146 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



Rhode Island. Supposed to be identical 

 with the ancient Vinland of the Icelandic Sagas, 

 historians credit the first discovery of Rhode 

 Island to the Norsemen about 1000 A. D. The 

 navigator Verrazzano visited Narragansett Bay 

 and its shores in 1524. The State was settled 

 at Providence in 1636, by Roger Williams and 

 his companions, who had been banished from 

 Massachusetts by religious intolerance. In 1638, 

 the Island of Aquidneck. afterward called Rhode 

 Island, was settled at Newport and Portsmouth. 

 A third settlement was formed at Warwick in 

 1643. The same year Roger Williams went to 

 England and obtained a patent for the united 

 government of the settlements. In 1663, this 

 patent gave way to a charter by Charles II., 

 incorporating the colony of Rhode Island and 

 Providence Plantations, which remained in force 

 for 180 years. The colony suffered severely in 

 King Philip's War, 1675-76, which resulted in 

 the destruction of the Wampanoag and Narra- 

 gansett tribes of Indians. In 1687, Sir Edmond 

 Andros, who had been made Governor of New 



York, New England, etc., abrogated the charter, 

 but it became again the ruling constitution after 

 his recall. In the wars between France and 

 England, Rhode Island furnished valuable aid 

 by land and sea for the expeditions against 

 j Louisburg, Crown Point, Oswego, and Canada. 

 In 1756, she had fifty privateers at sea. During 

 the War of the Revolution the State supplied 

 many ships and sailors for naval operations. 

 Rhode Island was invaded by the British, and 

 vain attempts were made for several years to 

 drive them thence by Count d'Esting's fleet and 

 General Sullivan's army. The State was the 

 last to accept the Federal Constitution, May 29, 

 1790. Dorr's insurrection occurred in 1842, an 

 ! imbroglio growing out of the bigoted suffrage 

 I laws, an inheritance from colonial times. It 

 I was only in 1861 that the boundary line be- 

 tween Rhode Island and Massachusetts was 

 finally settled. In 1901, Massachusetts re- 

 voked the edict of banishment against Roger 

 Williams, which had stood for nearly three cen- 

 turies. 



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