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Transcriber's Note

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[Illustration: STATUE OF ROGER WILLIAMS.]




                                   A
                             SHORT HISTORY
                                   OF
                             RHODE ISLAND,

                                   BY

                    GEORGE WASHINGTON GREENE, LL.D.,

       LATE NON-RESIDENT PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN CORNELL
            UNIVERSITY; AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF MAJOR-GENERAL
               NATHANAEL GREENE;" "HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE
                    AMERICAN REVOLUTION," ETC., ETC.

                             [Illustration]

                              PROVIDENCE:
                    J. A. & R. A. REID, PUBLISHERS,
                                 1877.


       Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by
                           ANNA MARIA GREENE,
    in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.




                                   TO

                           Anna Maria Greene,


                            MY DEAR MOTHER:

You bear your ninety-three years so lightly that I invite your
attention to a new volume of mine with as much assurance of your
sympathy as when I crowed and wondered over my first picture book an
infant on your knee. For your sympathy is as quick and as warm as it
was then, and your memory goes back with unerring certainty to the men
and the scenes of almost a century ago. Your eyes have looked upon
Washington, and your tenacious memory can still recall the outline of
his majestic form.

The first time that I ventured to send forth a volume to the world,
I set upon the dedication page the name of my father. He has been dead
many years. You still linger behind, and long may you linger. Long
may those fresh memories which give such a charm to your daily life
continue to cheer you and instruct those who have the privilege of
living with you. They have seen life imperfectly who have not seen what
a charm it wears when the heart that has beat so long still lends its
genial warmth to the still inquiring mind.

          REVERENTIALLY AND AFFECTIONATELY YOUR SON,

                                           GEORGE W. GREENE.




                                Preface.


There are two classes of history, each of which has claims upon our
attention peculiarly its own. One is a sober teacher, the other a
pleasant companion. One opens new paths of thought, the other throws
new light upon the old, and both agree in making man the chief object
of their meditations.

Nearly two thousand years ago a Roman historian likened the life of his
country to the life of man. Time has confirmed the parallel. Nations,
like men, have their infancy and their youth, their robust manhood and
their garrulous old age. Their lives like the lives of men are full of
encouragement and of warning. Interpret them aright and they become
trusty guides. Misapply their lessons and you grope in the dark and
stumble at every step.

And both states and men have their special duties and were created for
special ends. The God that made them assigned to each its problem,
and to work this out is to work out His will. Of this problem history
is the record and the interpreter. It tells us what man has been, and
thereby aids us to divine what he yet may be.

If with the philosopher history reveals the laws of life