The ready and ample manner in 
 which your State has complied with the requisitions of 
 the Committee of co-operation, both as to men and sup- 
 plies, entitle her to the thanks of the public, and affords 
 the highest satisfaction to your Excellency's most obe- 
 dient servant George Washington." 
 
 Rhode Island was equally marked for her financial 
 support of the patriot cause, as stated by the late Judge 
 Horatio Rogers. 
 
 ''In 1783, the Continental Loan Office accounts show 
 that only four states had contrilmted more to the pub- 
 lic treasury than Rhode Island, diminutive as she was, 
 and in proportion to population none could compare 
 with her. With less than a quarter of the inhabitants 
 
38 
 
 of Maryland she held half again as much of the public 
 debt. Though only one-eighth as populous as Virginia, 
 she was a public creditor in more than double the amount 
 of that great state; and while North Carolina and South 
 Carohna each possessed more than three times the num- 
 ber of inhabitants of Rhode Island, yet this state held 
 upwards of six times more of the public debt than the 
 former, and upwards of seven times more than the latter." 
 
 In proclaiming the action of Rhode Island and her peo- 
 ple in the conflict for American liberty, and in submitting 
 evidence of their services in the Continental cause, it is 
 never to be forgotten that each of the thirteen colonies 
 was inspired with similar patriotism and an equal deter- 
 mination to achieve Independence. Each furnished its 
 quota of ennobling sacrifices and heroic deeds. In grate- 
 ful recognition thereof we confidently maintain the claims 
 of Rhode Island. 
 
AUTHORITIES EXAMINED. 
 
 1. Affaires de I'AngleteiTe et de rAmerique. 
 
 2. Allen, History of the American Revolution. 
 
 3. Andrews, History of the U. S., 1894, Vol. 2. 
 
 4. Arnold, History of Rhode Island, Vol. 2. 
 
 5. Arnold, Spirit of Rhode Island History, 1853. 
 
 6. Bancroft, History of the U. S., 1860. Ed. Vol. 8. 
 
 7. Boucher, View of the American Revolution. 
 
 8. British Annual Register, History of the War in America. 
 
 9. Bryant and Gay, History of the U. S., 1879, Vol. 3. ^ 
 
 10. Chalmers, Revolt of the American Colonies. 
 
 11. Chamberlain, John Adams and other Essays. 
 
 12. DuBuisson, Abrege de la Revolution. 
 
 13. Durfee, Discourse before the R. I. Historical Society, 1847. 
 
 14. Fergus, History of the U. S. 
 
 15. FisKE, American Revolution, 1891, Vol. 1. 
 
 16. Friedenwald, The Declaration of Independence. 
 
 17. Frost, History of the U. S. 
 
 18. Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, 1872. 
 
 19. Goodrich, History of the U. S. 
 
 20. Gordon, History of the Independence of the U. S. 
 
 21. Grahame, History of the U. S. 
 
 22. Greene, Historical view of the American Revolution. 
 
 23. Greene, History of Rhode Island, 1877. 
 
 24. Greg, History of the U. S. 
 
 25. Hall, History of the War in America. 
 
 26. Hart, Formation of the Union. 
 
 27. HiGGiNSON, History of the U. S. 
 
 28. HiLDRETH, History of the U. S., 1849, Vol. 3. 
 
11 
 
 29. HiNTON, History of the U. S. 
 
 30. Holmes, American Annals. 
 
 31. Hunter, Oration at Providence, 1826. 
 
 32. Impartial History of the War. 
 
 33. Johnston, The United States. 
 
 34. La Boulaye, Histoire des Etats-Unis. 
 
 35. Lecky, American Revolution. 
 
 36. Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies. 
 
 37. Lodge, Story of the Revolution. 
 
 38. Ludlow, War of Independence. 
 
 39. Morse, Annals of the American Revolution. 
 
 40. MowRY, W. A. and A. M., History of the U. S., 1896. 
 
 41. Murray, History of the War in America. 
 
 42. Neumann, Geschichte der \'ereinigten Staaten von Amerika. 
 
 43. NiLES, Principles and Acts of the Revolution. 
 
 44. Peck, History of the Great Republic. 
 
 45. Pitkin, Political and Civil History of the U. S., 1828, Vol. 1. 
 
 46. PowNALL, Administration of the American Colonies. 
 
 47. Ramsey, History of the American Re-volution. 
 
 48. Ramsey, History of the U. S. 
 
 49. Raynal, The Revolution of America. 
 
 50. Remembrancer, for 1776. 
 
 51. RocHELLE, Etats-Unis d'Ainerique. 
 
 52. Sanford, History of the U. S. 
 
 53. Sloane, The French War and the Revolution. 
 
 54. Smith, G., The United States. 
 
 55. Smith, The Thirteen Colonies. 1901. Xol. 2. 
 
 56. SouLE, Histoire des Troubles de I'Amerique. 
 
 57. Staples, Annals of Providence, 1843. 
 
 58. Staples, Rhode Island in the Continental Congress, 1870. 
 
 59. Sted:\ian, History of the American War. 
 
 60. Steepens, "Rhode Island," in McClure's Magazine for Febru- 
 
 ary, 1905. 
 
 61. Thorpe, Constitutional History of the American People, 1898, 
 
 Vol. 1. 
 
Ill 
 
 62. Trevelyan, The American Revolution. 
 
 63. Von Holst, Constitutional History of the U. S. 
 
 64. Warden, United States of North America. 
 
 65. Warren, History of the American Revolution. 
 
 66. Willson, American History. 
 
 67. Wilson, History of the American Revolution. 
 
 68. Winterbotham, History of the U. S. 
 
 69. Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 
 
 Vol. 5 (Reprint), 1769-1780. 
 
