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Rhode Island2

  (rōd) pronunciation (Abbr. RI or R.I.)

A state of the northeast United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It was admitted as one of the original Thirteen Colonies in 1790. Rhode Island was settled by religious exiles from Massachusetts, including Roger Williams, who founded Providence in 1636. It was granted a royal charter in 1663 and after the American Revolution began the industrialization that is still a major part of the state's economy. Providence is the capital and the largest city. Population: 1,060,000.

RhodeIslander Rhode Is'land·er n.

 

 
 

State (pop., 2000: 1,048,319), northeastern U.S. One of the New England states and the smallest U.S. state, it covers 1,212 sq mi (3,139 sq km); its capital is Providence. Rhode Island is bordered by Massachusetts on the north and east, and Connecticut on the west. The Rhode Island Sound on the south is the basis of the state's fishing industry. The original inhabitants of the area were Narragansett Indians. The first European settlement was in 1636 by Roger Williams and his followers, who were banished from Massachusetts; in 1663 King Charles II granted a charter to Williams. Though it never officially joined the New England colonies in King Philip's War, it suffered greatly when many settlements were burned. It was at the forefront of the fight against British customs laws that led to the American Revolution. An original state of the Union, in 1790 it was the 13th state to ratify the Constitution, agreeing only after the Bill of Rights was included. The state's original charter remained in effect until Dorr's Rebellion (see Thomas W. Dorr) in 1842 led to extension of suffrage. The cotton-textile mill built by Samuel Slater in Pawtucket in 1790 initiated the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. Manufacturing is still important to the economy, and products include jewelry and silverware, textiles and clothing, and electrical machinery and electronics.

For more information on Rhode Island, visit Britannica.com.

 

Rhode Island, located in the northeast part of the United States, is the smallest state by size. The full name is the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Geography

Although it is only 1,045 square miles, Rhode Island's geography is complex because of its large islands and a mainland carved by an ice-age glacier. While the state is not an island, it includes an island named Rhode Island that is also known as Aquidneck Island. It is the biggest island in Narragansett Bay, one of the world's greatest natural bays. The island stretches from north to south in the eastern bay; on its northeast coast is Portsmouth (also known as Pocasset) and on its southwest coast is Newport. To the west of Aquidneck Island are Prudence Island and Conanicut Island, roughly aligned northeast (Prudence) to southwest (Conanicut).

These islands and most of the mainland of Rhode Island are part of the Coastal Lowlands, a broad geological structure that extends along much of America's northeastern coast. The lowlands have many excellent areas for farming and during America's early history, Rhode Island's lowlands helped feed the nation. Northern Rhode Island is in the New England Uplands that extend south into Pennsylvania and north into Maine. When the state's most recent glacier pushed into Rhode Island, it carved into both the Coastal Lowlands and the New England Uplands; when it retreated roughly ten thousand years ago, it left behind not only Narragansett Bay but lakes and ponds, and valleys and hills. Newly formed rivers and streams ran through the valleys. The northeastern Blackstone River fed into Narragansett Bay near where the city of Providence was established. The rivers and streams, including the southwestern Pawtucket River, provided power for mills during the first several decades of Rhode Island's industrialization; the lakes and ponds served to store water, especially when dammed.

Early Settlers

The first European settler in what is now Rhode Island was an Anglican minister, William Blackstone, who settled near what is now called Blackstone River, close to modern Lonsdale, in 1635. In June 1636, the father of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, brought some of his followers from Massachusetts to escape religious oppression. The people of Massachusetts were Congregationalists—Puritans who had fled England due to persecution by the Church of England. The freedom they sought was not freedom for all; it was freedom to practice their religion, consequently forcing non-Congregationalists to practice it too. They imprisoned, tortured, and even executed people who did not follow their church laws. Roger Williams wanted to establish a colony where people could worship freely. He believed that that one should not infringe on another's right to worship, and should have the ability to practice any religion of choice.

When he settled in Rhode Island, Williams named his settlement Providence. He took the time to learn the languages of the Native Americans, publishing the guide, A Key into the Language of America in 1643. Narragansetts populated most of the area, with a large tribe, the Wamponoags, to the south, and the Pequots in what is now Connecticut. There were also the small groups of Nipmucks, Niantics, Cowesetts, and Shawomets inhabiting the area. The tribes were part of the large cultural and language group, the Algonquins, who spread over much of eastern North American, from the future North Carolina into the future Canada. Williams and his followers negotiated treaties and bought land from the Native Americans; on 24 March 1638, they acquired a deed for their Providence "plantation" from the preeminent sachems (meaning chiefs) of the Narragansetts, Canonicus, and young Miantonomi. Williams always dealt with the Native Americans honestly, which the local tribes valued highly.

Williams's idea of a land of free religious practices attracted others. In 1638, Antinomians established Portsmouth on Aquidneck, which had been purchased that year. Nonconformist William Coddington established Newport on Aquidneck Island in 1639. The first American Baptist church was founded in Providence in 1839. In 1642, Samuel Gorton established Warwick. Small settlements of religious dissidents were established in the general area of Providence, becoming "plantations." They featured independent men and women, who insisted on practicing their faiths as they saw fit—much as Williams hoped they would. Prompted by continued Puritan harassment and claims to territory in Rhode Island, Williams went to England in 1643 to get a patent for the new townships and plantations. In 1644, the English Parliament granted Newport, Portsmouth, and Providence incorporation as "Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England," often called "Warwick's Charter" after the Earl of Warwick. Plymouth and Massachusetts refused to recognize the validity of the charter.

