History of Rhode Island: Difference between revisions

Richard Ward was made a freeman of Newport in 1710, then entered public service as Attorney General, later became Deputy and Clerk of the Assembly, and then served as the General Recorder for the colony from 1714 to 1730.[1]{{cncitation needed|date=August 2022|reason=Is this actually ref1?}} In 1723, he was paid six pounds for attending the trial of a group of pirates who were taken prisoner by Captain Solgar, commander of the British ship Greyhound. Of the 36 pirates taken into captivity, 26 were sentenced to hang, and the execution took place at Newport on July 19, 1723, at a place called Gravelly Point.[1]{{cncitation needed|date=August 2022|reason=Is this actually ref1?}}

In 1726, Ward was one of the four Rhode Island commissioners appointed to meet a group of Connecticut commissioners to settle the boundary line between the two colonies.[1]{{cncitation needed|date=August 2022|reason=Is this actually ref1?}} Ward was the Secretary of State from 1730 to 1733, and in 1740 became the Deputy Governor of the colony. In this capacity he and Samuel Perry were appointed trustees to the Indian sachem Ninigret. In 1741 he was selected as Governor for a single term.[1]{{cncitation needed|date=August 2022|reason=Is this actually ref1?}}

Rhode Island was the first colony in America to declare independence on May 4, 1776, a full two months before the [[United States Declaration of Independence]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The North American Review, Hunter's Oration"|publisher=Oliver Everett|year=1826 |page=457 |volume=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rYAFAAAAQAAJ}}</ref> Rhode Islanders had attacked the British warship HMS ''[[Gaspee Affair|Gaspee]]'' in 1772 as one of the first acts of war leading to the American Revolution. British naval forces under Captain James Wallace controlled Narragansett Bay for much of the Revolutionary War, periodically raiding the islands and the mainland. The British raided [[Prudence Island]] for livestock and engaged in a skirmish with American forces, losing approximately a dozen soldiers. Newport remained a hotbed for Loyalist sympathizers who assisted the British forces, so the state appointed General [[William West (Rhode Island politician)|William West]] of Scituate to root them out in the winter of 1775–76. British forces occupied Newport from 1777 to 1778, pushing the Colonial forces to Bristol.

In 1652, the first statute in the Thirteen Colonies banning slavery was passed,<ref>[http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/jcbexhibit/Pages/exhibSlavery.html John Carter Brown Library Exhibitions<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> but the law was not enforced by the end of the 17th century. In 1703, a law passed by the Rhode Island General Assembly effectively overturned this municipal statute.<ref name="Waxman">{{cite web|url=https://time.com/4782885/rhode-island-antislavery/|title=America's First Anti-Slavery Statute Was Passed in 1652. Here's Why It Was Ignored|last=Waxman|first=Olivia B.|date=May 18, 2017|work=Time.com|access-date=June. 12, 2023}}</ref> By 1774, the slave population of Rhode Island was 6.3 percent, nearly twice as high as any other New England colony. In the late 18th century, several Rhode Island merchant families began actively engaging in the [[triangle trade]]. [[James DeWolf|James]] and John [[DeWolf family|DeWolf]] of Bristol were the largest slave traders in Rhode Island.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Horton|first1=James Oliver|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=acuWeOproyoC&q=many+providence+residents|title=Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory|last2=Horton|first2=Lois E.|date=2014-03-25|publisher=The New Press|isbn=978-1-59558-744-2|language=en}}</ref> In the years after the Revolution, Rhode Island merchants controlled between 60 and 90 percent of the American trade of enslaved African people.<ref name="slavenorth.com">[http://www.slavenorth.com/rhodeisland.htm Slavery in Rhode Island<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In the 18th century, Rhode Island's economy depended largely upon the triangle trade; Rhode Islanders distilled rum from molasses, sent the rum to Africa to trade for slaves, and then traded the slaves in the West Indies for more molasses.