 70. Rhode Island Acts and Resolves. May Session. 1776. 
 
 71. Connecticut Acts and Laws. Folio, 1784. Octol)er. 1776. 
 
 72. New Jersey Laws. Folio, 1784 (Peter Wilson). 
 
 73. Virginia Laws, 1776-1794 Folio. 
 
 74. North Carolina Laws. Folio, 1791 (James Iredell). 
 
 75. South Carolina, Statutes at Large, Vol. 1. 
 
 76. Rhode Island Public Laws, 1767. 1756-1766. 
 
 77. Massachusetts Colonial Laws. Folio, 1672 (Whitmore). 
 
 78. Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 
 
 Vol. 5 (Reprint), 1769-1780. 
 
 79. (Anno Regni Gulielmi et Mariae, Regis et Reginsp. Quarto.) 
 
 Acts and Laws of Massachusetts. Folio, 1714. 
 
 80. Massachusetts. Acts and Laws of Massachusetts, 1726. 
 
 Added Laws, 1726-1737. 
 
 81. Rhode Island. R. I. Schedules. May Session, 1776. 
 
 82. Rhode Island. Schedules of R. I., April, 1775. 
 
 83. The True Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, A. S. 
 
 Salley, Jr. 
 
 84. John Fiske, American Revolution. (Riverside Press, 1898.) 
 
 85. Rise of the Republic of the United States, Frothingham. 
 
 (Little, Brown & Co.) 
 
 86. Larned, History for Ready Reference, Vol. 4. 
 
 87.' The Historical Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 3, March, 1862. 
 88. " " " Vol. 6, No. 5, May, 1862.- 
 
IV 
 
 89. American Commonwealth, Hon. James Bryce (1891 eel.), 
 
 Vol. 1. 
 
 90. Montcalm and Wolfe, Francis Parkman Vol. 1. 
 
 91. Stone's Life of Rowland. 
 
 92. Narrative and Critical History, Justin Winsor, Vol. 6. 
 
 93. Rhode Island Colonial Records, Vol. 7. 
 
 94. Life of Ward, Gammell. 
 
 95. North Carolina Colonial Records, Vols. 9, 10. 
 
 96. Original Schedules of the Rhode Islantl Assembly, 1770-1776. 
 
 97. ■ Life and Correspondence of George Read, W. T. Read. 
 
 98. Proceedings of the Convention of the Province of Maryland, 
 
 1774-1776. 
 
 99. Journal of the New York Provincial Congress, 1775-1777. 
 
 100. Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of 
 
 the State of New Jersey. 
 
 101. Provincial Papers of New Hampshire, Vol. 7. 
 
 102. State Papers of New Hampshire, Vol. 8. 
 
 103. Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the 
 
 Province of Pennsylvania, 1682-1776, Vol. 6. 
 
 104. Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. 4, 
 
 5th Series. 
 
 105. Connecticut Colonial Records, Vol. 14, 15. 
 
 106. Massachusetts Provincial Congress, 1774-1775. 
 
 107. Lincoln Revolutionary Movement in Pennsylvania. 
 
 108. History of Maryland, Scharf, Vol. 1. 
 
 109. Connecticut Colonial Records, Vol. 12. 
 
 110. History of Massachusetts, Hutchinson, Vol. 3. 
 
 111. South Carolina under Royal Governors, McCrady. 
 
 112. New Jersey Archives, Vol. 24. 
 
 113. English Liberties or the Freeborn Subjects' Inheritance, Henry 
 
 Care. 
 
 114. Magazine of History, October and November, 1906. 
 
 115. Pennsylvania's Votes and Proceedings, Vols. 5 and 6. 
 
 116. Original letters, John Adams, July 20th and July 28th, 1819. 
 
V 
 
 117. Magazine of American History, Vol. 2. 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 
 118. Journal of Proceedings of Constitutional Convention, 1818. 
 
 8vo. Hartford, 1873. 
 
 119. The Three Constitutions of Connecticut, 1638-39; 1662-1818. 
 
 8vo. Hartford, 1901. 
 
 120. Historical Notes, Constitutions of Connecticut, 1639-1818. 
 
 8vo. Hartford, 1901. 
 
 121. Journal Constitutional Convention, 1902. 8vo. Hartfoi'd, 
 
 1902. 
 
 122. Acts and Laws, 1786. 8vo. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 123. Acts and Laws. July, 1775. 
 
 124. " " " May, 1776. 
 
 RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 125. Rhode Island Colonial Records. 10 vols. 1636-1792. 
 
 126. Rhode Island Acts and Resolves, 1747-1777. 
 
 127. Acts and Laws. Folio. 1705. 
 
 128. " " " " 1719. 
 
 129. " " " " 1730. 
 
 130. " " " " 1730-36. 
 
 131. " " " " 1745. 
 
 132. " " " " 1745-52. 
 
 133. " " " " 1772. 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 134. Nevill's Laws. Folio, 2 vols. 1761. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 135. Laws. 1774-1775. Reprint. 
 
 136. Van Schaak's Laws. Folio. 1774. 
 
VI 
 
 137. Laws. Folio 1777. 
 
 138. Jones and A'arick's Laws. " 1789. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 139. Bailey's Laws. Folio. 1775-1781. 
 
 140. Dallas's Laws. " 1700-1801. 4 vols. 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 141. Kilty's Laws. 4to. 1692-1800. 2 vols. 
 
