Rhode Island

Rhode Island,

island, 15 mi (24 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, S R.I., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It is the largest island in the state, with steep cliffs and excellent beaches. Known to the Native Americans and early colonials as Aquidneck (əkwĭd`nĕk), it was renamed Rhode Island (probably after the isle of Rhodes) in 1644. Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth are on the island.

Rhode Island,

smallest state in the United States, located in New England; bounded by Massachusetts (N and E), the Atlantic Ocean (S), and Connecticut (W). Its official name is the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Facts and Figures

Area, 1,214 sq mi (3,144 sq km). Pop. (2010) 1,052,567, a .4% increase since the 2000 census. Capital and largest city, Providence. Statehood, May 29, 1790 (13th of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution). Highest pt., Jerimoth Hill, 812 ft (248 m); lowest pt., sea level. Nickname, Little Rhody. Motto, Hope. State bird, Rhode Island red. State flower, violet. State tree, red maple. Abbr., R.I.; RI

Geography

Rhode Island is the smallest of the 50 states and except for New Jersey the most densely populated. The dominant physiographic feature of the state is the Narragansett basin, a shallow lowland area of Carboniferous sediments, extending into SE Massachusetts and, in Rhode Island, partly submerged as Narragansett BayNarragansett Bay,
arm of the Atlantic Ocean, 30 mi (48 km) long and from 3 to 12 mi (4.8–19 km) wide, deeply indenting the state of Rhode Island. Its many inlets provided harbors that were advantageous to colonial trade and later to resort development.
..... Click the link for more information. . The bay cuts inland c.30 mi (50 km) to Providence, where it receives the Blackstone River; it contains several islands, including Rhode Island (or Aquidneck), the largest (and the site of historic Newport); Conanicut Island, with the resort of JamestownJamestown.
1 City (1990 pop. 34,681), Chautauqua co., W N.Y., on Chautauqua Lake; founded c.1806, inc. as a city 1886. It is the business and financial center of a dairy, livestock, and vineyard area.
..... Click the link for more information. ; and Prudence Island. The coastline between Point Judith and Watch Hill is marked by sand spits and barrier beaches, sheltering lagoons and salt marshes. Glaciation left many small lakes, and the rolling hilly surface of the state is cut by short, swift streams with numerous falls. Although more than half of Rhode Island is covered with forests, it is highly urbanized. ProvidenceProvidence,
city (1990 pop. 160,728), state capital and seat of Providence co., NE R.I., a port at the head of Providence Bay; founded by Roger Williams 1636, inc. as a city 1832.
..... Click the link for more information. is the capital and the largest city; other important cities are WarwickWarwick
, city (1990 pop. 85,427), Kent co., central R.I., at the head of Narragansett Bay; settled by Samuel Gortone 1642, inc. as a city 1931. Its long important textile industry, now closed, dated from 1794.
..... Click the link for more information. , CranstonCranston,
industrial city (1990 pop. 76,060), Providence co., central R.I., a residential suburb of Providence; inc. as a town 1754, as a city 1910. Its manufactures include machinery, plastics, rubber products, and chemicals.
..... Click the link for more information. , PawtucketPawtucket
, city (1990 pop. 72,644), Providence co., NE R.I., on the Blackstone River at Pawtucket Falls; settled 1671, inc. 1885 after the eastern section (which was part of Massachusetts until 1862) was merged with the western section into a Rhode Island town.
..... Click the link for more information. , and NewportNewport.
1 City (1990 pop. 18,871), seat of Campbell co., N Ky., on the Ohio River opposite Cincinnati and on the east bank of the Licking River opposite Covington; laid out 1791, inc. as a city 1835.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Rhode Island's coast is lined with resorts noted for their swimming and boating facilities, and windswept Block Island is a favorite vacation spot. Narragansett Bay is famous for its sailboats and yachts. The America's Cup yacht race has been held in Newport several times, beginning in 1930 and most recently in 1983. The state also has many historic attractions.

Economy

Rhode Island's traditional manufacturing economy has diversified and is now also based on services, trade (retail and wholesale), and finance. In spite of this, many of the products for which Rhode Island is famous are still being manufactured. These include jewelry, silverware, textiles, primary and fabricated metals, machinery, electrical equipment, and rubber and plastic items. Tourism and gambling are also important. Agriculture is relatively unimportant to the economy. Most of the farmland is used for dairying and poultry raising, and the state is known for its Rhode Island Red chickens. Principal crops are nursery and greenhouse items. Commercial fishing is an important but declining industry. Narragansett Bay abounds in shellfish; flounder and porgy are also caught. Naval facilities at Newport contribute to the state's income.

