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Rhode Island
Below you are links to
informational sites related to the Rhode Island Gun laws and regulations. (
Legal lawyer stuff as follows:
Center-fire- Greenfield Industries are not responsible nor
endorses any information found on listed links. blah, blah,
blah. You get the picture. Take everything you read with a
grain of salt.) We have even included some
comical links such as the
Brady Campaign , because everybody enjoys a little
fictional reading from time to time.
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Roger Williams founded the
first permanent white settlement in Rhode Island at Providence
in 1636 on land purchased from the Narragansett Indians.
Forced to flee Rhode Island because of persecution, Williams
established a policy of religious and political freedom in his
new settlement. Other leaders advocating freedom of worship
soon established similar communities on either side of
Narragansett Bay. These communities united, and in 1663 King
Charles II of England granted them a royal charter, providing
for a greater degree of self-government than any other colony
in the New World and authorizing the continuation of freedom
of religion.
The early 1700s was a period of prosperity for Rhode Island.
Farming and sea trading became profitable businesses.
Providence and Newport were among the busiest ports in the New
World. Despite making profits from the slave trade, Rhode
Island was the first colony to prohibit the importation of
slaves.
At the start of the Revolutionary War, Rhode Islanders were
among the first colonists to take action against British rule
by attacking British vessels. On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island was
the first colony to renounce allegiance to Great Britain and
declare independence. Although no major battles took place in
the state, Rhode Island regiments participated in every major
campaign of the war. Rhode Islanders such as General Nathanael
Greene, second-in-command to General George Washington, and
Commodore Esek Hopkins, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental
Navy, distinguished themselves as military leaders and heroes.
The first Black regiment to fight for America made a gallant
stand against the British in the Battle of Rhode Island.
Rhode Island's independent spirit was still in evidence at the
close of the Revolutionary War. It was the last of the 13
original colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution, demanding
that the Bill of Rights, which guarantees individual
liberties, be added.
Following the Revolution, industrial growth began in Rhode
Island. In 1790, Samuel Slater's mill in Pawtucket became
America's first successful water-powered cotton mill. From
this success, the Industrial Revolution in America began. In
addition, the founding of the American jewelry industry by
Nehemiah and Seril Dodge helped make Providence one of the
chief industrial cities of New England by 1824. Jabez Gorham,
jeweler and silversmith, was the forerunner of the world
renowned Gorham Manufacturing Company.
As industrialization increased, Rhode Island's cities expanded
with immigration. New citizens looking for job opportunities
came from a score of countries, mainly Great Britain, Ireland,
Italy, and French Canada. Over the years, as these workers
became assimilated into Rhode Island's industrial structure, a
tradition of manufacturing skill and excellence developed that
is still an important asset for the state's economy
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