 142. Maxcy's Laws. 8vo. 1692-1800. 3 vols. 
 
 , VIRGINIA. 
 
 143. Public Laws. Folio. 1769-1783. 
 
 144. Laws. " 1769. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 145. Martin's Laws. 4to. 1715-1803. 2 vols. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 146. statutes at Large. 8vo. Vol. 4 (1752-1786). 
 
 147. Grimke's Laws. 4to. 1790. 
 
 GEORGIA. 
 
 148. Marbury and Crawford's Digest of Laws. 4to. 1755-1800. 
 
 149. Watkin's Digest of Laws. 4to. 1800. 
 
EXHIBITS. 
 
 Exhibit A. 
 
 Copy of the letter from John Adams to the Rev. 
 Wilham Bentley, never before pubhshed, made by Mr. 
 Clarence S. Brigham, from the original manuscript in 
 the library of the American Antiquarian Society, Wor- 
 cester, Massachusetts. 
 
 QuiNCY July 20th 1819. 
 dear Sir 
 
 I thank you for myself, and for Mr Marston for the 
 kindness you did us by your letter of the 17th Which 
 I received this morning. And at the same time I 
 received the letter from Mr Jefferson, of which my Son 
 has made the inclosed Copy at my desire for your use. 
 
 This letter is to me inestimable for the most material 
 facts in it, I certainly know to be correct and exact. It 
 has convinced me that the Mecklengburg resolutions are 
 mere fictions. I wish I could request you to publish 
 this letter entire; but I cannot, because I have not the 
 writers consent — you ma}^ make such discreet use of 
 it as you think proper. I have wrote to Mr Jefferson 
 inclosing the Essex Register, and have received this 
 answer which to me is entirely satisfactory in all its parts. 
 It will be difficult for Posterity to detect the Multitudi- 
 nous falsehoods which were published from day to day 
 during the Revolution, and ever since, but fictions of this 
 kind, five and forty years after the pretended fact, ought 
 
Vlll 
 
 to be discountenanced by every man of honor, and this 
 in particuhir ought to be hunted from the dark Cavern 
 from which it originated, the more ingenious the inven- 
 tion the more detestable — 
 
 I am Sir your greatly obliged Friend and 
 
 Humble Servant 
 Revnd William Bentley 
 
 (Signed) John Adams 
 
 Copy of a letter from John Adams to the Rev. William 
 Bentley, never before published, made by Mr. Clarence 
 S. Brigham, from the original manuscript in the library 
 of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 QuiNCY July 28th 1819 
 My inestimable Friend. 
 
 The Essex Register, its Editors, and Printers are not 
 only Innocent but meritorious for Publishing the pre- 
 tended Mecklengburg Resolutions. I have transmitted 
 to Mr Jefferson the National Register, for his satisfaction. 
 Such imposters, which our Polished English friends call 
 Hoaxes, and boares, I am impolite enough to think, 
 ought to be called forgerys, and Villanys, and the Authors 
 of them ought to be exposed to public Resentment, for 
 their tendency is to produce confusion and uncertainty 
 in the minds of the present generation, and in all History. 
 
 I hope the author of the second North Carolina vol- 
 cano will be detected and brought to shame. 
 
 I will now add, that I am greatly obliged to the proprie- 
 tors of the Essex Register; for kindly sending me that 
 paper, but as it is an expence and trouble to them, it 
 hurts my feelings, because the necessitys of my Family 
 
IX 
 
 must prevent me from subscribing for it, though I think 
 it is the best paper amongst the many that I receive, and 
 cannot read. 
 
 I am Sir, with great Esteem, and sincere affection, your 
 obhged Friend and humble Sernt 
 
 John Adams 
 Revnd WilUam Bentley 
 
 Exhibit B. 
 
 MARYLAND CONVENTION. 
 
 January 18, 1776. 
 
 " Resolved unanimously. That the following declara- 
 tion be entered on their journals: 
 
 " We, the delegates of the freemen of Maryland in 
 convention, affected with the deepest concern by the 
 opinion declared in the king's speech to parliament on 
 the 27th day of October last, and expressed in the 
 address of the lords spiritual and temporal to his majesty 
 in answer thereto, that the necessary preparations for 
 defence made by these colonies, are carried on for the 
 purpose of establishing an independent empire, and being 
 desirous to remove from the mind of the king, an opinion 
 which we feel to be highly injurious to the people of this 
 province, and to declare and manifest to his majesty, to 
 the parliament, the people of Great Britain, and to the 
 
whole world, the rectitude and purity of our intentions 
 in the present opposition to the measures of the British 
 ministry and parliament, do declare : 
 
 '' That the people of this province, strongly attached 
 to the English constitution, and truly sensible of the 
 blessings they have derived from it, warmly impressed 
 with sentiments of affection for, and loyalty to, the 
 house of Hanover, connected with the British nation b}^ 
 the ties of blood and interest, and being thoroughly con- 
 vinced, that to be free subjects of the king of Great Bri- 
 tain, with all its consequences, is to be the freest members 
 of any civil society in the known world, never did, nor 
 do entertain any views or desires of independency. 
 
 " That as they consider their union with the mother 
 country upon terms that may insure to them a perma- 
 nent freedom, as their highest felicity, so would they 
 view the fatal necessity of separating from her, as a mis- 
 fortune next to the greatest that can befal them. 
 