From 19 to 21 May 1647, the First General Assembly met in Portsmouth, which established an anchor as a symbol of the colony's freedom and passed a modest number of laws. During the 1650s, Rhode Island attracted a wide variety of religious groups. Notable were the Jews who, in 1658, began establishing congregations (although the first synagogue in the state would not be built until 1763) and the Quakers, who were being executed and tortured in Massachusetts and Plymouth. In 1657, Plymouth demanded Rhode Island surrender its Quakers, and on 13 October 1657, Rhode Island refused, helping establish its reputation as a safe refuge from oppression.

By the 1670s, Williams's carefully wrought relationships with Native Americans began to fall apart. The Wampanoags, angered by the colonists who had cheated them out of much of their land, began to attack settlements. On 19 December 1675, a Narragansett traitor led Massachusetts soldiers into a Narragansett camp, and the soldiers slaughtered the almost 700 inhabitants, 400 of which were women and children burned to death in their wigwams. There followed King Philip's War named for a Wampanoag chief whose Native American name was Metacom. The alliance of Wampanoags and Narragansetts won a few battles and burned Providence (although taking special care not to harm Williams) and some villages. On 12 August 1676, a Wampanoag traitor murdered Metacom. War casualties diminished the populations of the tribes so much that they were never again threats to the settlers.

Independence

From 1686–1689, Rhode Island and other New England colonies were forced into the Dominion of New England by King James II. His governor for the Dominion, Edmund Andros, took control of Rhode Island on 22 December 1686, but on 18 April 1689 he was imprisoned in Boston, and the effort to gather the northern colonies into one unit failed. This may have marked the beginning of Rhode Island seeing its neighbors as allies against English oppression, rather than oppressors themselves.

On 1 March 1689, England and France went to war. The conflict was a world war, but in America, it was referred to as the French and Indian War. It had four separate outbreaks of hostilities that lasted from 1689–1763, when France finally lost its Canadian colonies. During this period, Newport became Rhode Island's major city, enriched by its shipping industry. It was the era of the notorious trade in rum, sugar, and slaves. Rhode Island's General Assembly had tried to outlaw slavery in 1674, but the law was ignored. Williams's vision of a prejudice-free society seemed lost during this era. For example, in February 1728, Jews, Muslims, pagans, and Roman Catholics were specifically given freedom of conscience but were denied the right to vote. In 1730, a census indicated 17,935 people lived in Rhode Island, but the count may have been low because some rural areas were not included. In 1764, the General Assembly authorized the establishment in Warren of "Rhode Island College," which was renamed Brown University in 1804.

Also in 1764, the English Parliament passed the Sugar Act, which required the American colonies to buy their sugar only from other British colonies. This hurt Rhode Island's economy since Britain's colonies did not produce nearly enough sugar to support the molasses and rum industries in Rhode Island. In response, the General Assembly passed a law in September 1765 declaring that only it could tax people in Rhode Island. Rhode Islanders burned the British ship, Liberty, in Newport's harbor on 19 July 1769. On 10 June 1772, the British ship Gaspee, which had been searching all ships was lured into running aground, seized, and burned. On 4 May 1776, aroused by the attacks of British soldiers on colonial militias and civilians, Rhode Island renounced its allegiance to England. The General Assembly approved the Declaration of Independence on 18 July 1776 and on 8 December 1776, the British army occupied Newport. Their looting and other depredations so ruined Newport that it lost its status as Rhode Island's most prosperous city, and thousands of citizens fled. The British looted and burned villages and towns, including, on 25 May 1778, Bristol and Warren. On 9 February 1778, the General Assembly declared that any slaves, black or Native American, who joined the first Rhode Island Regiment would be free; many slaves joined and the state government compensated their former owners. They became famous during the war as the "Black Regiment."

On 29 August 1778, the Continental Army and its new allies, the French, fought the British army in the Battle of Rhode Island. The battle was inconclusive, although the Black Regiment inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy's Hessians. On 25 October 1779, the British left Newport and moved to the southern colonies where the British army was suffering almost unendurable casualties in battles with the Army of the South, led by General Nathanael Greene, a Rhode Islander who had run an iron foundry in Warwick. Meanwhile, in 1778, Rhode Island ratified the Articles of Confederation.

When the Revolutionary War ended, Rhode Islanders wished to keep their independence from outside authority. Their history had included much suffering caused by those who had tried to rule them, and they were distrustful of any central national government. Thus, they resisted the imposition of a new American constitution and did not send delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. In 1784, Rhode Island enacted the Emancipation Act, which declared every child born to a slave to be free at age twenty-one. It was an imperfect abolition of slavery, with the last Rhode Island slave death in 1859. However, Rhode Islanders were angry that the Constitution of the United States of America allowed slavery. Long after other states had ratified the new federal constitution, Rhode Island, which had not acknowledged the validity of the Constitution Convention, refused to accept it. Several times it had been put to a vote in Rhode Island, and each time it had been voted down. Eventually, the federal government threatened to treat Rhode Island as an independent nation and to charge tariffs on its goods. In 1790, the General Assembly met twice to vote on the Constitution; the first time there were not enough votes, but on 29 May 1790, it ratified the Constitution by a vote of 34 to 32. By then, a federal election had already been held, and George Washington had been president since 1789.

Industry

In the 1790s, Rhode Island's economy began to move away from shipping to industrialization. Samuel Slater was a young engineer who had worked in an English cotton mill and had memorized every machine in it. It was illegal for engineers to leave England, but Slater managed to sneak out and come to America. In Moses Brown, a merchant from Providence, he found someone who was enthusiastic about building a cotton mill, and in 1790, they built Rhode Island's first. By 1804, manufacturing cloth was a major industry, and during the 1820s, the capital invested in the manufacturing of textiles surpassed that invested in shipping. By 1860, 80 percent of Rhode Island's capital was invested in manufacturing of jewelry and weapons and a host of other goods.