Government, Politics, and Higher Education

Rhode Island's present constitution was adopted in 1842 and has been often amended. The state's executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term and eligible for reelection. The bicameral legislature has a senate with 50 members and a house with 75, all elected for two-year terms. Local government is carried out on the city level; Rhode Island's counties have no political functions. The state sends two senators and two representatives to the U.S. Congress; it has four electoral votes. Rhode Island is solidly Democratic, but Lincoln Almond, a Republican, was elected governor in 1994 and reelected in 1998, and he was succeeded by another Republican, Donald Carcieri, elected in 2002 and again in 2006. In 2010 Lincoln Chafee, an independent, was elected to the office. Democrat Gina Raimondo was elected governor in 2014 and reelected in 2018; she was the first woman to win the office.

The state's leading educational institutions are Brown Univ. and the Rhode Island School of Design, at Providence, and the Univ. of Rhode Island, at Kingston.

History

Early Exploration and Colonization

The region of Rhode Island was probably visited (1524) by Verrazzano, and in 1614 the area was explored by the Dutchman Adriaen Block. Roger Williams, banished (1635) from the Massachusetts Bay colony, established in 1636 the first settlement in the area at Providence on land purchased from Native Americans of the NarragansettNarragansett
, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Part of the Eastern Woodlands culture (see under Natives, North American), in the early 17th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. tribe. In 1638, Puritan exiles bought the island of Aquidneck (now Rhode Island) from the Narragansetts. There they established the settlement of Portsmouth (1638). Because of factional differences, Newport was founded (1639) on the southwest side of the island, but the two towns later combined governments (1640–47). Another settlement, Warwick, was made on the western shore of Narragansett Bay in 1642.

In order to thwart claims made to the area by the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, Williams, through influential friends, secured (1644) a parliamentary patent under which the four towns drew up a code of civil law and organized (1647) a government. The liberal charter granted (1663) by Charles II of England ensured the colony's survival, although boundary difficulties with Massachusetts and Connecticut continued well into the 18th cent.

The early settlers were mostly of English stock. Many were drawn to the colony by the guarantee of religious freedom, a cardinal principle with Williams, confirmed in the patent of 1644 and reaffirmed by the royal charter of 1663. Jews settled in Newport in the first year of Williams' presidency (1654), and Quakers followed in large numbers. All the early settlers owned land that, following Williams' practice, was bought from the Native Americans. Fishing and trade supplemented the living won from the soil. Moreover, livestock from the Narragansett county (South County), especially the famous Narragansett pacers, figured largely in the early commerce, which developed rapidly in the late 17th cent.

Because of the colony's religious freedom, it was viewed with mixed loathing and fear by the more powerful neighboring colonies and was never admitted to the New England ConfederationNew England Confederation,
union for "mutual safety and welfare" formed in 1643 by representatives of the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven.
..... Click the link for more information. . However, it bore its share of the devastation caused by King Philip's WarKing Philip's War,
1675–76, the most devastating war between the colonists and the Native Americans in New England. The war is named for King Philip, the son of Massasoit and chief of the Wampanoag. His Wampanoag name was Metacom, Metacomet, or Pometacom.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1675–76. Between 1750 and 1770 there was bitter strife between Providence and Newport over control of the colony.

The Coming of Revolution

Until the American Revolution, Newport was the commercial center of the colony, thriving especially on the triangular trade in rum, slaves, and molasses. Rhode Island, like other colonies, objected to British mercantilist policies and consistently violated the Molasses Act of 1733 and the Navigation ActsNavigation Acts,
in English history, name given to certain parliamentary legislation, more properly called the British Acts of Trade. The acts were an outgrowth of mercantilism, and followed principles laid down by Tudor and early Stuart trade regulations.
..... Click the link for more information. . Narragansett Bay became a notorious haven for smugglers, and the British revenue cutter Gaspee was burned (1772) by patriots in protest against the enforcement of revenue laws.

