William Coddington - Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The first government established in what would become Rhode Island occurred in 1638 when on 7 March of that year a group of 23 individuals, while still in the Boston area, formed a "Bodie Politick" based on Christian principles. Coddington's name appears first on the list of signers of the resulting document, sometimes called the Portsmouth Compact. The signers, largely supporters of Anne Hutchinson who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for her religious opinions, elected Coddington as their "Judge," using this Biblical name for their ruler or governor. Not sure where to establish their new government, Roger Williams persuaded the group to purchase land of the Indians along the Narragansett Bay. This they did, and established their new colony on Aquidneck Island, naming the settlement Pocasset, which was soon renamed Portsmouth.

Within a year of the founding of this settlement, there was dissension among the leaders, and Coddington, with three elders and other inhabitants, moved to the south end of the island, establishing the town of Newport. In 1640 the two towns of Portsmouth and Newport united, and the name of the chief officer was changed to Governor, with Coddington elected to that position. The two island towns grew and prospered at a much greater rate than the mainland settlements of Providence and newly established Shawomet (later Warwick). Roger Williams, who envisioned a union of all four settlements on the Narragansett Bay, went to England to obtain a patent bringing all four towns under one government. Williams was successful in obtaining this document late in 1643, and it was brought from England and read to representatives of the four towns in 1644.

Coddington was opposed to the Williams patent. As the chief magistrate of the island he had a well organized and thoroughly equipped government which had little in common with the unorganized, discordant elements of Providence. The Patent of 1643 would bring the island towns into civil union with another class of inhabitants with little education, property, or law and order. Because of this, the island towns ignored the 1643 patent, and on 13 April 1644 the General Assembly of the two towns renamed the island from Aquidneck to the "Isle of Rhodes" or Rhode Island. So unhappy was Coddington over uniting with the mainland towns that in August 1644 he wrote a letter to Governor John Winthrop in Massachusetts, letting it be known that he would rather have an alliance with Massachusetts or Plymouth than with Providence. Though this did not happen, Coddington managed to resist union with Providence until 1647 when representatives of the four towns ultimately met and adopted the Williams patent of 1643. This is also the year that Coddington's second wife, Mary, died in Newport.

In May 1648, when the General Court (later the General Assembly) met in Providence, Coddington was elected President of the entire colony. He did not attend the meeting, however, probably because he did not support the patent, nor would he make a pretense of supporting it. Charges were subsequently brought against him, though the nature of them was not recorded, and he was replaced as Governor by Jeremy Clarke. The 1643 patent created little more than a confederation of independent governments. In September 1648 Coddington made application for admission of the two island towns into the New England Confederation. The ensuing reply let him know that the island would have to submit to the Plymouth government to be considered. This was unacceptable to Coddington who wanted colonial independence for the two island towns. They had a well organized government in which civil and religious liberty had been clearly defined and fully recognized, and these liberties would be lost in a government under Plymouth.