 '^ Descended from Britons, entitled to the privileges of 
 Englishmen, and inheriting the spirit of their ancestors, 
 they have seen with the most extreme anxiety the at- 
 tempts of parliament to deprive them of those privileges, 
 by raising a revenue upon them, and assuming a power to 
 alter the charters, constitutions, and internal polity of 
 the colonies without their consent. The endeavors of 
 the British ministry to carry those attempts into execu- 
 tion by military force have been their only motive for 
 taking up arms, and to defend themselves against those 
 endeavors is the only use they mean to make of them, 
 
XI 
 
 entitled to freedom, they are determined to maintain it 
 at the hazard of their hves and fortunes. " — (Proceed- 
 ings of the Conventions of the Province of Maryland, 
 1774, 1775, and 1776, p. 120-121.) 
 
 Exhibit C. 
 
 DELAWAEE HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES. 
 
 March 22, 1776. 
 
 " To the delegates of the ' Three Lower Counties on 
 Delaware ' the following instructions were at this time 
 given : 
 
 " In the House of Representatives for the Counties of 
 New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, upon Delaware. At New 
 Castle, Friday, March 22. P.M.: 
 
 " Instructions to the Deputies appointed by this 
 Government to meet in General Congress: 
 
 " 1st. That you embrace every favorable opportunity 
 to effect a reconciliation with Great Britain, on such 
 principles as may secure to your constituents a full and 
 lasting enjoyment of all their just rights and privileges; 
 and, as the most probable means of obtaining such 
 desirable ends, you are to cultivate with the greatest care 
 the union which so happily prevails throughout the 
 United Colonies, and consequently to avoid and dis- 
 courage any separate treaty. 
 
Xll 
 
 " 2d. Notwithstanding our earnest desire of peace 
 with Great Britain, upon the terms aforesaid, you are 
 nevertheless to join with the other colonies in all such 
 military operations as ma}^ be judged proper and neces- 
 sary for the common defence, until such a peace can be 
 happily obtained. 
 
 ^' 3d. On every necessary occasion you are decently, 
 but firmly, to urge the right of this government to an 
 equal voice in Congress with any other Province on this 
 continent, as the inhabitants thereof have their all at 
 stake as well as others. 
 
 '^ Extract from the minutes. 
 
 '^ James Booth, 
 " Clerk of the Assembly." 
 
 (W. T. Read's '' Life and Correspondence of George 
 Read," p. 148, 149.) 
 
• Exhibit D. 
 
 THE COLONIAL EECORDS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Vol. X.— 1775-177G. Paaes 201-203. 
 
 THIRD PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM " THE JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS " OF THE 
 
 PROVINCIAL CONGRESS OF NORTH CAROLINA, HELD 
 
 AT HILLSBOROUGH FROM AUGUST 20tli TO 
 
 SEPTEMBER 10, A. D.' 1775. 
 
 '^Friday, September 8, 1775. 
 
 ^'Mr. Hooper laid before the house an Address to the 
 Inhabitants of the British Empire; and the same being 
 read, was mianimously received, and is as follows, viz, 
 
 ^' Friends and Fellow Citizens, 
 
 ''The fate of the contest which at present subsists 
 between these American Colonies and the British Minis- 
 ters who now sit at the helm of public affairs, will be one 
 
XIV 
 
 of the most important Epochs which can mark the An- 
 nals of the British history. Foreign Nations with anxious 
 expectation wait the result, and see with amazement 
 the blind infatuated Policy which the present Adminis- 
 tration pursues to subjugate these Colonies, and reduce 
 them from being loyal and useful Subjects' to an abso- 
 lute dependance and abject Slavery, as if the descend- 
 ants of those Ancestors, who have shed Rivers of Blood, 
 and expended Millions of Treasure, in fixing upon a 
 lasting foundation the Liberties of the British Consti- 
 tution, saw with envy the once happy state of this West- 
 ern Region, and strove to exterminate the patterns of 
 those Virtues which shone with a Lustre which bid fair 
 to Rival and Eclipse their own. 
 
 ''To enjoy the Fruits of our own honest Industry; to 
 call that our own which we earn with the labour of our 
 hands and the sweat of our Brows; to regulate that in- 
 ternal policy by which we and not they are to be affected ; 
 these are the mighty Boons we ask. And Traitors, 
 Rebels, and every harsh appellation that Malice can dic- 
 tate or the Virulence of language express, are the returns 
 which we receive to the most humble Petitions and earnest 
 supplications. We have been told that Independance 
 is our object; that we seek to shake off connection with 
 the parent State. Cruel Suggestion! Do not all our 
 professions, all our actions, uniformly contradict this? 
 
 ''We again declare, and we invoke that Almighty 
 Being who searches the Recesses of the human heart and 
 knows our most secret Intentions, that it is our most 
 earnest wish and prayer to be restored with the other 
 United Colonies, to the State in which we and they were 
 placed before the year 1763, disposed to glance over any 
 Regulations which Britain had made previous to this, 
 and which seem to be injurious and oppressive to these 
 
XT 
 
 Colonies, hoping that at some future day she will be- 
 nignly interpose and remove from us every cause of com- 
 plaint. 
 
 ''Whenever we have departed from the forms of the 
 Constitution, our own safety and self preservation have 
 dictated the expedient ; and if in any Instances we have 
 assumed powers which the laws invest in the Sovereign 
 or his representatives, it has l^een only in defence of our 
 persons, properties and those rights which God and the 
 Constitution have made Unalienably ours. As soon as 
 the cause of our Fears and Apprehensions are removed, 
 with joy will we return these powers to their regular 
 channels; and such Institutions formed from mere ne- 
 cessity, shall end with that necessity that created them. 
 