After the start of the American Revolution, Rhode Island militia under Nathanael Greene joined (1775) the Continental Army at Cambridge, and on May 4, 1776, the province renounced its allegiance to George III. British forces occupied parts of Rhode Island from 1776 to 1779, when they withdrew before the arrival of the French fleet. The Revolution won, Rhode Island, jealous of its independence, refused to sanction a national import duty; it therefore deprived the Continental Congress of a major source of revenue and became one of the states responsible for the failure of the Articles of ConfederationConfederation, Articles of,
in U.S. history, ratified in 1781 and superseded by the Constitution of the United States in 1789. The imperative need for unity among the new states created by the American Revolution and the necessity of defining the relative powers of the
..... Click the link for more information. . Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia and resisted ratifying the Constitution until the federal government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state; even then, ratification passed (1790) by only two votes.

Industrialization

The post-Revolutionary era brought bankruptcy and currency difficulties. Shipping, which continued to be a major factor in the state's economy until the first quarter of the 19th cent., was hard hit by Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807Embargo Act of 1807,
passed Dec. 22, 1807, by the U.S. Congress in answer to the British orders in council restricting neutral shipping and to Napoleon's restrictive Continental System. The U.S.
..... Click the link for more information. and by the competition from larger ports such as New York and Boston. However, this post-Revolutionary period also marked the beginning of Rhode Island's industrial greatness. Samuel Slater built the first successful American cotton-textile mill at Pawtucket in 1790. An abundance of water power led to the rapid development of manufacturing, in which merchants and shipping magnates invested their capital.

With the growth of industry the towns increased in population, and Providence surpassed Newport as the commercial center of the state. Since suffrage had long been restricted to freeholders, Rhode Island's increased urbanization resulted in the disenfranchisement of most townspeople. Frustrated in repeated attempts to amend the constitution, many Rhode Islanders joined Thomas Wilson Dorr in forcibly establishing an illegal state government in Providence in 1842. Dorr's Rebellion, though abortive, resulted in the adoption of a new constitution (1842) extending suffrage; however, the property qualification was not abolished until 1888. Antislavery sentiment was strong in Rhode Island, and the state firmly supported the Union in the Civil War.

Mill Towns, Discontent, and a Changing Economy

Until well into the 20th cent. Rhode Island's political and economic life was dominated by mill owners. (Nelson W. AldrichAldrich, Nelson Wilmarth,
1841–1915, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, b. Foster, R.I. He rose in local politics as state assemblyman (1875–76) and U.S. Representative (1879–81) before he served as Senator (1881–1911). Aldrich, after the death of Henry B.
..... Click the link for more information. was a power in the nation as well as the state.) The small mill towns, with their company houses and company stores and their large numbers of foreign-born residents, were important elements in the social fabric. English, Irish, and Scottish settlers had begun arriving in large numbers in the first half of the 19th cent.; French Canadian immigration commenced around the time of the Civil War; at the end of the 19th cent. and the beginning of the 20th there was a large influx of Poles, Italians, and Portuguese. Politically, Rhode Island was generally controlled by Republicans until the 1930s, when the Democrats' insistence on reapportionment of representation (which tended to favor small towns over urban areas) helped bring their party into power.

Sporadic labor troubles in the 19th cent. had little effect on the state's economy. However, after World War I there was a long textile strike, centered in the Blackstone valley; this, together with the gradual removal of the mills to the South—the source of the cotton supply where labor was cheaper—led to a continuing decline in the cotton-textile industry. Nevertheless, the manufacture of textile products is still carried on in the state today and new industries such as high-technology electronics have been introduced. Since the 1970s the overall shift in the state's economy has been away from manufacturing altogether and toward the service sector. This shift has coincided with major suburban growth.

Bibliography

See P. J. Coleman, Transformation of Rhode Island, 1790–1860 (1963); F. G. Bates, Rhode Island and the Formation of the Union (1967); W. G. McLoughlin, Rhode Island: A History (1978); M. Wright and R. Sullivan, The Rhode Island Atlas (1982); P. T. Conley, An Album of Rhode Island History, 1636–1986 (1986).

