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Rhode Islanders Insist on No Compromise with the South after Lincoln’s Election
8 months ago

Rhode Islanders Insist on No Compromise with the South after Lincoln’s Election

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the victor in a tight, four-way race for president. The country was bitterly at odds—more divided than an any point of its history. …
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Rhode Island Fails to Vote for Lincoln for President at Nominating Convention!
8 months ago

Rhode Island Fails to Vote for Lincoln for President at Nominating Convention!

I believe that one of the most remarkable (and fortuitous) events in American history was Abraham Lincoln’s nomination as the presidential candidate for the Republican Party in 1860. Early in …
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Governor’s 1708 Report Tells Where the First Black Enslaved People Who Arrived in Rhode Island Came from and About the Arrival of the First Slave Ship from Africa
9 months ago

Governor’s 1708 Report Tells Where the First Black Enslaved People Who Arrived in Rhode Island Came from and About the Arrival of the First Slave Ship from Africa

[The following is perhaps the earliest official report on slavery in Rhode Island and the colony’s ties to the African slave trade. Historians and students of history of Rhode Island …
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A Retrospective on Spartina, a Novel Based in South County
9 months ago

A Retrospective on Spartina, a Novel Based in South County

The classic novel Spartina by John Casey was published thirty-five years ago, in 1989, by Alfred A. Knopf. It won the 1989 National Book Award. It was reprinted by Vintage …
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Water Rights and Dams in Early Rhode Island
9 months ago

Water Rights and Dams in Early Rhode Island

By  •  Business

Besides granite and trees, the early colonists found an abundance of water when they moved into the areas around Narragansett Bay. While salt water enabled colonists to ship raw materials …
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Roger Williams: Founder of Economic Development
9 months ago

Roger Williams: Founder of Economic Development

Most Rhode Islanders know Roger Williams as the founder of the colony, as well as the great advocate for separating church and state. But we can also see him as …
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A Book Review: Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence by Shirley L. Green (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2023)
10 months ago

A Book Review: Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence by Shirley L. Green (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2023)

This captivating book tells a new American story. It is the first book to detail the life, challenges, fears and hopes of a Black soldier in the Continental Army during …
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A History of Election Tickets in Rhode Island
10 months ago

A History of Election Tickets in Rhode Island

[This article is based mostly from the introduction by Patrick T. Conley appearing in Russell J. DeSimone’s recent book, Rhode Island Election Tickets: A Survey of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century …
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The Murder Trial of the Reverend Ephraim Avery at Newport (Part II of II)
10 months ago

The Murder Trial of the Reverend Ephraim Avery at Newport (Part II of II)

By  •  Crime

[From the editor: The following is the second installment of a two-part article from a chapter in a book written by Edmund Pearson, Murder at Smutty Note and Other Murders …
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The Murder of Sarah Maria Cornell in Tiverton in 1832 (Part I of II)
11 months ago

The Murder of Sarah Maria Cornell in Tiverton in 1832 (Part I of II)

By  •  Crime

[From the editor:  The following first installment of a two-part article is.” from a chapter in a book written by Edmund Pearson, Murder at Smutty Note and Other Murders (Garden …
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