from
History of Providence County, Rhode Island
Edited by Richard M. Bayles.
In two volumes, illustrated. Vol. I.
New York: W. W. Preston & Co., 1891.
pp. 171 - 191. (part 1)
"Chapter VI.
The Town of Providence During the Revolution.
Meeting the Stamp Act. -- Arguments against the Action of Parliament.. --
The first Town to assert the Rights of the Colonists. -- Repeal of the
Stamp Act. -- Popular Rejoicing at the News. -- Second Attempt of
Parliament to Impose a Tax. -- Dedication of the 'Tree of Liberty'. --
Non-importation Agreements and Action. -- Concessions of
Parliament. -- Burning of the 'Gaspee'. -- Town Action concerning
Tea. -- Bold Declaration of Rights. -- Steps toward Convening a
Continental Congress. -- Sympathy with Boston. -- Efforts to Maintain
Public Order. -- Committee of Inspection. -- Abstinence from the Use of
Tea. -- Military Companies Organized. -- Erecting Fortifications. --
Washington and his Army pass through. -- Declaration of Independence. --
Troops Centered Here. -- Capture of the Pigot. -- General Sullivan is
Succeeded by Gates. -- Visit of Washington. -- Barton's Capture of
Prescott. -- Close of the War. -- Protection of Commerce. -- Adoption
of the Constitution. -- Commercial Importance of Providence. -- Last
Visit of Washington.
The Revolutionary period, as might naturally be expected in a community
drawn together and built up on the basis of human freedom, more
emphatically than any other community in the colonies of America, developed
in Providence the strongest patriotism of and most determined opposition to
any encroachments on the liberties of the people. In anticipation of the
arrival of stamped paper a special town meeting was convened on the 7th of
August, 1765, to consider what steps were necessary to be taken. A
committee appointed at that time reported on the 13th instructions to their
representatives in the general assembly, which were unanimously
adopted. These instructions opened with the following preamble:
'As a full and free enjoyment of British liberty and of our own particular
rights, as colonists, long since precisely known and ascertained by
uninterrupted practice and usage from the first settlement of this country
down to this time, is of unspeakable value, and strenuously to be contended
for, by the dutiful subjects of the best frame of government in the world,
any attempts to deprive them thereof must be very alarming and ought to be
opposed, although in a decent manner, yet with the utmost firmness.
'We conceive that some late resolutions of the Parliament of Great Britain,
for taxing us without our consent, have a tendency to divest us of our most
valuable privileges as Englishmen; and that the measures adopted by the
ministry and the Parliament in this behalf, if carried into execution, will
be a manifest infraction of our inherent rights as members of the British
government and unspeakably injurious in the present distressed and involved
state of the colony.' "
continued in part 2.