Rhode Island Colonial Charter

Timeline

1. 1651–1652Newport, Aquidneck Island · Aquidneck IslandIn 1651, Rhode Island politician William Coddington secretly traveled to England and obtained a life governor's commission from the Commonwealth Parliament's Committee of Trade, separating Aquidneck Island (home to Newport and Portsmouth) from the Providence Plantation colony covered by the 1644 charter and striking out on his own. This act of secession provoked strong opposition from the colony's other towns; Roger Williams and John Clarke were promptly commissioned to petition the Commonwealth Parliament in London to revoke Coddington's commission. While awaiting the result, the Rhode Island colony was effectively divided and its constitutional authority severely challenged.
2. 1652–1653Providence, Rhode Island · Rhode IslandIn 1652, through the persistent mediation of Roger Williams and John Clarke, the Commonwealth Parliament revoked Coddington's life governor's commission and restored the full effect of the 1644 charter over the entire Rhode Island colony. In 1653, Newport and Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island rejoined Providence Plantation under a unified General Assembly, restoring the colony's complete system of self-government. This reunification confirmed the central legal status of the separation of church and state and religious liberty principles advocated by Roger Williams in Rhode Island, and demonstrated the colony's ability to defend its self-governing rights through English constitutional channels, paving the way for Charles II's more complete royal charter (Rhode Island Royal Charter) of 1663.