Rhode Island: A Historical Timeline

PRIOR TO 1524 PRE-EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT
6000 BCE	The first people to inhabit the geographic region that later would become Rhode Island arrive after migrating across the land bridge between Asian and North America. During the thousands of years before European arrival, the Native Americans living in the region include the Nipmuc, Pequot, Wampanoag and Narragansett tribes.
1524-1642 EARLY EUROPEAN EXPLORATION
1524	Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano discovers Rhode Island while employed by the French monarchy. He is the first European since the Norse colonization of the Americas around AD 1000 to explore the Atlantic coast of North America.
1609	Henry Hudson, an English explorer and navigator, explores the area that would be Rhode Island while looking for a western route to the Orient for the Dutch East India Company.
1614	Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visits the island and renames it "Isle of Rhodes."
1635	Reverend William Blackstone, an Anglican priest, becomes the first Rhode Island settler after the Puritans expel him from Boston after for allegedly trying to bring the Church of England to the new settlement.
1636	The settlement of Providence is founded by Roger Williams, who was also banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views. Williams' settlement is established to provide religious liberty and a separation of church and state.
1637	The Narragansett are persuaded to form an alliance with the English to rid the area of the Pequot tribe.
1638	The Portsmouth Compact is signed, establishing the settlement of Portsmouth. The first Baptist Church in America is founded in Providence.
1639	The Newport Compact is signed to establish the southern settlement of Newport.
1643-1699 RHODE ISLAND COLONY
1643	Samuel Gorton founds Shawomet, the fourth settlement on Rhode Island. A few years later, the settlement is renamed Warwick after the Earl of Warwick. Rhode Island is refused admission into the New England Confederation due to its reputation for being "anarchistic." (A common nickname for the colony is "Rogue Island.") It is also more sympathetic to Native Americans, and the purpose of the Confederation is to unite Puritan colonies against local tribes.
1644	The settlements of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport unite for common independence as the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
1652	The first recorded African slaves arrive in Rhode Island.
1663	(July 8) Charles II grants the charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It serves as Rhode Island's constitution until 1842.
1673	The White Horse Tavern, now the oldest-operating tavern in the U.S., is built.
1675	The decisive battle in King Philip's War is fought against the Narragansett and Narragansett chief King Philip is killed at Rhode Island's Mount Hope The chief had led attacks on settlers throughout New England.
1676	(March 26) Nine colonial militiamen under the command of Captain Michael Pierce are pursued and slaughtered in Cumberland. Nine Men's Misery Monument is erected at the site the same year. It is the oldest known veteran's monument in the U.S.
1678	The first known traffic law is created in Newport when authorities ban galloping horses on local streets. The first speeding ticket would also be given in Newport in 1904.
1686	King James II orders Rhode Island to submit to England and its appointed governor, Edmund Andros. The colony's charter is suspended until Andros is deposed.
1693	King William and Queen Mary issue a patent extending Rhode Island's territory to three miles east and northeast of Narragansett Bay, conflicting with the claims of the Plymouth Colony. Transfers of territory between Rhode Island and Massachusetts continue.
1700-1775 PRE-REVOLUTIONARY ERA
1762	Ann Smith Franklin, editor of the Newport Mercury in Newport, becomes the first woman newspaper editor in America.
1763	Touro Synagogue, one of the first synagogues in America, is founded in Newport.
1764	Brown University is founded. It is the first college in the U.S. to accept students regardless of religious affiliation. It's now the third oldest institution of higher education in New England and the seventh oldest in the country.
1769	The British sloop Liberty is set on fire in the Newport Harbor in protest of British taxes. This act—along with acts like the Boston Tea Party—is part of a growing disaffection with British rule in the colonies.
1772	Rhode Island colonists attack the grounded British warship the Gaspee in one of the first acts of American rebellion.
1774	(May 17) The idea of a Continental Congress is first proposed in at a town meeting in Providence. Once formed, the Congress will become the governing body of the United States during the Revolutionary War. (June 15) Rhode Island elects the first delegates to the Continental Congress, Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward. Along with Connecticut, the Rhode Island colony prohibits further importation of slaves. The slave population in Rhode Island at the time is nearly twice as high as in any other New England colony. The first circus in the U.S. is held in Newport.
1776-1789 REVOLUTIONARY RHODE ISLAND
1776	(May 4) Rhode Island is the first British colony to declare its independence, two months before the official national Declaration of Independence.
1777-78	British forces occupy Newport.
1778	(August 29) Generals John Sullivan and Lafayette win a partial victory in the Battle of Rhode Island but fail to force the British to retreat. The battle features the first African-American military unit (the 1st Rhode Island Regiment) to fight for the United States.
1779	British forces evacuate Rhode Island.
1780-81	French troops are stationed in Rhode Island under General Rochambeau. Newport becomes the base of the French forces in the U.S. for the rest of the war. As a result, the Rhode Island General Assembly repeals a law banning Catholics from living in Rhode Island and the first Catholic mass is held in Newport.
1781	The march to Yorktown, Virginia, begins in Newport. American and French troops would defeat the British under the joint command of Generals George Washington and Rochambeau, the beginning of the end of the Revolutionary War.
1786	Farmers burn grain, dump milk, and leave apples to rot in a strike against Providence and Newport merchants who refuse to accept their paper money that depreciation has made nearly worthless. The strike has little result since 90 percent of Americans raise their own food at the time.
1787	The U.S. Constitutional Convention gives states the right to set voting qualifications. Rhode Island is the first eastern state to vote on women's suffrage, denying women the right to vote.
