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The history of Rhode Island is truly remarkable. The Story of Rhode Island is my humble attempt to tell you some of the stories about the people, places, and events that have made Rhode Island the state it is today.
To learn more about the show visit the Story of Rhode Island Podcast website at https://www.storyofrhodeisland.com/
Hello and welcome to the story of Rhode Island Podcast. The Podcast that tells you the story of Rhode Island’s fascinating history. In episode 5 we watched the towns around Narragansett Bay protect their sovereignty by uniting into an official English colony. But as we’re about to see in episode 6, not everyone in Rhode Island is thrilled about this change, including one of the most powerful people in the entire colony. As we dive into today’s episode, we see that the town of Newport has grown silent after another productive day of farming and trade. While most people have settled down for bed, the same cannot be said for William Coddington, a man who is constantly working to grow his already substantial fortunes. After another long day of work, Coddington approaches his stone-ender mansion and takes a moment to admire its flawless architecture, knowing that it speaks to his great financial achievements. Upon entering his mansion, his maid greets him warmly while handing him a letter. As Coddington reads the letter his face quickly becomes filled with rage. The founder of Newport throws the letter on the floor, storms past his maid and heads directly into his office. When the maid picks up the letter she realizes that Coddington’s just been informed about Williams’ charter. For months now, Coddington’s been complaining about Williams’ attempts at getting a charter. He has no desire to see the towns on Aquidneck Island be united with Providence and Warwick. Coddington’s not alone in his sentiments as there are others in Rhode Island who feel the same way. This internal opposition will further erode the colony’s already weak sense of unity and put Rhode Island on the verge of destruction. If Roger Williams doesn’t put an end to this internal opposition his newly created colony will come to an abrupt end. The story of Roger Williams saving the Colony of Rhode Island from imploding is what we’ll cover in episode 6 of the Story of Rhode Island podcast.
INTRO MUSIC
When William Coddington’s maid peaks her head around the corner she sees Coddington furiously writing a set of letters. Coddington’s hand moves feverishly across the paper, as if his life depends on those letters being written as soon as possible. The men he is writing to are John Winthrop, the Governor of Massachusetts, and William Bradford, the Governor of Plymouth Colony. Refusing to accept Roger Williams’ charter for Rhode Island, Coddington is now secretly attempting to ally the island towns with either Massachusetts or Plymouth. He hopes that he can lean on their support to keep the Island of Aquidneck separate from Providence and Warwick. Since its founding, Newport’s has been innovating commercial agriculture in New England which has proven to be beneficial to their economy. They’ve avoided the conservative mindset adopted by small farmers throughout New England and have become hyper focused on only growing grains to nourish their livestock. As their output of high-quality livestock continues to grow, so does their volume of trade with the Dutch to the southeast in New Netherland, helping to grow their economy. Coddington fears that uniting with the mainland towns will just hinder their growth. Not to mention, Coddington just managed to free himself of Samuel Gorton a few years ago. The last thing he wants is to be in the same colony as the man who ousted him from power in Portsmouth back in 1639. As Coddington finishes writing his letters to John Winthrop and William Bradford he continues working late into the night. Along with looking for help from the neighboring Governors he’s also working on a larger, far more sinister plan. One that he knows would ruin the colony that Williams just created. Eventually, Coddington’s plan will come to fruition and Rhode Island will be split in two, but that won’t happen for another several years. For now, the radical little colony has more immediate threats to deal with. Threats that are taking place much closer to Williams home in Providence.
As I mentioned earlier, Coddington isn’t the only man opposed to the new Colony Williams recently founded. Remember William Arnold? The man from episode 5 who colluded with Massachusetts to get Samuel Gorton thrown in jail? The man who also helped Massachusetts claim jurisdiction of Pawtuxet and Warwick? Well he doesn’t want to be part of Rhode Island either and would prefer to see Pawtuxet and Warwick remain under Massachusetts’ jurisdiction. After all, as long as Massachusetts is in the picture it means his foe, Samuel Gorton, the founder of Warwick, will remain out of the picture. And while Roger Williams thought that his charter for Rhode Island would convince Massachusetts to give up their claims to Pawtuxet and Warwick, that’s clearly not true. Massachusetts is still stubbornly claiming ownership of those lands and William Arnold welcomes their stay. Luckily for Williams, he has Samuel Gorton on his side and if you’ve listened to the previous two episodes you’ve probably come to realize that Gorton hardly ever backs down from a fight. So in 1644, Gorton travels all the way to England and convinces the English government to reaffirm that he is the rightful owner of Warwick and that his town is in fact part of Rhode Island, not Massachusetts. While regaining control of Warwick is certainly a win for Williams, the Arnold faction of Pawtuxet is still claiming that their village is part of Massachusetts and will continue to do so for another decade. It’s at this point when Roger Williams and his allies decide that before they can expect to put an end to this internal opposition that their colony needs a stronger foundation to fight. The only thing uniting their colony is the charter that Williams received from Parliament in 1644 and that’s clearly not enough. Therefore, they decide they need a centralized government to oversee the towns of Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick. So in May of 1647 the leaders of Rhode Island meet in Portsmouth for 3 days and create the Colony’s first constitution and code of laws. Albeit weak, Rhode Island finally has a centralized government. As the leaders of America’s newest colony leave the meetinghouse they discuss the monumental events that just took place. While most are excited, Roger Williams finds himself more uneasy than the rest.