The growth of manufacturing in the state created significant social problems, exacerbated by an 1822 law that took the vote away from African Americans. Immigrants from all over Europe came to Rhode Island to work in factories, but even if they became naturalized American citizens they were denied the right to vote. By 1840, 60 percent of Rhode Island's adult males were disfranchised. This fostered the Dorr War of 1840–1842. A lawyer, Thomas Wilson Dorr argued that when a government fails to serve its people, the people have the right to over-throw it. He cited the Revolutionary War as an example. In 1841, his followers arranged for a plebiscite, without the permission of Rhode Island's government, to elect representatives to a People's Convention. They drafted the People's Constitution, which won a popular vote in December 1841. Thereafter, a government was elected with Dorr as governor. This created two governments in Rhode Island: the People's government and the Law and Order government led by Governor Samuel Ward King. On 17 May 1842, Dorr and a following of Irish immigrants tried to seize the state arsenal in Providence. They failed, partly because African Americans in the city came to the aid of the militia in defending the arsenal. Dorr's actions frightened many Rhode Islanders, and they supported Governor King. In 1842, the General Assembly offered voters a state constitution to replace a body of laws from 1663, which they passed. It liberalized voting rules and returned the vote to African American males. It also included a $134 "freehold suffrage qualification" for naturalized citizens as a way of punishing poor Irish immigrants for supporting Dorr.

During the 1850s, the Republican Party was formed. In Rhode Island, it attracted Whigs, disaffected Democrats, and some of the Know-Nothings—an anti-immigrant group. They were united in their abhorrence of slavery and in their belief that the Union must be preserved in order to maintain liberty throughout America. In 1860, voters rejected the antislavery Republican candidate for governor, Seth Padelford, electing instead the Conservative Party candidate, William Sprague, who was conciliatory toward slavery. On the other hand, he was a staunch Unionist. When the Civil War broke out, Rhode Island quickly began supplying the Union with goods it needed for the war effort. The state provided 25,236 servicemen, 1,685 of whom perished. During the war, the United States Naval Academy was moved from Annapolis, Maryland, to Newport, Rhode Island. In 1866, Rhode Island outlawed the segregation of races, but segregation would occur well into in the twenty-first century. For the rest of the nineteenth century, industry continued to grow, and immigration grew with it. In 1886, the legislature passed a state constitutional amendment giving the vote to adult women, but the amendment had to be approved by a plebiscite, and it lost 21,957 to 6,889. It was not until 1917 that Rhode Island passed a women's suffrage law. In an effort to end intimidation of workers by factory owners when voting, Rhode Island established the secret ballot in 1889. In the 1890s, French-Canadians moved to Rhode Island, and by 1895, there were over forty thousand of them residing in the state.

The Modern Era

In the first two decades of the twentieth century, tens of thousands each of Italians, Portuguese, and Poles emigrated to Rhode Island, adding colorful traditions to a society that was among the most culturally diverse in America. In 1900, Providence was made the state's permanent capital. By 1905, at 50.81 percent of the population, Roman Catholics were the largest religious group in Rhode Island. In 1909, the governor was given the right to veto legislation; this was an effort to even out the powers of the legislative and executive branches of the government.

Although Republicans had long controlled the state government, in 1935, Democrats staged the Bloodless Revolution. Led by Governor Theodore Francis Green, Lieutenant Governor Robert Emmet Quinn, and Pawtucket's Democrat party boss Thomas P. McCoy, the Bloodless Revolution replaced the members of the state's supreme court and restructured the government into departments rather than commissions. Further developments, such as calling a new state constitutional convention, fell to the way side due to factional quarreling among Democrats. Disenchanted, voters elected Republicans, who in 1939 passed a civil service act protecting state employees from being arbitrarily fired.

In 1938, Rhode Island was hit by a hurricane with winds reaching 200 mph, killing 311 people and costing $100 million in damage. During World War II, Rhode Island's shipyards saw activity reminiscent of the Revolutionary War era. On Field's Point, the Walsh-Kaiser Shipyard employed about twenty-one thousand workers and built Libertyships, cargo ships that hauled supplies to the United Kingdom. When the war ended and demand for new ships declined, many people were out of work. A sales tax was introduced in 1947 to help the government compensate for lost revenue. During the 1950s, many people moved out of cities and to the suburbs, causing steep declines in urban populations. For example, Providence's population from 1950 to 1960 dropped from 248,674 to 179,116.

The 1950s were marked by two devastating hurricanes. On 31 August 1954, Hurricane Carol killed nineteen people and caused $90 million in damage. On 19 August 1955, Hurricane Diane broke two dams and caused $170 million in damages. In 1966, a hurricane barrier was built on the Providence River.

Rhode Island held a state constitutional convention in 1964 to modernize its constitution, but its new constitution was rejected in a 1968 plebiscite. A state income tax took effect in February 1971 as a "temporary" measure; it was made permanent in July 1971. By the 1980s, corruption of public officials was causing a decline in the citizens' faith in Rhode Island's government. In 1985, mismanagement caused the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation to collapse; money intended to help low-income residents buy homes apparently went into the pockets of administrators. In 1986 and 1993 two state supreme court justices resigned because of their unethical conduct and the imminent prospect of impeachment. In 1991, a superior court judge was sent to prison for taking bribes. Also in 1991, the Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corporation collapsed, taking credit unions it was supposed to protect down with it.

In 1984, the state held a constitutional convention. By May 1986, the new constitutional provisions approved by voters included a Constitutional Ethics Commission and a requirement that the General Assembly regulate campaign spending. A proposal of four-year terms for elected officials, including legislators, failed in 1986, but a 1992 amendment lengthening just the governor's and a few other executive branch officials' terms to four years passed in a popular vote. In 1994, voters approved an amendment that gave legislators $10,000 a year for their services and eliminated pensions for legislators. Further, the assembly was reorganized to have only seventy-five members in 2003, down from one hundred, and the senate was to have only thirty-eight senators, down from fifty.

