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| Statue of Roger Williams in Providence, Rhode Island |
When the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, it was simply catching up with one of its member colonies - Rhode Island - which made its break with England on May 4, 1776.
“Little Rhody” was feisty from the get-go, and it has played an oversized role in American history. Even its official name - the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations - belies its standing as the smallest state in the Union.
Founded in the 17th century by dissenters from Puritan Massachusetts, including Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, Rhode Island became "a lively experiment" that embraced such then-radical ideas as freedom of conscience. An inscription on the exterior of the Rhode Island State House reads: "To hold forth a lively experiment that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained with full liberty in religious concernments."
As tensions mounted in the years leading up to the American Revolution, defiant Rhode Islanders boarded and torched HMS Gaspée, a customs schooner, on June 9, 1772, well over a year before the Boston Tea Party and almost three years before the battles of Lexington and Concord.
True to form, Rhode Island later became not only the first of the 13 original colonies to declare its independence, but also the last of the original 13 states to ratify the U.S. Constitution. It did not do so until May 29, 1790, more than two years after Delaware became the first state to adopt the Constitution.
Today, a statue known as the Independent Man looks down on the capital city of Providence from atop the State House dome.
As tensions mounted in the years leading up to the American Revolution, defiant Rhode Islanders boarded and torched HMS Gaspée, a customs schooner, on June 9, 1772, well over a year before the Boston Tea Party and almost three years before the battles of Lexington and Concord.
True to form, Rhode Island later became not only the first of the 13 original colonies to declare its independence, but also the last of the original 13 states to ratify the U.S. Constitution. It did not do so until May 29, 1790, more than two years after Delaware became the first state to adopt the Constitution.
Today, a statue known as the Independent Man looks down on the capital city of Providence from atop the State House dome.
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