1790	(May 29) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations becomes the 13th state. (only doing so after threat of having its exports taxed as a foreign nation).
1790-1858 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
1793	The first successful cotton mill is established by Samuel Slater and David Wilkinson in the Blackstone River Valley. Slater would become known as the father of the American Industrial Revolution. In the 19th century, Rhode Island would become one of the most industrialized states in the nation, with its large number of textile factories.
1806	Pelham Street in Newport becomes one of the first streets in America to be illuminated by gaslight.
1812	Rhode Island votes against the War of 1812. Later in the war, Governor William Jones threatens succession and is quoted as saying, "notwithstanding our respect for the laws and our strong attachment to the union of states, there may be evils greater than can be apprehended from a refusal to submit to unconstitutional laws." Ultimately 500 troops are sent for federal service.
1814	The Hartford Convention is held among Federalist leaders from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The leaders secretly adopt amendments regarding potential succession, which post-war are accused of being treasonous. The Federalist Party is disgraced and disbands in most places after the end of the War of 1812.
1824	The first strike in America in which women participate is held in Pawtucket. Female loom workers join male weavers to protest the attempt by mill owners to reduce wages by 25 percent and lengthen the workday.
1825	Construction begins on the Blackstone Canal from Worcester to Providence in an attempt for Rhode Island entrepreneurs to capture the central Massachusetts market. The project ultimately costs $750,000, twice its projected budget, but is a huge economic success.
1841	Providence lawyer Thomas Wilson Dorr founds the People's Party and submits a new constitution that grants voting rights to those who don't own property. It passes through a popular referendum, but Governor Samuel Ward King opposes it. At the time, Rhode Island is one of the only states without universal suffrage for white men.
1842	Dorr's Rebellion. A short-lived armed insurrection led by Thomas Dorr, it forces the state to abolish the Charter of 1663 and expand voting rights.
1843	The present state constitution is adopted. Voting rights are extended to any free man, regardless of race, who could pay a poll tax of $1.
1847	The first train runs from Providence to Worcester, Massachusetts. The Union Passenger Depot, a massive Providence terminal, is built in 1848. The railroads help to bring about rapid demographic and economic growth in Rhode Island.
1859-1899 THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION ERAS
1859	Rhode Island is the first state to send troops in response to President Lincoln's pre-Civil War request for help from the states.
1860	Rhode Island's four largest industries—cotton textiles, woolen goods, base metals, and precious metals—begin to boom. They are joined by a fifth industry—rubber goods—in the second half of the 19th century.
1861	The United States Naval Academy is moved from Annapolis, Maryland to Newport, Rhode Island due to concerns about the political sympathies of Marylanders (who are suspected of siding with the Confederate states). The Civil War begins. More than 23,000 Rhode Islanders fight on the side of the Union. A year later Fort Adams becomes the headquarters and recruit depot for the 15th U.S. Infantry Regiment.
1866	Rhode Island abolishes racial segregation.
1887	Rhode Island is the first eastern state to vote on a referendum to give women the right to vote; the referendum fails to pass.
1890	The first nine-hole golf course is completed in Newport. The state would also host the first open golf tournament in 1895.
1895- 1901	The Rhode Island State House is the first building built in the U.S. with an all-marble dome. It is the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. It houses the Rhode Island Charter of 1663.
1900-1949 EARLY TO MID 20TH CENTURY
1917	Rhode Island gives women the right to vote in the presidential election of 1918, two years before the 19th amendment grants women's suffrage countrywide.
1918	Rhode Island suffers heavy losses from the Spanish flu outbreak. In Providence, 941 people die from the infection.
1920-30	Ku Klux Klan membership surges among the native-born white population in response to the large waves of immigrants moving into the state.
1930	The Great Depression leads to many of Rhode Island's textile mills being moved to the South.
1935	The "Bloodless Revolution," organized by Democratic politicians under Governor Theodore Francis Green, replaces the Republican leadership that has existed in Rhode Island since the middle of the 19th century. The Rhode Island Democratic Party has dominated state politics since.
1950-PRESENT MODERN RHODE ISLAND
1953	Jacqueline Bouvier's marries John F. Kennedy in Rhode Island's oldest Roman Catholic church, St. Mary's.
1955	(August) Hurricane Diane brings the worst flooding in the state's history. Voters approve funding of a hurricane barrier across the Providence River.
1965	The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 relaxes federal immigration quotas, resulting in a wave of Portuguese, Hispanic, and Southeast Asian immigrants.
1977	Superior Court Judge Thomas Needham rules that Rhode Island wives must use their husbands' surnames. His decision is overturned in 1979.
1978	(February 6) The worst snowstorm in Rhode Island history batters the state. Snowfall ranges from 16 inches along the southern coast to 55 inches in Lincoln. The "Blizzard of '78" claims 21 lives and many residents went over a week without heat, water, food, and electricity.
1980	Rhode Island becomes the first state to officially decriminalize prostitution.
1989	The World Prodigy, a 560-foot tanker, runs aground on Brenton Reef near Newport and spills a million gallons of fuel oil, causing extensive environmental damage.
2001	Rhode Island becomes the third state to extend civil rights protection to transsexuals and transvestites.
2003	(February 20) Fire at the Station nightclub in West Warwick kills 100 people, becoming the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.
2009	The State Legislature votes to drop "Providence Plantations" from Rhode Island's name, due to the misconception that it relates to slavery.