Rhode Island

Rhode Island was one of the first 13 colonies to declare independence it was founded by roger Williams in 1636. Roger Williams was kicked out of Massachusetts for his religious views so he traveled to providence and declared religious freedom. William had found the first place in modern history where citizenship and religion were separated a place where there was religious liberty and separation of church and state. The settlers were separatists or a group of Protestants that wanted to separate from Anglican Church. All settlers were required to sign a covenant to submit themselves to all orders or arrangements made for public good concerning civil matters. The colonies first type of government was a combination of an unrestricted religious liberty and a pure democracy. The government of the town was placed in the hands of the inhabitants; with legislative, judicial, and executive functions exercised for several years by citizens in town meetings. Mr. Codington was elected as the towns first governor. And from the beginning the colony was governed by a majority vote of the heads of households but only in "civil things" that was up until 1640 when a town agreement was signed by thirty-nine freemen (men who had full citizenship and voting rights). This declared their determination "still to hold forth liberty of conscience" in the colony only heads of families could vote and bachelors didn't have the right of suffrage. The colony had an original lifestyle, one which in the women cooked and took care of the children; the children had to learn from their grandparents. The men gathered fire wood and farmed different types of crops which include corn beans squash and tobacco.