As Roger Williams steps out of the meetinghouse he feels a mixture of emotions. He’s certainly excited about Rhode Island’s new centralized government but he’s constantly thinking about the opposition he faces from William Arnold. On top of that, he’s also become aware of Coddington’s disapproval of their colony as well. Williams knows that without everyone in Rhode Island being committed to a united colony, the towns around Narragansett Bay will eventually once again become separate towns, likely leading to them being engulfed into Massachusetts. His thoughts are haunted by such an outcome day and night. But Williams is removed from this nightmare that plagues his mind when he sees John Coggeshall approaching him, the man who was just voted to be Rhode Island’s first President. Coggeshall first came to Rhode Island back in 1638 when he helped to found the town of Portsmouth with Anne Hutchinson’s followers. Then, he followed Coddington to Newport in 1639 and like Coddington, has also amassed a large fortune over the years. His stature in society is made clear by his 400 acres of land which is located right around present day Bellevue Avenue. But unlike Coddington he’s fully committed to ensuring the Colony of Rhode Island succeeds. As Coggeshall begins conversing with Williams he’s unable to hide his excitement about their recent progress. He reminds Williams about what they’ve been able to achieve. How their people are given a set of rights offered nowhere else in the world; complete religious freedom and the ability to elect their leaders via a democratic form of government. Coggeshall’s energy is infectious and Williams finds himself growing hopeful but that all changes when Randall Holden enters the conversation. Holden is a close ally of Samuel Gortons and has just been voted to represent Warwick as an assistant magistrate in the colony’s newly built government. While Holden’s happy about his new role in the colony, he’s not so pleased to know that William Coddington, a man who didn’t even attend the sessions, was just chosen to be an assistant magistrate as well. After being made aware of Coddington’s disapproval of their colony, the leaders of Rhode Island are hoping that by making him an assistant magistrate that he will accept the fact that Portsmouth and Newport are now part of a larger colony. But Holden finds such an idea foolish. Before becoming a close ally of Gorton’s, he lived in Newport with Coddington and grew to know him well. He knows first hand that it will take far more than a position in government to persuade Coddington to accept their new colony. As Holden shares these opinions with Roger Williams and John Coggeshall, the two men become uneasy. Deep down, they know that Holdens right. There’s no way Coddington will give in to their new government so easily. The men prove to be accurate in their assessment and Coddington ends up refusing to accept his position as assistant magistrate. But his protests won’t end there. In just a few years he’ll implement that sinister plan he’s been working on and bring Rhode Island closer to the brink of destruction than ever before.
In 1651, about 4 years after Rhode Island’s first government is created, William Coddington does the unthinkable and makes Portsmouth and Newport their own colony, splitting Rhode Island in two. He does so by traveling all the way to England and telling Parliament that the people on Aquidneck have been united with Providence and Warwick against their will. Such an idea is a gross exaggeration of the truth. While there is a small portion of the population on Aquidneck that agrees with Coddington, most of the people want a united colony. They know that unless they unite with the mainland towns then they’ll eventually be swallowed up by massachusetts. But those people are not with him in England so he’s able to convince the English government otherwise. With the colony split in two the lack of unity that’s already existed throughout the colony grows even weaker and the divide between the mainland towns and the island towns grows even wider. As one would expect, Roger Williams is furious when he hears about the news. I mean, how could he not be? He was the one who helped William Coddington and the rest of Anne Hutchinson’s followers purchase Aquidneck Island from Canonicus and Miantonomi, giving them a place to worship god in a way Massachusetts would never allow. And now Coddington has gone behind back and split their colony in two. This means that Roger Williams once again has to travel to England so that he can get Coddington’s charter revoked. To make it worse, the mission will cost him much more than just his time. Their colony is unable to generate the funds needed for such a mission, so Williams is forced to generate the funds himself. To do this he sells most of what he owns, including his beloved trading post in Cocumscussoc or what is known today as North Kingstown. But there is a silver lining to this story, albeit more for us than it is for Williams. It allows us to be introduced to one of the biggest unsung heroes in Rhode Island history. A baptist minister from Newport, Rhode Island named John Clarke. He is the founder of the second baptist church in America, just months after Roger Williams founded the first in 1638. And while that’s typically where we’d find Clarke, that's not where we are introduced to him today. Instead we find Clarke sitting in a Massachusetts jail cell.
