to the authority of [King and Parliament] [The State of England] established in this colony, according to our charter, and to all such wholesome laws and orders, that are or shall be made by the major consent of the Town of Providence."

Although the towns in the territory incorporated under this charter did not unite under one general government until more than two years and a half had passed by, yet it doubtless gave to the town governments, from the first, an element of stability which they had not before possessed. It confirmed their right to the territory which they occupied, and thus secured a place for this colony among its neighbors as also under the royal protection. There was not sufficient harmony among the different towns or among the inhabitants of the individual towns to bring about a union under a general government till 1647.

Thus at Providence previous to the year 1647 the settlers were governed by mutual consent, by the will of the majority of the householders, by this same majority with certain delegated functions, and also under this same form modified by the recognition of the fact that their power to govern themselves in civil things was granted by the authority of England. Each of these steps removed the settlers farther from the phase of government in which no civil restraint influenced their action. This political growth at Providence took place under what would naturally be considered the most unfavorable circumstances. It would almost seem that in this little settleinent the words of Aristotle, after twenty centuries, are again echoed, and that "man is, by nature, a political animal." Cotton says, "Banishment in this country is not counted so much a confinement as an enlargement, where a man doth not so much loose civil comforts as change them." However Williams may have "counted" his banishment, it is certain there had been a great change in both form and nature of his "civil comforts" since Massachusetts had permitted his "enlargement" in 1636.

1 Politics, 1, 2, §9.

2 Cotton's Answer, p. 8.

CHAPTER II.

TOWN DEVELOPMENT.

The lack of a spirit of harmony among the towns incorporated under the name of Providence Plantations prevented the adoption of a general government till 1647. These towns had been largely independent of each other both in origin and in efforts at self-government. The towns upon Rhode Island had a form of government from the beginning of the settlement. Providence had been forced from time to time, and reluctantly, to take some steps to secure civil order. Warwick maintained that it had no power to establish any form of government without the sanction of the ruling power in England.

Within the chartered territory there was upon Rhode Island a "Democracie or Popular Government," as it was called, at Providence such a form of government as events had compelled the settlers to adopt, and at Warwick none at all. Disputes and contentions were common among these towns, yet dangers from without, discords within, and a feeling that their interests were, in a measure, the same, led to a union of the different towns under a general government, in 1647.

Providence was until this time, so far as other New England settlements were concerned, a wholly independent town. It acknowledged the authority of the English crown alone. Its position frequently excited the hostility of neighboring colonies. By the charter of 1643-4 the independence of the town was rendered more secure. Williams says "now the country about us was more friendly, and wrote to us and treated us as an authorized colony; only the differences of our consciences obstructed." In 1647 some of the powers hitherto residing in the town are handed over to the general government so far as to secure a degree of efficiency in its administration. Whatever concessions were made, neverthe

less, were well guarded. The inhabitants of Providence in their instructions to the committee who were to take part in the organization of the general government say they desire "to hold a correspondency with the whole colony" at the same time reserving "full power and authority to transact all our home affairs" and "to have full authority to choose, ordain, authorize, and confirm, all our towne officers." These officers were to be responsible to the town and there was to be no "intermixture of generall and particular officers."1 Although little power would thus be given up by the town, yet it gave evidence that there was a willingness to establish a general government by which an authority, differing from that of the town and from the acknowledgment of a mere allegiance to England, would be brought into town affairs.

The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam gave voice to the almost universal opinion of his time when he said, "How all Religions should enjoy their liberty, Justice its due regularity, Civil cohabitation, moral honesty, in one and the same Jurisdiction, is beyond the Artique of my comprehension." 2 In the territory incorporated under the name of Providence Plantations that form of government which seemed so far removed from possibility was to be tested. To establish a government upon the principles of broadest liberty, delegates and inhabitants from the settlements about Narragansett Bay assembled at Portsmouth May 19, 1647. Some of the towns were anxious to withhold as much power as possible from this assembly, while Warwick must look to this body for authority sufficient to administer its local affairs. By the acts of this assembly the towns of Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and Warwick became a sort of confederation, bound together in a very loose way, as their subsequent falling apart showed. In this convention, nominally of all the inhabitants of the towns, the "Code of 1647," establishing a legislative, executive and

1 R. I. Col. Rec., vol. i, p. 43.

2 Simble Cobbler of Aggawam, p. 17.

judicial system for the colony, was adopted. By this assembly it was agreed that the form of government established in Providence Plantations is DEMOCRATICALL; that is to say, a Government held by the free and voluntarie consent of all, or the greater part of the free inhabitants." 1 The code secured religious freedom by enacting that "all men may walk as their consciences persuade them, every one in the name of his God." 2 The laws were, for the most part, based upon English statute law, yet there seems to have been no hesitancy in departing from English precedent when the “nature and constitution of the place" demanded it. With the adoption of this code the towns might be said to be established.

"Providence Plantations " was now the legal name for the colony. It included not only the settlement begun by Roger Williams, but the islands in the Narragansett Bay and parts of the adjoining mainland. Providence was now merely one of the towns of the colony, though the authority of the general government over the town was very limited. The union rendered the local government more stable, and secured for it greater respect both within and without the town. Providence was entitled to nominate officers for the General Assembly and to representation in that body. The town was empowered to refer, to a General Court consisting of the President of the colony and assistants from the towns, such matters as were too weighty for the consideration of the town courts. To the General Court was also entrusted cases between town and town, between inhabitants of different towns and between citizens and strangers. The President of the colony was to have the general oversight of the "order and course of Law" in the colony. The assistants representing the towns in the General Assemply were ex officio conservators of the peace in their respective towns. 3 To the towns, all laws passed by

1 R. I. Col. Rec., vol. 1, p. 156.

2 Ibid p. 190.

3 R. I. Col. Rec., vol. 1, p. 192.

the General Assembly must be submitted, and these laws must be ratified by the inhabitants of the towns before becoming legally binding. A town might propose a law, which it desired, to the General Assembly. If there approved, it was submitted to the other towns before going into effect. The Assembly and General Court met in different towns, and in this way the inhabitants were brought into a closer relation to the general government.

TOWN ORGANIZATION.

The town of Providence retained, after the adoption of the "Code of 1647," nearly all the powers of self-government which it had had before. The people of the colony were the final law-makers of the colony. The inhabitants of the town still administered the internal affairs of the town. The judicial power was exercised by the town in all cases where merely local interests were involved. In some cases there might be an appeal to the General Court. The execution of town orders was entrusted to the town officers as were also some of the orders of the General Assembly. There was a charter of incorporation granted to the town of Providence by the General Assembly in 1649. In effect, it was merely a confirmation of powers already exercised by the town and there seems to have been no action taken upon it by the inhabitants on that

account.

The consideration of all matters of local government first came before the town meeting. In this assembly, at Providence, those who had been admitted to the privilege of a vote decided what action should be taken. Mere residence in the town did not constitute a man an inhabitant, nor did the privilege to inhabit the town always carry with it the right to vote. Before a man could become an inhabitant in the town of Providence it was generally necessary that he should petition for that right and that the petition should be granted. This bound the petitioner to active and passive obedience to the laws ordained by the majority of the freemen, and usually such as