Bibliography

Bridenbaugh, Carl. Fat Mutton and Liberty of Conscience: Society in Rhode Island, 1636–1690. Providence, R.I.: Brown University Press, 1974.

Conley, Patrick T. Democracy in Decline: Rhode Island's Constitutional Development, 1776–1841. Providence: Rhode Island Historical Society, 1977.

Fradin, Dennis B. The Rhode Island Colony. Chicago: Children's Press, 1989.

James, Sydney V. Colonial Rhode Island: A History. New York: Scribners, 1975.

McLoughlin, William G. Rhode Island: A Bicentennial History. New York: Norton, 1978.

McNair, Sylvia. Rhode Island. New York: Children's Press, 2000.

Morgan, Edmund S. Roger Williams, the Church and the State. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1967.

Nichols, Joan Kane. A Matter of Conscience: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson. Austin, Tex.: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1993.

Polishook, Irwin H. Rhode Island and the Union, 1774–1795. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1969.

Rhode Island's official website. Available from http://www.state.ri.us.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Rhode Island,
smallest state in the United States, located in New England; bounded by Massachusetts (N and E), the Atlantic Ocean (S), and Connecticut (W). Its official name is the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Facts and Figures

Area, 1,214 sq mi (3,144 sq km). Pop. (2000) 1,048,319, a 4.5% increase since the 1990 census. Capital and largest city, Providence. Statehood, May 29, 1790 (13th of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution). Highest pt., Jerimoth Hill, 812 ft (248 m); lowest pt., sea level. Nickname, Little Rhody. Motto, Hope. State bird, Rhode Island red. State flower, violet. State tree, red maple. Abbr., R.I.; RI

Geography

Rhode Island is the smallest of the 50 states and except for New Jersey the most densely populated. The dominant physiographic feature of the state is the Narragansett basin, a shallow lowland area of Carboniferous sediments, extending into SE Massachusetts and, in Rhode Island, partly submerged as Narragansett Bay. The bay cuts inland c.30 mi (50 km) to Providence, where it receives the Blackstone River; it contains several islands, including Rhode Island (or Aquidneck), the largest (and the site of historic Newport); Conanicut Island, with the resort of Jamestown; and Prudence Island. The coastline between Point Judith and Watch Hill is marked by sand spits and barrier beaches, sheltering lagoons and salt marshes. Glaciation left many small lakes, and the rolling hilly surface of the state is cut by short, swift streams with numerous falls. Although more than half of Rhode Island is covered with forests, it is highly urbanized. Providence is the capital and the largest city; other important cities are Warwick, Cranston, Pawtucket, and Newport.

Rhode Island's coast is lined with resorts noted for their swimming and boating facilities, and windswept Block Island is a favorite vacation spot. Narragansett Bay is famous for its sailboats and yachts. The America's Cup yacht race has been held in Newport several times, beginning in 1930 and most recently in 1983. The state also has many historic attractions.

Economy

Rhode Island's traditional manufacturing economy has diversified and is now also based on services, trade (retail and wholesale), and finance. In spite of this, many of the products for which Rhode Island is famous are still being manufactured. These include jewelry, silverware, textiles, primary and fabricated metals, machinery, electrical equipment, and rubber and plastic items. Tourism and gambling are also important. Agriculture is relatively unimportant to the economy. Most of the farmland is used for dairying and poultry raising, and the state is known for its Rhode Island Red chickens. Principal crops are nursery and greenhouse items. Commercial fishing is an important but declining industry. Narragansett Bay abounds in shellfish; flounder and porgy are also caught. Naval facilities at Newport contribute to the state's income.

Government, Politics, and Higher Education

Rhode Island's present constitution was adopted in 1842 and has been often amended. The state's executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term and eligible for reelection. The bicameral legislature has a senate with 50 members and a house with 75, all elected for two-year terms. Local government is carried out on the city level; Rhode Island's counties have no political functions. The state sends two senators and two representatives to the U.S. Congress; it has four electoral votes. Rhode Island is solidly Democratic, but Lincoln Almond, a Republican, was elected governor in 1994 and reelected in 1998, and he was succeeded by another Republican, Donald Carcieri, elected in 2002 and again in 2006.

The state's leading educational institutions are Brown Univ. and the Rhode Island School of Design, at Providence, and the Univ. of Rhode Island, at Kingston.

History

Early Exploration and Colonization

The region of Rhode Island was probably visited (1524) by Verrazano, and in 1614 the area was explored by the Dutchman Adriaen Block. Roger Williams, banished (1635) from the Massachusetts Bay colony, established in 1636 the first settlement in the area at Providence on land purchased from Native Americans of the Narragansett tribe. In 1638, Puritan exiles bought the island of Aquidneck (now Rhode Island) from the Narragansetts. There they established the settlement of Portsmouth (1638). Because of factional differences, Newport was founded (1639) on the southwest side of the island, but the two towns later combined governments (1640–47). Another settlement, Warwick, was made on the western shore of Narragansett Bay in 1642.

In order to thwart claims made to the area by the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, Williams, through influential friends, secured (1644) a parliamentary patent under which the four towns drew up a code of civil law and organized (1647) a government. The liberal charter granted (1663) by Charles II of England ensured the colony's survival, although boundary difficulties with Massachusetts and Connecticut continued well into the 18th cent.

