Rhode Island Books
Rhode Island was a leader in the
American Revolutionary movement. Having the
greatest degree of self-rule, it had the most to
lose from the efforts of England after 1763 to
increase her supervision and control over her
American colonies. In April 1775, a week
after the skirmishes at
Lexington and Concord, the colonial
legislature authorized raising a 1,500-man
''army of observation'' with
Nathanael Greene as its commander. Finally,
on May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first
colony to renounce allegiance to
King George III. Ten weeks later, on July
18, the Assembly ratified the
Declaration of Independence. Because the
Constitution three times gave implied assent
to
slavery, the influential Quaker community
also denounced it. These factors explain the
strength of Antifederalism. Small wonder that
Rhode Island withheld ratification until May 29,
1790, making it the last of the original
thirteen states to join the new federal union.
James Franklin, brother of
Benjamin
Franklin introduced printing press to
Newport and published the first Rhode Island
newspaper: Rhode Island Gazette (1732) as well
as published Poor Robin's Almanac (1726).
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