slain by treachery in the fastnesses of Mount Hope, the red men ceased to be a menace to the security of the settlements.

When Sir Edmund Andros was made governor of New England by James II he sought to take away the colonial charters, and in 1687 attempted to seize that of Rhode Island, but in some mysterious manner it disappeared and was not found until the accession of William and Mary in 1689. Roger Williams had died in 1683. Notwithstanding the harsh treatment he had received from the authorities of Massachusetts he was ever ready to use his influence with the Indians in behalf of the colonies, and he was instrumental in disarming Indian hostility at times when the colonists were ill-prepared for defense. Although a strong controversialist and bold and unsparing in his denunciation of those with whom he did not agree, he had a remarkable faculty of commanding the affection and esteem of men, as was signally shown in his ability to obtain for his colony the protection alike of Cromwell and of Charles II. He was exemplary in his private life and altogether worthy of the reverence which posterity, without regard to creed, attaches to the memory of him whom Whitier has truly called "soul-freedom's brave confessor." He imprinted on Rhode Island a character which it has never lost, and which has been handed down through all the varying changes of population, of liberality and tolerance, of the Sermon on the Mount interpreted in the ordinary every-day actions of men.

The colony grew with a steady and wholesome growth and religion flourished, although unsupported by the compulsory contributions of worshippers. The people were engaged in agriculture and commerce, and, in times of war, in privateering. During the struggle between Great Britain and France for empire in North America, Rhode Island took an active share in supplying troops and seamen, and the colony had 50 privateer vessels, manned by 1,500 sailors, at sea in 1756. The passion for privateering, with its excitement, its tests of courage and endurance and prospects of rich reward, became so strong that when Esek Hopkins was commander-in-chief of the Continental navy, with his vessels at Providence, he found it impossible to man them, owing to the fact that privateering offered better inducements. The coast of the colony was infested with pirates in the early part of the 18th century, and some 30 of these ocean highwaymen were hanged at one time at Newport.

It was difficult in earlier years to obtain men to fill the minor public places, and laws were passed which remained on the statute-books for many years, providing penalties for refusal to accept office. This modesty on the part of the forefathers is easier to understand in view of the fact that the expenses of the town of Providence at the outbreak of the Revolution did not exceed $1,000 a year.

The people of Rhode Island were among the foremost in defending American rights against the aggressions of George III and his ministers. In June 1772 a band of volunteers commanded by Abraham Whipple, who had distinguished himself as captain of a privateer in the wars against the French, burned the British revenue schooner Gaspee in Narragansett Bay. During the greater part of the War of Independence

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Newport was occupied by the British, and on 29 Aug. 1778 a severe engagement was fought between the Americans, under Sullivan, and the British at Butt's Hill, R. I., in which the British suffered the greater loss. During the war the State furnished nearly 12,000 enlisted men.

Rhode Island was the last of the States to ratify the Federal Constitution, its assent not having been given until 29 May 1790, more than a year after the national government had gone into operation. As a small State, Rhode Island was peculiarly jealous of its rights, and was slow to assent to its adoption. As the Constitution was first formulated and adopted by some of the original States there was room for a well-grounded fear that the smaller States might be destroyed and absorbed through combinations of their more powerful neighbors. It was this fear mainly that caused Rhode Island to stand aloof from the combination, and it was not until that fear had been allayed by amendment to the original instrument that its adoption by the State was effected.

For some years after the Revolution the shipping of the State, being free from British restriction, became known in all parts of the globe then visited by vessels, and the foundations were laid of.large fortunes afterward invested in manufacturing, when the shipping business declined. This change took place early in the 19th century, when New England's foreign commerce was practically ruined by the embargo, and when, on the other hand, the War of 1812 gave an impulse to domestic manufactures. Factories were established on every stream that afforded water-power, and Rhode Island grew in prosperity with her expanding industries.

The charter of Charles II, which continued to be the fundamental law of the State, restricted the right of suffrage to freeholders having an estate worth $134, or renting for $7 a year, and to their eldest sons. This was the cause of many wrongs, and of widespread popular protest. It was not uncommon for persons holding mortgages to threaten to foreclose them in order to influence votes, and the system gave rise to much intimidation and corruption. The conservative element strongly opposed a change, and when attempts to obtain reform through the regular course of legislation failed, representatives of the suffrage reform party met in convention and framed a constitution. They claimed that this constitution had been adopted by a majority of the adult male citizens of the State, and it was also alleged that a majority of those entitled to vote under the King Charles charter had voted in favor of the constitution. State officers and a legislature were chosen under this constitution, and organized with Thomas W. Dorr as governor. The charter officials, under Gov. Samuel W. King, ignored the Dorr legislature and its enactments, and Governor King, at the head of a military force, dispersed the so-called insurgents. Dorr was convicted of treason and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but he was released some years later, and his sentence ordered expunged from the records of the State. A new constitution was adopted in regular form, and went into effect in May 1843. It retained the real estate qualification for foreign-born citizens, and this was not abolished until 1888.