The idea of the Rhode Island Colony started in England in the 1600s. The King of England made a new religion that everyone was forced to join. People who disagreed with the King were called Puritans. Many Puritans came to Massachusetts to practice the Puritan religion.

In Massachusetts, it was illegal to disagree with the Puritan religion. Roger Williams did not agree with these beliefs and spoke against these laws. On January 1636, the Puritans made a plan to arrest Williams and have him sent back to England. Williams left his family and headed towards Narragansett Bay, which would later be Rhode Island.

Williams found people that would start a new settlement with him. They all purchased land from the Indians and began to build huts on it. Williams named this small town Providence. Williams and his followers built three more towns. In 1643, all four towns decided to join together and officially become an English colony.

Twenty years later Williams was sent back to England for another charter. In the charter of 1663, Rhode Island had full religious freedom. The charter also allowed the people of Rhode Island to make their own laws and vote for their own governor.

Williams always treated the Indians fairly and studied the main languages. Many people took land from the Indians and were not paying for it. In 1662, Massasoit’s son became chief of the Wamponoag tribe.

In the 1700’s over six thousand people lived in Rhode Island. They built ships to ship beef and wool to other countries and colonies. Whale was used for oil and waxy materials.

In the 1700’s Rhode Island and the other colonies were doing so well England wanted a share of their wealth. England and France fought for control for seventy-four years. The wars were called the French and the Indian wars.

Rhode Island people were so angry about taxes that they burned two English ships. Red coats marched to Lexington, Massachusetts. On April 19, 1775 seventy-five colonial soldiers called minutemen were waiting. War broke out.

May 4,1776…Rhode Island was the first colony to say they would no longer obey King George III. On July 4, 1776 Rhode Island and other colonies signed the Declaration of Independence. During the war, George Washington was in charge of the American army.

On October 19, 1781 the English surrendered to General George Washington. The colonists won the war. Rhode Island became the 13^th state in the United States.