 ''These expressions flow from an affection bordering 
 upon devotion to the succession of the house of Hanover 
 as by law established, from Subjects who view it as a 
 Monument that does honor to human nature; a Monu- 
 ment capable of teaching Kings how glorious it is to 
 reign over a free People. These are the heart felt ef- 
 fusions of Men ever ready to spend their Blood and 
 Treasure when constitutionally called upon, in support 
 of the succession of His Majesty King George the third, 
 his Crown and dignity, and who fervently wish to Trans- 
 mit his Reign to future ages as the Ord of common happi- 
 ness to his people. Could these our Sentiments reach 
 the Throne, surely our Sovereign would forl^id the hor- 
 rors of War and desolation to intrude into this once 
 peaceful and happy Land, and would stop that deluge of 
 human Blood which now threatens to overflow this 
 Colony, Blood too precious to be shed but in a common 
 cause against the common enemy of Great Britain and 
 her sons. 
 
 "This declaration we hold forth as a Testimony of 
 
XVI 
 
 Loyalty to our Sovereign, and Affection to our parent 
 State, and as a sincere earnest of our present and future 
 intentions. 
 
 ^'We hope hereby to remove those impressions which 
 have been made by the representations of weak and 
 wicked men to the prejudice of this Colony, who thereby 
 intended that the rectitude of our designs might be 
 brought into distrust; and sedition, Anarchy, and con- 
 fusion, spread through this loyal province. 
 
 ^'We have discharged a duty which we owe to the 
 world, to ourselves and posterity ; and may the Almighty 
 God give success to the means we make use of so far as 
 they are aimed to produce just, lawful, and good pur- 
 poses, and the Salvation and happiness of the whole 
 British Empire." 
 
Exhibit E. 
 
 THE COLONIAL RECORDS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Vol. X.— 1775-1776. Paae 512. 
 
 FOURTH PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM "THE JOURNAL OF THE PROVINCIAL CON- 
 GRESS, HELD AT HALIFAX, NORTH CAROLINA, 
 FROM APRIL 4th TO MAY 14, 1776. 
 
 Friday, April 12, 1776. 
 
 ''The select committee to take into consideration the 
 usurpations and violences attempted and committed by 
 the King and Parliament of Britain against America, 
 and the further measures to be taken for frustrating the 
 same, and for the better defence of this Province, re- 
 ported as follows, to wit : 
 
 " It appears to your committee, that pursuant to the 
 plan concerted by the British Ministry for subjugating 
 America, the King and Parliament of Great Britain have 
 usurped a power over the persons and properties of the 
 people unlimited and uncontrouled; and disregarding 
 
XVlll 
 
 their humble petitions for peace, hberty and safety, have 
 made divers legislative acts, denouncing war, famine, 
 and every species of calamity, against the Continent in 
 general. The British fleets and armies have l^een, and 
 still are daily employed in destroying the people, and 
 committing the most horrid devestations on the country. 
 That Governors in different Colonies have declared pro- 
 tection to slaves, who should imbrue their hands in the 
 blood of their masters. That the ships belonging to 
 America are declared prizes of war, and many of them 
 have been violently seized and confiscated. In conse- 
 quence of all which multitudes of the people have been 
 destroyed, or from easy circumstances reduced to the 
 most lamentable distress. 
 
 And whereas the moderation hitherto manifested by 
 the United Colonies and their sincere desire to be recon- 
 ciled to the mother country on constitutional principles, 
 have procured no mitigation of the aforesaid wrongs and 
 usurpations, and no hopes remain of obtaining redress by 
 those means alone which have been hitherto tried, your 
 committee are of opinion that the House should enter 
 into the following resolve, to wit : 
 
 ''Resolved, That the delegates for this Colony in the 
 Continental Congress be impowered to concur with the 
 delegates of the other Colonies in declaring Independ- 
 ency, and forming foreign alliances, reserving to this 
 Colony the sole and exclusive right of forming a Con- 
 stitution and laws for this Colony, and of appointing 
 delegates from time to time (under the direction of a 
 general representation thereof), to meet the delegates of 
 the other Colonies for such purposes as shall be hereafter 
 pointed out. 
 
 ''The Congress taking the same into consideration, 
 unanimously concurred therewith." 
 
Exhibit F. 
 
 ACTS AND RESOLYES 
 
 PKOYIXCE or MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 
 
 VOL. 5, PAGE 484. 
 
 (Reprint.) 
 1 7 9 - 1 7 S O . 
 
 CHAPTER 22. 
 
 " AN ACT FOR ESTABLISHING THE STILE OF COMMISSIONS WHICH 
 SHALL HEREAFTER BE ISSUED, AND FOR ALTERING THE STILE 
 OF WRITS, PROCESSES, AND ALL LAW PROCEEDINGS, WITHIN 
 THIS COLONY; AND FOR DIRECTING HOW RECOGNIZANC(E)S 
 TO THE USE OF THIS GOVERNMENT, SHALL, FOR THE FUTURE, 
 BE TAKEN AND PROSECUTED." 
 