Rhode Island State Information

Phone: (401) 222-2000
www.ri.gov

Area (sq mi):: 1545.05 (land 1044.93; water 500.12) Population per square mile: 1029.90
Population 2005: 1,076,189 State rank: 0 Population change: 2000-20005 2.70%; 1990-2000 4.50% Population 2000: 1,048,319 (White 81.90%; Black or African American 4.50%; Hispanic or Latino 8.70%; Asian 2.30%; Other 8.30%). Foreign born: 11.40%. Median age: 36.70
Income 2000: per capita $21,688; median household $42,090; Population below poverty level: 11.90% Personal per capita income (2000-2003): $29,214-$32,038
Unemployment (2004): 5.20% Unemployment change (from 2000): 1.00% Median travel time to work: 22.50 minutes Working outside county of residence: 35.30%

List of Rhode Island counties:

Bristol County

Kent County

Newport County

Providence County

Washington County

Rhode Island Parks

US National Parks
Roger Williams National Memorial
Touro Synagogue National Historic Site

State Parks

Arcadia Management Area
Beavertail State Park
Blackstone River Bikeway
Brenton Point State Park
Burlingame State Park
Charlestown Breachway
Colt State Park
East Bay Bike Path

East Beach
East Matunuck State Beach
Fishermen's Memorial State Park
Fort Adams State Park
Fort Wetherill State Park
George Washington Management Area
Goddard Memorial State Park
Haines Memorial State Park

Lincoln Woods State Park
Misquamicut State Beach
Roger W. Wheeler State Beach
Salty Brine State Beach
Scarborough State Beach
Snake Den State Park
World War II Memorial State Park

National Wildlife Refuges

Block Island National Wildlife Refuge
John H. Chafee National Wildlife Refuge at Pettaquamscutt Cove

Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge
Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge

Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge

National Heritage Areas
Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

Rhode Island

a state on the Atlantic seaboard of the USA, in New England. Area, 3,200 sq km. Population, 947,000 (1970). The capital, largest city, and principal port is Providence.

Rhode Island, although the smallest state, is one of the most densely populated (approximately 300 inhabitants per sq km), urbanized (87 percent of the population), and industrially developed states. Manufacturing employs 120,000 people, 34 percent of the economically active population, while agriculture employs 3,200, or less than 1 percent. The main industries are textile manufacture, machine building, metalworking, the manufacture of jewelry, rubber products, and clothing accessories, and printing. These industries are centered in Providence and its suburbs. Agriculture is of a suburban type (dairy products, eggs, berries), with livestock raising predominating; most of the concentrated feed is brought in from outside the state. Rhode Island also has a fishing industry and enjoys considerable economic benefits from tourism.

Rhode Island

Thirteenth state; adopted the U.S. Constitution on May 29, 1790

State capital: Providence Nicknames: The Ocean State; Little Rhody; Plantation State State motto: Hope State bird: Rhode Island red hen State drink: Coffee milk State flower: Violet (Viola palmata) State folk art: Charles I.D. Looff Carousel (Crescent Park

Carousel) State fruit: Rhode Island greening apple State mineral: Bowenite State rock: Cumberlandite State shell: Quahaug (Mercenaria mercenaria) State song: “Rhode Island, It’s for Me” State tall ship and flagship: USS Providence (replica) State tartan: Rhode Island State tree: Red maple (Acer rubrum) State yacht: Courageous

More about state symbols at:

www.visitrhodeisland.com/make-plans/for-students/ www.ri.gov/facts/factsfigures.php

SOURCES:

AmerBkDays-2000, p. 401 AnnivHol-2000, p. 89

STATE OFFICES:

State web site: www.ri.gov

Office of the Governor State House Providence, RI 02903 401-222-2080

fax: 401-273-5729
www.governor.state.ri.us

Secretary of State
217 State House
Providence, RI 02903
401-222-2357
fax: 401-222-1356
www.state.ri.us

Rhode Island Office of Library & Information Services
1 Capitol Hill
4th Fl
Providence, RI 02908
401-222-2726
fax: 401-222-4195
www.olis.state.ri.us

Legal Holidays:

Victory Day

Aug 8, 2011; Aug 13, 2012; Aug 12, 2013; Aug 11, 2014; Aug 10, 2015; Aug 8, 2016; Aug 14, 2017; Aug 13, 2018; Aug 12, 2019; Aug 10, 2020; Aug 9, 2021; Aug 8, 2022; Aug 14, 2023

Rhode Island

smallest of the fifty states; nicknamed “Little Rhodie.” [Am. Hist.: NCE, 2315]See: Smallness