The early settlers were mostly of English stock. Many were drawn to the colony by the guarantee of religious freedom, a cardinal principle with Williams, confirmed in the patent of 1644 and reaffirmed by the royal charter of 1663. Jews settled in Newport in the first year of Williams' presidency (1654), and Quakers followed in large numbers. All the early settlers owned land that, following Williams' practice, was bought from the Native Americans. Fishing and trade supplemented the living won from the soil. Moreover, livestock from the Narragansett county (South County), especially the famous Narragansett pacers, figured largely in the early commerce, which developed rapidly in the late 17th cent.

Because of the colony's religious freedom, it was viewed with mixed loathing and fear by the more powerful neighboring colonies and was never admitted to the New England Confederation. However, it bore its share of the devastation caused by King Philip's War in 1675–76. Between 1750 and 1770 there was bitter strife between Providence and Newport over control of the colony.

The Coming of Revolution

Until the American Revolution, Newport was the commercial center of the colony, thriving especially on the triangular trade in rum, slaves, and molasses. Rhode Island, like other colonies, objected to British mercantilist policies and consistently violated the Molasses Act of 1733 and the Navigation Acts. Narragansett Bay became a notorious haven for smugglers, and the British revenue cutter Gaspee was burned (1772) by patriots in protest against the enforcement of revenue laws.

After the start of the American Revolution, Rhode Island militia under Nathanael Greene joined (1775) the Continental Army at Cambridge, and on May 4, 1776, the province renounced its allegiance to George III. British forces occupied parts of Rhode Island from 1776 to 1779, when they withdrew before the arrival of the French fleet. The Revolution won, Rhode Island, jealous of its independence, refused to sanction a national import duty; it therefore deprived the Continental Congress of a major source of revenue and became one of the states responsible for the failure of the Articles of Confederation. Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia and resisted ratifying the Constitution until the federal government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state; even then, ratification passed (1790) by only two votes.

Industrialization

The post-Revolutionary era brought bankruptcy and currency difficulties. Shipping, which continued to be a major factor in the state's economy until the first quarter of the 19th cent., was hard hit by Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 and by the competition from larger ports such as New York and Boston. However, this post-Revolutionary period also marked the beginning of Rhode Island's industrial greatness. Samuel Slater built the first successful American cotton-textile mill at Pawtucket in 1790. An abundance of water power led to the rapid development of manufacturing, in which merchants and shipping magnates invested their capital.

With the growth of industry the towns increased in population, and Providence surpassed Newport as the commercial center of the state. Since suffrage had long been restricted to freeholders, Rhode Island's increased urbanization resulted in the disenfranchisement of most townspeople. Frustrated in repeated attempts to amend the constitution, many Rhode Islanders joined Thomas Wilson Dorr in forcibly establishing an illegal state government in Providence in 1842. Dorr's Rebellion, though abortive, resulted in the adoption of a new constitution (1842) extending suffrage; however, the property qualification was not abolished until 1888. Antislavery sentiment was strong in Rhode Island, and the state firmly supported the Union in the Civil War.

Mill Towns, Discontent, and a Changing Economy

Until well into the 20th cent. Rhode Island's political and economic life was dominated by mill owners. (Nelson W. Aldrich was a power in the nation as well as the state.) The small mill towns, with their company houses and company stores and their large numbers of foreign-born residents, were important elements in the social fabric. English, Irish, and Scottish settlers had begun arriving in large numbers in the first half of the 19th cent.; French Canadian immigration commenced around the time of the Civil War; at the end of the 19th cent. and the beginning of the 20th there was a large influx of Poles, Italians, and Portuguese. Politically, Rhode Island was generally controlled by Republicans until the 1930s, when the Democrats' insistence on reapportionment of representation (which tended to favor small towns over urban areas) helped bring their party into power.

Sporadic labor troubles in the 19th cent. had little effect on the state's economy. However, after World War I there was a long textile strike, centered in the Blackstone valley; this, together with the gradual removal of the mills to the South—the source of the cotton supply where labor was cheaper—led to a continuing decline in the cotton-textile industry. Nevertheless, the manufacture of textile products is still carried on in the state today and new industries such as high-technology electronics have been introduced. Since the 1970s the overall shift in the state's economy has been away from manufacturing altogether and toward the service sector. This shift has coincided with major suburban growth.

Bibliography

See P. J. Coleman, Transformation of Rhode Island, 1790–1860 (1963); F. G. Bates, Rhode Island and the Formation of the Union (1967); W. G. McLoughlin, Rhode Island: A History (1978); M. Wright and R. Sullivan, The Rhode Island Atlas (1982); P. T. Conley, An Album of Rhode Island History, 1636–1986 (1986).


 
Geography: Rhode Island

State in the northeastern United States; one of the New England states. Bordered by Massachusetts to the north and east, the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and Connecticut to the west. Its capital and largest city is Providence.

  • One of the thirteen colonies.
  • After he was banished from Massachusetts for speaking out in favor of religious toleration, Roger Williams established the first settlement in the area at Providence in the early seventeenth century.
  • Rhode Island is the smallest state of the United States.

 
Maps: Rhode Island

 
Local Time: Rhode Island

Local Time: Jul 19, 4:46 PM

 

This New England state has one viticultural area-the southeastern new england ava-which covers not only Rhode Island but also parts of connecticut and massachusetts. The area wineries make a number of wines from hybrids like vidal blanc, seyval blanc, cayuga and maréchal foch and from vitis vinifera varieties like chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, merlot, cabernet franc and riesling. fruit wines also play an important role at some wineries. Sakonnet Vineyards is the largest winery in New England with over 50 planted acres and production of over 50,000 cases per year.