 Whereas the petitions of the United Colonies, to 
 George the Third, king of Great Brit(t)ain, for the re- 
 dress of great and manifest gr(i)ev(e)ances, have not 
 only been rejected but treated with scorn and contempt, 
 and their opposition to designs evidently formed to re- 
 duce them to a state of servile subjection, and their 
 necessary defence against hostile forces actually employed 
 to subdue them, have l^een declar(e)'d rebellion; and 
 
XX 
 
 whereas an unjust war has been commenc(e)'d against 
 them, which the commanders of Brit(t)ish fleets and 
 armies have prosecuted, and still continue to prosecute, 
 with their utmost vigour, in cruel manners, and have di- 
 rected their veng(e)ance principally against this colony, 
 wasting, spoiling and destroying the country, burning 
 houses and defenceless towns, and exposing the helpless 
 inhabitants to every mis (s)ery, — by which inhumane and 
 barbarous treatment, b}^ the commandment of George the 
 Third, king of Great Brit(t)ain, &c., the people of this col- 
 ony consider themselves greatly injur (e)d, and have ])een 
 obli(d)ged to have recourse to arms to repel such injuries; 
 and whereas, under such circumstances, the absurdity of 
 issuing commissions, writs, processes and other procd- 
 ings in law, and in the courts of justice within this colony, 
 in the name and stile of the king of Great Brit(t)ain, is 
 very apparent, and the tendency it has to keep up ideas 
 inconsistent with the saf(e)ty of this government has 
 given the good people of this colony great uneasiness, — 
 
 Be it therefore enacted by the Council and House of 
 Represent (i) (a) tives in General Court assembled, and 
 l^y the authority of the same, 
 
 (Sect. 1.) That all civil commissions, writs and pre- 
 cepts for conven(e)ing the general court or assembly, 
 which shall hereafter be made out in this colony, shall 
 be in the stile and name of the Government and People 
 of the Mass(e)(a)chusetts Bay, in New England; and 
 all commissions, both civil and military, shall be dated in 
 the year of the Christian (a) era, and shall not Ijear the 
 
XXI 
 
 date of the year of the reign of any king or queen of 
 Great Brit(t)ain. 
 
 (Sect. 2.) And that all writs, processes and pro- 
 ceedings in law, and in any of the courts of justice in this 
 colony, which have been used (and) (or) accust(u)(o)- 
 med, or, by any of the laws of this colony, are required 
 to be issued, used or practiced in law, and in any of the 
 courts of justice in this colony, in the name and stile of 
 the king of Great Brit(t)ain, France and Ireland, Defender 
 of the Faith, &c., or in any other words implying or in- 
 tending the same, shall, from and after the first day of 
 June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, be 
 made, issued, used and practiced, in the name and stile 
 of the Government and People of the Mass(e)(a)chusetts 
 Bay, in New England, and no other; and shall bear the 
 date of the year of the Christian aera, and shall not 
 bear the date of the year of the reign of any king or queen 
 of Great Brit(t)ain, until (1) some (recommendation) 
 (accommodation) of the American Congress, or act, 
 order, or resolve, of a general American legislature, or 
 of the legislature of this colony, shall be made and passed, 
 otherwise directing and prescribing. 
 
 And be it enacted, 
 
 (Sect. 3.) That all commissions, civil and military, 
 which have been issued by the major part of the council 
 of this colony s(e) (i)ince the nineteenth day of September, 
 one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, shall have 
 the same force and effect as if this act had not been made, 
 the stile and date therein notwithstanding, until (1) the 
 
XXll 
 
 nineteenth day of September, one thousand seven hun- 
 dred and seventy-six, and no longer. 
 
 Provided, iievertheless, — 
 
 (Sect. 4.) That when any such commissions shall be 
 brought to the council of this colony, to be made con- 
 formable to the stile and date by this act required for 
 is(s)uing commissions hereafter, the council are hereby 
 impowered and directed to cause the same to be done. 
 
 And he it further enacted, 
 
 (Sect. 5.) That all recogni(s)(z)ances that hereto- 
 fore have been used and accustomed to be taken to the 
 king of Great Brit(t)ain, by the stile and title of our 
 sovereign lord the king, shall, from and after the first day 
 of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, 
 be taken to the government and people of the Mass(e)- 
 (a)chusetts Bay, in New England; and when a scire 
 facias, or other legal process shall he issued thereon 
 against the recognizor or recogni(s)(z)ors, they shall be 
 in the name and behalf of the said government and peo- 
 ple; and when judgment shall be rendered thereon, the 
 money recovered and levied shall be paid into the treas- 
 ury of this colony, for the use of the same. 
 
 A7id be it further enacted, 
 
 (Sect. 6.) That all suits upon recogn(z)(in)an(c)es 
 which have been heretofore taken within this colony to 
 the king of Great Brit(t)ain, under any name, character 
 or form of words, whatsoever, that have been or that 
 may be hereafter forfeited (if any suits should be brought 
 thereon) shall, from and after the said first day of June, 
 
XXlll 
 
 l^e commenced and prosecuted in the name and l^ehalf 
 of the government and people of the Mass(e)(a)chusetts 
 Bay, in New England, and not in the name of the said 
 king; and the money recovered and levied on such suits 
 shall be likewise paid into the treasury of this colony, 
 for the use and benefit of the said people. (Passed May 
 1, 1776. 
 
 A true Copy, Carefully compared with the original, and found correct. 
 (Signed) J. HARRY BONGARTZ, 
 
 Librarian of the State of R. I. Law Library. 
 
 Exhibit H. 
 
 EHODE ISLAND ACTS AND EESOLYES. 
 
 MAY SESSION, 1776, PAGE 33. 
 
 AN ACT REPEALING AN ACT, INTITLED, " AN ACT FOR THE MORE 
 EFFECTUALLY FECURING TO HIS MAJEFTY THE ALLEGIANCE 
 OF HIS SUBJECTS, IN THIS HIS COLONY AND DOMINION OF 
 RHODE-ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS;" AND 
 ALTERING THE FORMS OF COMMIFFIONS, OF ALL WRITS AND 
 PROCEFFES IN THE COURTS, AND OF THE OATHS PREFCRIBED 
 BY LAW. 
 
