Rhode Island started in 1636 when Roger Williams purchased land from the Narragansett Indians and established a settlement, which he called Providence Plantations, on the east bank of the Moshassuck River, on Narragansett Bay. Williams was a Separatist minister banished from Massachusetts in 1635 for his religious beliefs and criticism of Puritan leaders and the King. Two years later, another group of Massachusetts dissidents, led by Anne Hutchinson, founded Portsmouth.
Essential Facts
- Year Founded — 1636
- Founded By — Roger Williams
- General Assembly Established — 1647
- Region — New England Colonies
Primary Documents
Biographies
- Israel Angell
- William Barton
- Metcalf Bowler
- William Ellery
- Stephen Hopkins
- Anne Hutchinson
- Nathanael Greene
- Henry Ward
- Roger Williams
History
Colonial America
- Pequot War (1634–1638)
- New England Confederation (1643–1686)
- King Philip’s War (1675–1678)
- Dominion of New England (1686–1689)
- King William’s War (1688–1697)
- Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713)
- Albany Congress (1754)
- French and Indian War (1754–1763)
Key Concepts
- Agriculture in Colonial America
- Board of Trade
- Mercantilism
- Navigation Acts
- Salutary Neglect
- Transatlantic Slave Trade
- Triangular Trade
- Taxation Without Representation — Overview and History
American Revolution
- Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763)
- Proclamation of 1763
- Rhode Island in the American Revolution
- Rhode Island Rebels Against the Sugar Act
- Sugar Act (1764) — Guide
- Stamp Act (1765) — Guide
- Sons of Liberty
- Gaspee Affair (1772)
- Committees of Correspondence
- Tea Act (1773)
- Intolerable Acts (1774)
- Rhode Island — Delegates to the First Continental Congress (1774)
- First Continental Congress (1774)
- Continental Association (1774)
- Capture and Raid of Fort William and Mary (December 14–15, 1774)
American Revolutionary War
1775
- New England Army of Observation
- Second Continental Congress (1775—1781)
- Olive Branch Petition (July 8, 1775)
- Operations in Narragansett Bay (1775)