The Governor of Massachusetts, John Endicott, is absolutely disgusted by the heinous act that John Clarke has just committed. If it were up to Endicott, Clarke would be executed immediately. Just the other day, Clarke returned to one of the towns in Puritan Massachusetts and dared to conduct a baptist ceremony for an elderly blind man. Since the Baptists' religious views differ from the Puritans, the Governor of Massachusetts believes it only makes sense to execute Clarke for his devious actions. Thankfully, that decision isn’t up to John Endicott alone, and the Massachusetts courts decided that throwing Clarke in jail and fining him 20 pounds is a more appropriate punishment for his crimes. So it’s in a Massachusetts jail cell where Clarke hears about what Coddington has done and he’s just as upset by the news as Williams. He’s a staunch advocate of religious freedom and knows that the only way religious freedom can survive in Puritan New England is by ensuring Rhode Island stays united. But at the same time, he’s not too surprised by Coddington’s actions. Coddington has always struggled to choose between prioritizing his radical religious beliefs and his love for wealth and power. In Massachusetts, he chose the former when he stood by Anne Hutchinson even though he knew he’d be stripped of his position in government. Unfortunately, as of late he’s decided to prioritize the economic growth of Newport over religious freedom. But Clarke believes that he can help Roger Williams get Coddington’s charter revoked. Not only is he an extremely well educated man but he has something that Williams doesn’t have, an inside look of what’s been going on in Newport. He can share this vantage point with the English government and explain to them why Aquidneck should be united with Providence and Warwick. So just a few months after being released from jail, in November of 1651, he joins Williams in England to protest Coddington’s charter. The men prove to be an extremely effective team. Parliament quickly realizes that they’ve been swindled by Coddington and decide to revoke his charter and have Williams’ 1644 charter reaffirmed. While their success is an achievement to be proud of it’s by no means is a reason for jubilant celebration. The colony’s problems run far deeper than Coddington’s rebellion. Remember that government Rhode Island created just a few years earlier? Well it's proven to be utterly useless. Their code of laws are being completely ignored, people who are voted into office are refusing to serve, and the separate government that was formed on Aquidneck when the colony split in two is still fully operational. If things keep going as they are then it’s only a matter of time before their colony once again dissolves into separate towns, an outcome Massachusetts anxiously awaits. So like any good leader, Roger Williams decides that in order for their colony to succeed he has to speak to the hearts and minds of everyone in Rhode Island. He has to remind them about what they're fighting for and how they can only win that fight if their towns act as one. He does so by sharing his thoughts via a letter and although it’s titled QUOTE “A letter to the town of Providence” UNQUOTE its words are meant for the entire Colony. Roger Williams hopes it’ll remind them of the sacred mission they are fighting for.