 Whereas in all States, exifting by Compact, Protection 
 and Allegiance are reciprocal, the latter being only due 
 in Confequence of the former; And whereas George 
 the Third, King of Great-Britain, forgetting his Dignity, 
 
XXIV 
 
 regardlefs of the Compact moft folemnly entered into, rati- 
 fied and confirmed, to the Inhabitants of this Colony, by 
 his ilhiftrious Anceftors, and till of late fully recognized 
 by Him — and entirely departing from the Duties and 
 Character of a good King, inftead of protecting, is en- 
 deavoring to deftroy the good People of this Colony, and 
 of all the United Colonies, b}- fending Fleets and Armies to 
 America, to. confifcate our Property, and fpread Fire, 
 Sword and Defolation, throughout our Country, in order to 
 compel us to ful^mit to the moft debafing and deteftable 
 Tyranny; whereby we are obliged by Neceffity, and it 
 becomes our higheft Dut}^, to ufe every Means, with 
 which God and Nature have furnifhed us, in Support of 
 our invaluable Rights and Privileges; to oppofe that 
 Power which is exerted only for our Deftruction. 
 
 Be it therefore Enacted by this General Affembly, and 
 by the Authority thereof it is Enacted, That an Act in- 
 tituled, ''An Act for the more effectual fecuring to his 
 Majefty the Allegiance of his Subjects in this his Colony 
 and Dominion of Rhode-Ifland and Providence Planta- 
 tions," be, and the fame is hereby, repealed. 
 
 And be it further Enacted by this General Affembly, 
 and by the Authority thereof it is Enacted, That in all 
 Commiffions for Ofhces, civil and military, and in all 
 Writs and Proceffes in Law, whether original, judicial or 
 executory, civil or criminal, wherever the Name and 
 Authority of the faid King is made Ufe of, the fame fhall 
 be omitted, and in the Room thereof the Name and Au- 
 thority of the Governor and Company of this Colony 
 fhall be Fubftituted, in the following Words, to wit: 
 
XXV 
 
 ''The Governor and Company of the EngHsh Colony of 
 Rhode-Ifland and Providence Plantations:" That all 
 Fuch Commiffions, Writs and Proceffes, fhall be other- 
 wife of the fame Form and Tenure as they heretofore were : 
 That the Courts of Law be no longer entitled nor con- 
 fidered as the King's Courts: And that no Inftrument in 
 Writing, of any Nature or Kind, whether public or pri- 
 vate, fhall in the Date thereof mention the Year of the 
 faid King's Reign: Provided neverthelefs That nothing 
 in this Act contained fhall render void or vitiate any 
 Commifhon, Writ, Procefs or Inftrument, heretofore 
 made or executed, on Account of the Name and Author- 
 ity of the faid King being therein inferted. 
 
 And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforefaid, 
 That the Oaths or Engagements to be administered to 
 the Officers appointed in this Colony fhall be as follow, to 
 wit: 
 
 GENERAL OFFICERS. 
 
 ''You being by the free Vote of the Freemen of 
 
 this Colony of Rhode-Ifland and Providence Plantations 
 elected unto the Place of do folemnly engage to be 
 
 true and faithful unto this faid Colony, and in your faid 
 Office equal Juftice to do unto all Perfons, poor and rich, 
 within this Jurifdiction, to the utmoft of your Skill and 
 Ability, without Partiality, according to the Laws ef- 
 tablifhed, or that may be eftablifhed, by the General 
 Affembly of this Colony, as well in matters military as 
 civil : And this Engagement you make and give upon the 
 Peril of the Penalty of Perjury. 
 
XXVI 
 
 % DEPUTIES. 
 
 ''You being chofen to the Place of a Deputy, to 
 
 fit in the General Affembly, do solemnly engage, that j^ou 
 will be true and faithful to this Colony of Rhode-Ifland 
 and Providence Plantations; and that you will do equal 
 Right and Juftice to all perfons who fhall appeal unto you 
 for your Judgment in their refpective Cafes, according 
 to the Laws eftablifhed or that may be eftablifhed, by 
 the General Affembly of this faid Colony; And this En- 
 gagement you make and give upon the Peril of the Pen- 
 alty of Perjury. 
 
 JUDGES OF THE SUPERIOR COURT. 
 
 ''You being by the General Affembly of this 
 
 Colony chofen to the Place of a Juftice of the Superior 
 Court of Judicature, Court of Affize, and General Gaol 
 Delivery, in and throughout the Colony, do folemnly 
 engage to be true and faithful to this faid Colony, and to. 
 execute the Office unto which you are chofen as afore- 
 faid with fidelity, to the beft of your Skill and Knowl- 
 edge, according to the Laws eftablifhed, or that may be 
 eftal:>lifhed, by the General Affembly of this faid Colony: 
 and this Engagement you make and give upon the Peril 
 of the Penalty of Perjury." 
 
 (Public Notaries, Clerks of the Superior and Inferior 
 Courts, Juftices of the Inferior Courts, and Sheriffs, to 
 take the fame Oaths as the Juftices of the Superior 
 Court, mutatis mutandis.) 
 
xxvu 
 
 GRAND JURORS. 
 
