Ethnicity , Labor ,

& Social
Stratification

in 17 th - 18 th Century
Rhode Island
Molly Gault / February 24, 2011
Founding of the English Colony
v 1636: Purchase from Natives
• Roger Williams banished from Mass. Bay colonies / flees to
Wampanoag Indians
• Other Mass. Bay refugees join / purchase land from
Massasoit
• Puritans drive them further southwest to Narragansett
Bay
• Purchase land from Narragansett Indians / founding of
Providence

v 1643: Opposition from Massachusetts
• Excluded from “United Colonies” military alliance

v 1644: Approval from England
• Williams secures charter from Sir Henry Vane during
English Civil War, despite objections from Mass.
Roger Williams’ Radical Views
v Williams intended to become a missionary to the Native Americans and set out to learn their
language. He studied their language, customs, religion, family life and other aspects of
their world. As a result he came to see their point of view about colonization and
developed a deep appreciation of them as people. He wrote his A Key into the Language
of America (1643) as a kind of phrase book coupled with observations about life and
culture as an aid in communication with the Indians. In it he talked about everything
from salutations in the first chapter to death and burial in chapter 32. The book also
sought to instruct the English, who thought of themselves as vastly superior to the
Native Americans, that they were mistaken. He repeatedly made the point that the
Indians were just as good as the English, even superior in some respects.


• “Boast not proud English, of thy birth & blood;

Thy brother Indian is by birth as Good.
Of one blood God made Him, and Thee and All,
As wise, as fair, as strong, as personal.”


v Having learned their language and customs, Williams gave up the idea of being a missionary
and never baptized a single Indian. He was severely criticized by the Puritans for failing
to Christianize them, but Williams had arrived at the place in his own thinking that no
valid church existed. He said he could have baptized the whole country, but it would
have been hypocritical and false.
v
 Above selection found online:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_%28theologian%29
The First 50 Years
v Ostracization: The Great Equalizer
• First colonists were refugees (not land-mongers)
• Small numbers posed no threat (no boatloads of
settlers)
• Like other colonies, initially relied on Indians for
survival
• Necessity & nonconformist beliefs promoted
positive interaction with the Indians
• Fairly purchased land (did not consider king
sovereign over American land)
• Continued to foster strong relationship with
Indians
• Viewed by Mass. Bay colonies as dangerous
alliance
INDIAN LABOR after King Philip’s WaR
v 1675-76: After King Philip’s War the Narragansett Indians fell from
power
• Tribe became dysfunctional and virtually collapsed
• The disbanded remnant became economically dependent on
English for employment
v 1676: Quote from the Rhode Island Records, I, 535:
• “…noe Indian in this Collony be a slave, but only to pay their
debts or for their bringing up, or custody they have received,
or to per- forme covenant as if they had been countrymen not
in warr.”
• In reality, many colonists used any excuse to enslave Indians
v 1730: Quote from Acts and Laws of Rhode Island:
• “…evil minded Persons in this Colony, of a greedy and covetous
Design, often draw Indians into their Debt, by selling them
Goods at extravagant Rates, and get the... Indians bound to
them for longer Time than is just or reasonable.“
•
v Above information & quotes taken from the following article :
• Indian Labor in Early Rhode Island
•
AFRICAN SLAVERY
v 1641: Massachusetts legalizes slavery
v 1652: First slaves appear in Rhode Island colony &
Williams immediately attempts to outlaw it
v 1652: First colony to ban slavery (Providence
passed law but it was opposed by other cities and
not being enforced became null)
v 1696: First slave ship, the “Sea Flower”, arrives in
Newport
v Early 1700s: Newport becomes hub of “trade
triangle” (Involving slavery, the West Indies, and
rum manufacturing)
v Mid-1700s: Highest percentage black population
(proportionally) in all N.E. colonies
v SOURCES:
• http://www.slavenorth.com/rhodeisland.htm