 
Stats: Rhode Island
flag of Rhode Island

  • Abbreviation: RI
  • Capital City: Providence
  • Date of Statehood: May 29, 1790
  • State #: 13
  • Population: 1,048,319
  • Area: 1545 sq.mi. Land 1045 sq. mi. Water 500 sq.mi.
  • Economy:
    Agriculture: nursery stock, vegetables, dairy products, eggs;
    Industry: fashion jewelry, fabricated metal products, electric equipment, machinery, shipbuilding and boatbuilding, tourism
  • Where the name comes from: Possibly named in honor of the Greek Island of Rhodes, or was named Roode Eylandt by Adriaen Block, Dutch explorer, because of its red clay.
  • State Bird: Rhode Island Red
  • State Flower: Violet
  • About the Flag: Placed on a white field is a circle of thirteen gold stars representing the first thirteen states. The stars surround a gold ship's anchor. The states motto, " Hope," is on a blue ribbon below the anchor.
  • State Motto: Hope
  • State Nickname: The Ocean State
  • State Song: Rhode Island's It for Me
 
Wikipedia: Rhode Island
State of Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations
Flag of Rhode Island State seal of Rhode Island
Flag of Rhode Island Seal
Nickname(s): The Ocean State, Little Rhody
Motto(s): Hope
Map of the United States with Rhode Island highlighted
Official language(s) English
Capital Providence
Largest city Providence
Area  Ranked 50th
 - Total 1,214*[1] sq mi
(3,144* km²)
 - Width 37 miles (60 km)
 - Length 48 miles (77 km)
 - % water 32.4
 - Latitude 41° 09′ N to 42° 01′ N
 - Longitude 71° 07′ W to 71° 53′ W
Population  Ranked 43rd
 - Total (2000) 1,048,319
 - Density 1,003.2/sq mi 
387.34/km² (2nd)
Elevation  
 - Highest point Jerimoth Hill[2]
812 ft  (247 m)
 - Mean 200 ft  (60 m)
 - Lowest point Atlantic Ocean[2]
0 ft  (0 m)
Admission to Union  May 29, 1790 (13th)
Governor Donald Carcieri (R)
U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D)
Congressional Delegation List
Time zone Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations RI US-RI
Web site www.ri.gov
* Total area in acres is approximately 776,957 acres

Rhode Island (IPA: /roʊd ˈaɪlənd/), official name State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,[3] is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is the smallest state by area, and the 8th smallest by population. Its official name is the longest official name of any U.S. state. Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen original American colonies to declare independence from British rule, signaling the start of the American Revolution; it was also the first state that engaged in armed hostilities with British property and authorities. Rhode Island did not participate in the Philadelphia Convention and was also the last of the original thirteen states to ratify the United States Constitution.

Despite its name, most of the state of Rhode Island lies on the North American mainland. Providence Plantations refers to the mainland, while Rhode Island was the 17th and 18th century name for Aquidneck Island (now composed of the city of Newport, and the towns of Middletown and Portsmouth).[4]

Rhode Island has long held the nickname of "Little Rhody", though the state has officially adopted the nickname of "the Ocean State," as nearly one tenth of Rhode Island's inland area is covered by salt water, and no part of the state is more than a 45-minute drive from the water's edge.[5]

Name origin

In 1524, Italian navigator, Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to visit any part of what is now Rhode Island. He came to what is now Block Island and named it "Luisa" after Louise of Savoy, Queen Mother of France. Verrazzano described Luisa as "about the size of the Island of Rhodes". When the founders of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations surveyed the land, they thought that Aquidneck Island was the place. A mistake occurred in 1614, when Luisa was charted by the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, after whom Luisa was renamed by the Dutch West India Company; however, their motives in doing so are unknown.[6] The official explanation by the State of Rhode Island is that Adriaen Block named the area "Roodt Eylandt" meaning "red island" in reference to the red clay that lined the shore, and that the name was later anglicized when the region came under British rule.[7]

Geography

Block Island bluffs, Rhode Island
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Block Island bluffs, Rhode Island
Map of Rhode Island
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Map of Rhode Island
Further information: List of Rhode Island counties

Rhode Island covers an area of approximately 1,214 square miles (3,144 km²) and is bordered on the north and east by Massachusetts, on the west by Connecticut, and on the south by Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. It shares a water border with New York between Block Island and Long Island. The mean elevation of the state is 200 feet (60 m). Located within the New England province of the Appalachian Region, Rhode Island has two distinct natural regions. Eastern Rhode Island contains the lowlands of the Narragansett Bay, while Western Rhode Island forms part of the New England Upland. Narragansett Bay is a major feature of the state's topography. Block Island lies approximately 12 miles (19 km) off the southern coast of the mainland. Within the Bay, there are over 30 islands. The largest is Aquidneck Island, shared by the municipalities of Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth. The second-largest island is Conanicut; the third-largest is Prudence.

Nicknamed the Ocean State, Rhode Island is home to a number of oceanfront beaches.

Rhode Island is mostly flat with no real mountains. Rhode Island's highest natural point is Jerimoth Hill, only 812 feet (247 m) above sea level.[2]

Climate

Rhode Island is an example of a warm, summer humid continental climate with hot, rainy summers and cold, snowy winters. The highest temperature recorded in Rhode Island was 105 °F (40 °C), recorded on August 2, 1975 in Providence, RI. The lowest temperature in Rhode Island, -13 °F (-25 °C), was recorded on February 6, 1996 in Coventry, RI. Monthly average temperatures range from a high of 82 °F (28 °C) to a low of 20 °F (-7 °C).[8]

History

Colonial Era

In 1524, Italian navigator Giovanni de Verrazzano traversed the mid-Atlantic coast of North America, searching for an all-water route through North America to China. In March of that year, he left what is now New York harbor and headed east until he discovered what was later called Block Island. Natives guided him into what is now Newport, Rhode Island harbor. He remained for two weeks while his crew surveyed the bay and the surrounding mainland. In early May, 1524, Verrazzano departed to renew his search for a Northwest Passage.