 ^'You A. B. being of the Grand Inqueft, on the Behalf 
 of the Governor and Company of the Enghsh Colony of 
 Rhode-Ifland and Providence Plantations, do hereby 
 promife and engage to make a true Return to this Court 
 of all fuch Bills as fhall be prefented to you, or fuch 
 Breakers of Law as fhall come to your Knowledge: And 
 this Engagement you make and give upon the Peril of 
 the Penalty of Perjury." 
 
 PETIT JURORS IN CIVIL CAUFES. 
 
 ''You A. B. being of this Jury of Trials, fhall well and 
 truly try the Iffue of this Cafe, and all Cafes that fhall 
 be committed unto you from this Court, between the 
 Parties, Plaintiff and Defendant, according to Law and 
 Evidence; and to keep together until you agree of a 
 Verdict in the Cafe or Cafes committed to you, and make 
 true Return of the Verdict or Verdicts unto this Court; 
 and to keep your own and Fellow's Secrets: And this 
 Engagement you make and give upon the Peril of the 
 Penalty of Perjury." 
 
 PETIT JURORS IN CRIMINAL CAUFES. 
 
 ''You A. B. being of this Jury of Trials, fhall well and 
 truly try, and true Deliverance make, between the Gov- 
 ernor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode-Ifl- 
 and and Providence Plantations, and the Prifoner at 
 the Bar, according to Law and Evidence; and to keep 
 together until you are agreed of a Verdict or Verdicts, 
 in the Cafe or Cafes that fhall be committed to you from 
 
XXVI 11 
 
 this Court, and to keep your own and Fellow's Secrets: 
 And this Engagement you make and give upon the Peril 
 of the Penalty of Perjury." 
 
 TOWN OFFICERS. 
 
 ^^ You A. B. do hereby folemnly engage to be true and 
 faithful luito this Colony of Rhode-Ifland and Providence 
 Plantations, and that you will well and truly, according 
 to the Laws eftablifhed, or that may be eftablifhed by 
 the General Affembly of faid Colony, execute the Office 
 of for the enfuing Year or until another be en- 
 
 gaged in your Room, or you be legally difcharged there- 
 from : And this Engagement you make and give upon the 
 Peril of the Penalty of Perjur3^" 
 
 MILITARY COMMIFFIONED OFFICERS. 
 
 ''You A. B. being by the General Affembly chofen and 
 elected unto the Place and Office of do solemnly 
 
 fwear to be true and faithful unto this Colony of Rhode- 
 Ifland and Providence Plantations, and to the Authority 
 therein eftablifhed by the General Affembl}^: And you 
 do alfo further engage well and truly to execute the Office 
 of to which you are elected according to your Com- 
 
 mission: and to perform and obferve all the law^s made 
 and provided for the Support and well ordering the Mili- 
 tia, without Partiality; and that you will observe and 
 follow fuch orders and Inftructions as you fhall from 
 Time to Time receive from Your Superiors. 
 So help you God." 
 
XXIX 
 CLERK OF A COMPANY OF MILITIA. 
 
 ^'You A. B. do solemnly swear well and truly to per- 
 form and execute the Office of Clerk of the Company, or 
 Trained Band, under the Command of C. D. to the utmost 
 of your Skill and Ability, without Partiality, according 
 to the Laws of this Colony which relate to your office. 
 So help you God." 
 
 A True Copy, carefullj' compared with the original and found correct. 
 (.Signed) J. HARRY BONGARTZ, 
 
 Librarian, State of Rhode Island Law Library. 
 
 Exhibit K. 
 
 EARLIEST SUGGESTION FOR A PERPETUAL CONGRESS OF 
 THE AMERICAN STATES. 
 
 Providence Gazette, May 14th, 1774. (Signed) NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 "It seems to be the universal opinion in America, that 
 the Union of the Colonies is of the greatest Importance 
 to their Security, and therefore ought to be pursued by 
 every good Man in this Country. It is hoped that the 
 Wisdom of this great People will ever be exerted to make 
 the Union perpetual; and for this Purpose it is proposed 
 that there be an Assembly of the American States, con- 
 sisting of Deputies from the Representative Body in each 
 Colony, to form a League and Covenant for the Colonies 
 
XXX 
 
 to enter into, and fix the Union upon a basis which may, 
 by the Blessing of Heaven, be durable as the World, and 
 lay a foundation for Freedom and Happiness in America 
 to all future Ages. 
 
 ^'The American will undoubtedly, in future Time, make 
 the most grand and noble Figure that ever was exhibited 
 l)y any People under Heaven, and their Conduct, at this 
 important Era, will be of infinite Moment to their future 
 Glory and Happiness; therefore we may justly expect 
 the greatest Exertions of our Patriots to compleat the 
 Freedom of America, for which they have long and glori- 
 ously contended. — Then will they reap the full Harvest 
 of Fame, and when their Praise is echoed from Tongue to 
 Tongue, all the People will say. Amen. Britain will also 
 unite her voice (for she will soon be sensible that the 
 Liberty of America is Life to her) and sound their fame 
 to distant Nations. — The Glory of American Freedom will 
 startle Europe, alarm the World, rouse up the Spirit of 
 Liberty in despotic Regions, and kindle the heavenly 
 Fire in the Bosoms of Slaves. — T3^rants will be bound in 
 Fetters of Iron, and their insulted People will resume their 
 native Majesty; the Nations will be drest in new Colours 
 and appear in the new Dignit}^ of human Nature. But 
 we forbear; — if the one Half should be told, the World 
 would not contain the Pages that must be written. 
 
 ''It is proposed that the constitutional Toast to be 
 drank forever hereafter, be ' The Union of the Colon- 
 ies, AND THE Freedom of America.' " 
 
 New England. 
 
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