It's a freezing January night in 1655. On this night, Samuel Gorton and William Coddington are sitting at their homes on opposite sides of Narragansett Bay; Gorton on Warwick Neck and Coddington in Newport. The two men have little in common, except for the fact that on this night they’re both reading a public letter written by Roger Williams. While Samuel Gorton has certainly had his differences with Williams he still admires what Williams is fighting for so he reads the letter with an open mind. While Coddington doesn’t have quite as much enthusiasm for the letter he is atleast willing to entertain Williams’ plea for unity. He’s beginning to realize just how unlikely it actually is that the towns on aquidneck will ever become their own colony and after years of fighting with Roger Williams he’s finally looking for some peace in his life. Coddington is reading the letter while visiting his brother-in-law, Francis Brinley, at his house that was built a few years earlier in 1652. To this very day, that house still stands at the intersection of Marlborough and Farewell Street. But now that house is a restaurant known as the White Horse Tavern. Roger Williams' letter starts off by leaning on the one thing that he knows every Rhode Islander can agree on, the importance of religious freedom. He speaks to this sacred right with an analogy of a ship filled with people of various different religious views, all being allowed to worship God however they wish. The letter states that while on this radical ship QUOTE “ none of the pay-pists, protestants, Jews, or Turks, be forced to come to the ship's prayers of worship, nor compelled from their own particular prayers or worship, if they practice any” UNQUOTE. Samuel Gorton and William Coddington, with the Narragansett Bay and years of resentment wedged in between them, can’t help but feel a sense of connection while reading this part of the letter. There’s plenty of reasons why the two men should despise each other but their devotion to the preservation of religious liberty reminds them of what brought them to Narragansett territory in the first place. But Williams also reminds these two stubborn individuals, along with the rest of Rhode Island, that their colony needs order just as much as it does freedom. While he knows his fellow Rhode Islander fear centralized authority, it’s a necessary component of any well-functioning colony. Williams states QUOTE “the commander of this ship ought to command the ship’s course, yea, and also command that justice, peace and sobriety, be kept and practiced, both among the seamen and all the passengers.” UNQUOTE. Gorton, a man who has spent so much of his life protesting authority, knows that Williams is right. Without some type of centralized institution determining the direction of the colony, the four towns are bound to drift apart. Finally, Williams closes out the letter by simply stating QUOTE “I remain studious of your common peace and liberty.” UNQUOTE. Those last few words, common peace and liberty, are so simple yet they say so much. The peace that the Rhode Islanders get to feel from their radical liberties is not something that can exist individually. Instead it’s something that has to remain common, something to be shared and protected by each and every Rhode Islander. And the only way they can protect that peace and liberty is by acting as one. Without that happening, the peace and liberty they get to experience will inevitably cease to exist altogether. When William Coddington finishes reading the letter he places it on the intricately carved wooden table in front of him. For the next couple of hours he stares into the crackling fire at his side and ponders the heartfelt words that Williams just shared. And he’ll continue thinking about those words for another several months. Until finally, in 1656, he gives in to Williams’ plea for unity, gives up his fight to make Aquidneck Island its own separate colony and formally submits his allegiance to Rhode Island. Then, Williams' plea for unity and his charter for Rhode Island get an additional show of support from Parliament, convincing his other opponents to come around as well. The Arnold faction ceases saying that Pawtuxet is part of Massachusetts and submits their allegiance to Rhode Island. By the end of the decade, the leaders of the 4 radical towns come together as one and rebuild their once fractured government. They are now fully united by their joint battle to defend religious freedom. The Colony of Rhode Island has survived.
Just as Rhode Island is about to sail off into the sunset as one, the colony’s new found unity is put to the test one final time. In 1658, the surrounding colonies decide to see just how committed the Rhode Islanders are to their radical ideals. The other New England colonies tell Rhode Island that they’d like to make them a member of their military alliance, known as the United Colonies. This would be a big deal for the Rhode Islanders. By being included in this alliance it would give their colony an economic boom and an increased sense of security in a still largely undeveloped world. But there’s a catch. The surrounding colonies tell Rhode Island that first they must agree to ban the newest group of religious radicals that have been taking refuge in their colony, the Society of Friends or as they’re better known, the Quakers. For the past few years the Quakers have been leaving Rhode Island and conducting religious protests in Massachusetts. The Puritans have had enough of these protests so they want them out of New England. The leaders of New England are confident that Rhode Island will accept their offer. Roger Williams is completely retired from public life so it’s now up to the other leaders of Rhode Island to choose to stand by their radical ideals at the cost of economic growth. They have no doubt that William Coddington will have something to say about this. But to Massachusetts dismay, Rhode Island rejects the offer. They remind the other colonies that all are welcome in their colony, no matter what their religious beliefs may be. It’s now more evident than ever that the religious outcasts around Narragansett Bay are unified by their belief in religious freedom. And that’s a good thing because things are only going to get harder for Rhode Island. The thirst for land that began plaguing Massachusetts back in the 1630s is just as prevalent as it was before. In fact, now the Connecticut Colony is looking for new land as well. And just like before, they all have their eyes set towards Narragansett territory, a piece of land that encompasses most of present day Washington County, Rhode Island. For a while, it looked as though Rhode Island would be able to prevent the other colonies from claiming this land as their own but that no longer seems to be the case. By 1662, both Massachusetts and Connecticut are claiming that they are the rightful owners of the Narragansett territory. It’s hard to imagine the state of Rhode Island being without Washington County, or as it’s also called South County. The beaches, backroads, and farms of this region have become synonymous with the southern portion of the state. In fact, it’s where I grew up myself. But in the early 1660s, that’s the reality that’s being created. With Roger Williams no longer participating in the colony’s government a new set of leaders will have to step up and put a stop to the surrounding colonies expansionist designs. But that’s a story for next time, on episode 7 of the Story of Rhode Island Podcast.