In 1614, the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited the island that is now called Block Island. Native American inhabitants included the Narragansett tribe, occupying most of the area, and the closely related Niantic tribe. Most of the Native Americans were decimated by introduced diseases, intertribal warfare, and the disastrous King Philip's War, but remnants of the Niantic merged into the Narragansett tribe, where they remain on a federally recognized reservation.

In 1636, Roger Williams, after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, settled at the tip of Narragansett Bay. He called the site Providence and declared it a place of religious freedom.

The following year, Anne Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts for criticizing the clergy there. She and some others, including William Coddington and John Clark, founded the town of Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island. In 1639, Coddington left Portsmouth and founded Newport on Aquidneck Island.

In that same year a formal government was established for the island. William Coddington was the first governor and Philip Sherman was the first Secretary. In 1643, Samuel Gorton founded Shawomet, which is now called Warwick. In 1644, the name of Aquidneck Island was changed to Rhode Island.

John Clarke was granted a Charter in 1663 for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which effectively united the two colonies into one. Under the terms of the charter, only landowners could vote. Before the Industrial Revolution, when most people were employed as farmers, this was considered democratic. The original charter was used as the state constitution until 1842.

The relationship between the New Englanders and the Native Americans was strained, and caused some bloodshed. On December 19, 1675 colonist militia from Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Rhode Island massacred about 350 Narragansetts in the Battle of the Great Swamp.[9] The largest tribes that lived near Rhode Island were the Wampanoag, Pequots, Narragansett, and Nipmuck. One native named Squanto, from the Wampanoag tribe, stayed with the Pilgrims and taught them many valuable skills needed to survive in the area. He also helped greatly with the eventual peace between the colonists and the natives.

Roger Williams had kept the powerful Narragansetts on friendly terms with local white settlers. Having kept the Native Americans on friendly terms with settlers, the Narragansetts were even persuaded to form an alliance with the English in 1637, carrying out an attack that nearly extinguished the warlike Pequots. This peace did not last long, however, and by 1670 even the friendly tribes who had greeted Williams and the Pilgrims became estranged from the colonists and conflicts erupted.

The most important and traumatic event in 17th century Rhode Island was King Philip's War, which occurred during 1675–1676. King Philip (his British nickname. His real name was Metacomet) was the chief of the Wampanoag Indians. The settlers of Portsmouth had purchased their land from his father, Massasoit. King Philip rebelled against the English. The first attacks were around Narrangansett Bay, but spread throughout New England.

Revolution and industrialization: 1770–1860

Rhode Island's tradition of independence and dissent gave it a prominent role in the American Revolution. In 1772, the first bloodshed of the American Revolution took place in Rhode Island when a band of Providence residents attacked a grounded British ship for enforcing unpopular British trade regulations in the incident which would be come to known as the Gaspee Affair. Keeping with its culture of defiance, Rhode Island was the first of the original thirteen colonies to declare its independence from England (May 4, 1776,[1]) and the last to ratify the Constitution (which replaced the Articles of Confederation) (May 29, 1790)—doing the latter only after being threatened with having its exports taxed as a foreign nation.

As the Industrial Revolution moved large numbers of workers into the cities, a permanently landless, and therefore voteless, class developed. By 1829, 60% of the state's free white males were ineligible to vote.

Several attempts had been made to address this problem, but none passed. In 1842, Thomas Dorr drafted a liberal constitution which was passed by popular referendum. However, the conservative sitting governor, Samuel Ward King, opposed the people's wishes, leading to the Dorr Rebellion. Although this collapsed, a modified version of the constitution was passed in November, which allowed any white male to vote that he owned land or could pay a US $1 poll tax.

In addition to industrialization, Rhode Island was heavily involved in the slave trade during the post-revolution era. Slavery was extant in the state as early as 1652, and by 1774, the slave population of Rhode Island was 6.3%, 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 slave trade. Notable among these was the Brown family, for whom Brown University is named, although some important Browns became prominent abolitionists. In the years after the Revolution, Rhode Island merchants controlled between 60% and 90% of the American trade in African slaves.[10][11]

Civil War to Progressive Era: 1860–1929

During the Civil War, Rhode Island was the first Union state to send troops in response to President Lincoln's request for help from the states. Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men, of which 1,685 died. On the home front, Rhode Island, along with the other northern states, used its industrial capacity to supply the Union Army with the materials it needed to win the war. In addition, Newport was the temporary home of the United States Naval Academy during the war. Rhode Island's continued growth and modernization led to the creation of an urban mass transit system, and improved health and sanitation programs. After the war, in 1866, Rhode Island abolished racial segregation throughout the state.[12] Post-war immigration increased the population. From the 1860s to the 1880s, most of the immigrants were from England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and Quebec, Canada. Towards the end of the century, however, most immigrants were from South and Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean.[13] At the turn of the century, Rhode Island had a booming economy, which fed the demand for immigration. In the years leading up to World War I, Rhode Island's constitution remained reactionary, in contrast to the more progressive reforms that were occurring in the rest of the country. The state never ratified the 18th Amendment establishing national Prohibition of alcohol.[14] During World War I, Rhode Island furnished 28,817 troops, of whom 612 died. After the war, the state was hit hard by the Spanish Influenza.[15] In the 1920s and 30s, rural Rhode Island saw a surge in Ku Klux Klan membership largely among the Swamp Yankee population in reaction to the large waves of immigrants moving to the state. The Klan is believed to be responsible for burning the Watchman Institute in Scituate, Rhode Island, which was a school for African American children.[16]

Great Depression to present: 1929-

In the 20th century, the state continued to grow, though the decline in industry devastated many urban areas. These areas were impacted further, as with the rest of the country's urban areas, by construction of Interstate highways through city cores and the suburbanization caused by it and by the GI Bill.

