RHODE ISLAND, FLAG OF

U.S. state flag consisting of a white field (background) featuring the state coat of armsa yellow anchor and blue ribbon with the motto Hope, all surrounded by 13 yellow stars. The Rhode Island legislature adopted an anchor for its colonial seal in 1647, and in 1664 it added the motto Hope. Those symbols were used on military flags by the time of the American Revolutionary War (177583), and Rhode Island ships may have used a simplified anchor flag by the early 19th century. Rhode Island's first nonmilitary state flag was adopted on March 30, 1877. Its white background corresponded to the facings on state militia uniforms worn during the Revolution. The flag's anchor and motto were represented in Rococo style and encircled by blue stars corresponding to the number of states in the Union. On February 1, 1882, that flag was replaced by a simpler designa blue field with a yellow anchor surrounded by a ring of 13 yellow stars, corresponding to the rank of the state among those ratifying the U.S. Constitution. On May 19, 1897, the current flag was substituted. Its juxtaposition of colours is contrary to heraldic custom because yellow on white is very difficult to distinguish, particularly when the flag is flying or seen under unfavourable lighting conditions. Whitney Smith History Colonial period The name Rhode Island owes its origin to the 16th-century Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, who compared the size of Block Island to the Mediterranean island of Rhodes. The earliest settlers thought that Verrazzano had referred to the island which the Indians called Aquidneck and thus began calling it Rhode Island. In the state's official nameThe State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantationslies a clue to its founding. The first settlement was made by the minister Roger Williams and a few followers at Providence, near the head of Narragansett Bay, in 1636. They were either under edict of banishment from Massachusetts Bay colonyWilliams for advocating freedom of conscience in religionor were in trouble with the authorities there. In 1638 a group of Bostonians, in similar difficulties, purchased the island of Aquidneck, now Rhode Island, from Indians and settled Portsmouth. Factional strife split this settlement, and William Coddington and his adherents moved to the southern end of the island, where they founded Newport, leaving Anne Hutchinson and her followers in Portsmouth. In 1643 Samuel Gorton and a dissident group settled Warwick. Williams went to England in 1643 and returned the following year with a royal patent for the colony, but the four towns could not agree on a form of government until 1647, when a loose confederacy was established. The colony was never accepted into membership in the United Colonies of New Englandcomprising Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Havenand it was constantly threatened with a takeover by these governments. Coddington, having himself made ruler for life of the island towns, split the colony between the mainland and the island towns. Williams and John Clarke, the latter representing island elements unhappy about Coddington's commission, sailed for England in 1651, succeeded in getting the commission rescinded, and in 1654 set up a reunited government. Clarke remained in England and, in 1663, won a royal charter that was to be the basis of colonial and state government for 180 years. Although the colony never officially joined the New England colonies in King Philip's War (167576), it suffered greatly. All mainland settlements were burned, including, in 1676, many houses in Providence. Most of the mainland settlers took refuge on Rhode Island, which was not attacked. The Great Swamp Fight, which broke the power of the Narraganset Indians, took place in December 1675 west of the present village of Kingston. Rhode Island had commerce with the West Indies, selling horses, barrel staves, and salt fish. Eventually, some merchants plied the triangular trade: taking rum to the African coast, where it was traded for slaves; carrying the slaves to Charleston, S.C., or to the West Indies, where they were traded for molasses; and carrying the molasses to Rhode Island, where it was distilled into rum. The passage of the Sugar Act by Parliament in 1764 seriously restricted this trade, and the colony, never enthusiastic about obeying unpopular laws, began to indulge in smuggling of sugar and molasses. In 1772 the British customs vessel Gaspee, patrolling Narragansett Bay, ran aground off Namquit (now Gaspee) Point while pursuing a suspected smuggler; that night it was burned by a group of townsmen from Providence. This has been widely regarded as the first act of outright violence against the British crown in the period leading to the American Revolution. Revolution and independence During the war Newport was occupied by the British. In 1778 a land force under General John Sullivan and the French fleet commanded by the Count d'Estaing cooperated in an operation designed to dislodge them. Before the French troops could be landed, however, a British fleet appeared in the bay; d'Estaing halted the landing and set out in pursuit. Two days later, before the ships had actually engaged, they were dispersed by a storm. The American ground forces, lacking French assistance, were forced to retreat from the island. At Butts Hill they fought a strong rearguard action that became known as the Battle of Rhode Island and in which a battalion of freed slaves distinguished itself. A Rhode Islander, General Nathanael Greene, distinguished himself as Washington's second-in-command. After the war Rhode Island was reluctant to ratify the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was proposed in the form of 10 amendments. The state's largely agricultural population was opposed to joining the Union, while the merchants of Providence and Newport worked hard for ratification. When threats of commercial isolation from the other states were raised, Rhode Island accepted the document in May 1790 by a margin of two votes. Newport, preeminent before the war, lost much of its economic power during the British occupation, and Providence, led by such merchants as the four Brown brothers, John, Joseph, Nicholas, and Moses, assumed the leadership. In 1842 a movement for widening the franchise, limited under the 1663 charter to freeholders and their eldest sons, resulted in a conflict known as the Dorr Rebellion. Led by Thomas Wilson Dorr, the son of an aristocratic family, the faction favouring universal suffrage held a convention in 1841 and adopted a constitution embodying this principle. At an election held under this constitution, Dorr was elected governor in 1842, but the election was not accepted as legal by the legislature or the state Supreme Court. When his forces were repulsed in an attempt to seize the arsenal in Providence, Dorr fled the state. Upon his return, he was tried on a charge of high treason, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment; he served only one year, however, and was released in 1845. By that time the state had adopted a revised constitution considerably broadening the basis of the franchise, but it was not until the mid-20th century that full rights to vote in all elections were extended to all citizens at the age of 21 (later 18). In the years after the American Civil War the Republican Party, led by such political bosses as General Charles R. Brayton, dominated the state, mainly because the cities, which were increasingly Democratic, were not proportionately represented in either chamber of the General Assembly. Theodore Francis Green, a Democrat, was elected governor in 1932 and reelected in 1934. With the Democratic Party in power, a different prolabour domination followed. Of the 14 governors elected between 1933 and 1985, 10 were Democrats and four were Republicans. On the national level, Republicans Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, and Ronald Reagan carried the state. A number of Rhode Island's concerns have become bipartisan in nature: improvements in the quality of drinking water and of the state's rivers and the bay, improved education, and the development of a stronger economy. A new constitution was approved in 1986 that permits constitutional amendments after a majority vote in both houses of the General Assembly and a majority of those voting in a general election. Further, it provides a mechanism for voters to convene a constitutional convention on a regular basis at least once every 12 years. Bradford Fuller Swan Marion I. Wright