Providence in the mid-20th century
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Providence in the mid-20th century

Since the Great Depression, the Rhode Island Democratic Party has dominated local politics. For years, the Speaker of the House, always a Democrat, has been one of the most powerful figures in government[citation needed]. The Democratic Party's core of support is in the urban areas of the state and immediate suburbs. While known for old school politics and corruption, Rhode Island also has comprehensive health insurance for low-income children, the RITE CARE program, as well as a large social safety net. Despite this, many urban areas still have a high rate of children in poverty. Due to an influx of residents from Boston, increasing housing costs have resulted in more homeless in Rhode Island (from about 3,000 individuals in 1999 to over 6,000 today), as well as a doubling of the cost of an average home.[17]

The Republican Party, virtually non-existent in the state legislature, has successfully put forward occasional state-wide "good government" reform candidates who criticize the state's high taxes and the excesses of the Democratic Party. Current Governor Donald Carcieri of East Greenwich, and former Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci of Providence (who later became an independent, political boss, and was convicted on RICO charges) ran as Republican reform candidates.

Prominent State Democrats include House Speaker William Murphy, Senate President Joseph Montalbano, Providence Mayor David Cicilline, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis, General Treasurer Frank Caprio, Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, and Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts. In recent years, the former Speaker of the House John Harwood, State Senator John Celona, and State Senate President William Irons were forced to resign in scandals.

In recent history, in 2003 a nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island that claimed one hundred lives caught national attention and resulted in criminal sentences.[18]

Law and government

The capital of Rhode Island is Providence. The state's current governor is Donald L. Carcieri (R) and its United States Senators are Jack Reed (D) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D). Rhode Island's two United States Congressmen are Patrick J. Kennedy (D-1) and Jim Langevin (D-2).

Further information: List of Rhode Island Governors

The Rhode Island General Treasurer is an elected official. He or she is the chairperson of the State Investment Commission and the Retirement Board.

Rhode Island is one of a few states that does not have an official Governor's residence.

The state legislature is the Rhode Island General Assembly, consisting of the 75-member state House of Representatives and the 38-member Senate. Both houses of the bicameral body are currently dominated by the Democratic Party.

Federally, Rhode Island is one of the most reliably Democratic states during presidential elections, regularly giving the Democratic nominees one of their best showings. In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only 6 states to vote against Ronald Reagan. In the 1984 Reagan landslide, Rhode Island provided Walter Mondale with his 3rd best performance. Rhode Island was the Democrats' best state in 1988 and 2000 and 2nd best in 1996 and 2004. The state was devoted to Republicans until 1908, but has only strayed from the Democrats 7 times in the 24 elections that followed. In 2004, Rhode Island gave John Kerry a greater than 20 percentage point margin of victory (the third highest of any state) with 59.4% of its vote. All but three of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate. The only exceptions were East and West Greenwich, and Scituate.[19] Rhode Island has abolished capital punishment, making it one of the 12 states that have done so. Rhode Island abolished the death penalty very early, just after Michigan (first state to abolish it), and carried out its last execution in the 1840s.

Rhode Island has some of the highest taxes in the country, particularly in its property taxes, ranking seventh in local and state taxes and sixth in real estate taxes in the country, the end result of a decade's trend of increasing taxes relative to other states.[20]

Economy

Textron's headquarters, in the company of One Financial Plaza and the Rhode Island Hospital Trust building
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Textron's headquarters, in the company of One Financial Plaza and the Rhode Island Hospital Trust building

The Blackstone River Valley is known as the "Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution".[21] It was in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, that Samuel Slater set up Slater Mill in 1793,[22] using the waterpower of the Blackstone River to power his cotton mill. For a while, Rhode Island was one of the leaders in textiles. However, with the Great Depression, most textile factories relocated to the American South. The textile industry still constitutes a part of the Rhode Island economy, but does not have the same power that it once had. An interesting by-product of the textile industry is the amount of abandoned factories - many of them now being used for low-income or elderly housing or converted into offices or trendy condos. In Pawtucket and Providence, these abandoned mills are used as housing for artists. Today, much of the economy of state is based in services, particularly healthcare and education, and still to some extent, manufacturing.[23][24]

The Fortune 500 companies CVS and Textron are based in Woonsocket and Providence, respectively. FM Global, Hasbro, American Power Conversion, Nortek, and Amica Mutual Insurance are all Fortune 1000 companies based in Rhode Island. The GTECH Corporation is headquartered in Providence.

Rhode Island's 2000 total gross state product was $33 billion, placing it 45th in the nation. Its 2000 per capita Personal Income was $29,685, 16th in the nation. Rhode Island has the lowest level of energy consumption per capita of any state.[25]

Health services are Rhode Islands largest industry.[citation needed] Second is tourism, supporting 39,000 jobs, with tourism related sales at $3.26 billion in the year 2000. The third largest industry is manufacturing. Its industrial outputs are fashion jewelry, fabricated metal products, electric equipment, machinery, shipbuilding and boatbuilding. Rhode Island's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, vegetables, dairy products, and eggs.

The state's taxes are appreciably higher than neighboring states.[20] Governor Carcieri has claimed that this higher tax rate has had an inhibitory effect on business growth in the state and is calling for reductions to increase the competitiveness of the state's business environment. Rhode Island's income tax is based on 25% of the payer's federal income tax payment.[26]

Demographics

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1790
1800 0.4%
1810 11.3%
1820 8.0%
1830 17.0%
1840 12.0%