Rhode Island

a state of the northeastern US, bordering on the Atlantic: the smallest state in the US; mainly low-lying and undulating, with an indented coastline in the east and uplands in the northwest. Capital: Providence. Pop.: 1 076 164 (2003 est.). Area: 2717 sq. km (1049 sq. miles)

Rhode island

RHODE ISLAND. The name of one of the original states of the United States of America. This state was settled by emigrants from Massachusetts, who assumed the government of themselves by a voluntary association, which was soon discovered to be insufficient for their protection. In 1643, a charter of incorporation of Providence Plantations was obtained; and in 1644, the two houses of parliament, during the forced absence of Charles the First, granted a charter for the incorporation of the towns of Providence, Newport and Portsmouth, for the absolute government of themselves, according to the laws of England. Soon after the restoration of Charles the Second, in July, 1663, the inhabitants obtained a new charter from the crown. Upon the accession of James, the inhabitants were accused of a violation of their charter; and a quo warranto was filed against them, when they resolved to surrender it. In 1686, their government was dissolved, and Sir Edward Andros assumed, by royal authority, the administration of the colony. The revolution of 1688 put an end to his power and the colony immediately resumed its charter, the powers of which, with some interruptions, it continued to maintain and exercise down to the period of the American Revolution.
2. This charter remained as the fundamental law of the state until the first Tuesday of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three. A convention of the people assembled in November, 1842, and adopted a constitution which went into operation in May, 1843, as above mentioned.
3. By the third article of the constitution the powers of the government are distributed into three departments; the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.
4.-Sec. 1. The fourth article regulates the legislative power as follows, to wit: Sect. 1. This constitution shall be the supreme law of the state, and any law inconsistent therewith shall be void. The general assembly shall pass all laws necessary to carry this constitution into effect.
5.-Sect. 2. The legislative power, under this constitution, shall be vested in two houses, the one to be called the senate, the other the house of representatives; and both together the, general assembly. The concurrence of the two houses shall be necessary to the enactment of laws. The style of their laws shall be, It is enacted by the general assembly as follows.
6.-Sect. 3. There shall be two sessions of the general assembly holden annually; one at Newport, on the first Tuesday of May, for the purposes of election and other business; the other on the last Monday of October, which last session shall be holden at South Kingstown once in two years, and the intermediate years alternately at Bristol and East Greenwich; and an adjournment for the October session shall be holden annually at Providence.
7.-Sect. 4. No member of the general assembly shall take any fee, or be of counsel in any case pending before either house of the general assembly, under penalty of forfeiting his seat, upon proof thereof to the satisfaction of the house of which he is a member.
8.-Sect. 5. The person of every member of the general assembly shall be exempt from arrest and his estate from attachment, in any civil action, during the session of the general assembly, and two days before the commencement, and two days after the termination thereof; and all process served contrary hereto shall be void. For any speech in debate in either house, no member shall be questioned in any other place.
9.-Sect. 6. Each house shall be the judge of the elections and qualifications of its members; and a majority shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as may be prescribed by such house or by law. The organization of the two houses may be regulated by law, subject to the limitations contained in this constitution.
10.-Sect. 7. Each house may determine its rules of proceeding, punish contempts, punish its members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member; but not a second time for the same cause.
11.-Sect. 8. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings. The yeas and nays of the members of either house, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
12.-Sect. 9. Neither house shall, during a session, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days, nor to any other place than that in which they may be sitting.
13.-Sect. 10. The general assembly shall continue to exercise the powers they have heretofore exercised, unless prohibited in this constitution.
14.-Sect. 11. The senators and representatives shall receive the sum of one dollar for every day of attendance, and eight cents per mile for travelling expenses in going to and returning, from the general assembly. The general assembly shall regulate the compensation of the governor and all other officers, subject to the limitations contained in this constitution.
15.-Sect. 12. All lotteries shall hereafter be prohibited in this state, except those already authorized by the general assembly.
16.-Sect. 13. The general assembly shall have no power hereafter, without the express consent of the people, to incur state debts to an amount exceeding fifty thousand dollars, except in time of war, or in case of insurrection or invasion, nor shall they in any case, without such consent, pledge the faith of the state for the payment of the obligations of others. This section shall not be construed to refer to any money that may be deposited with this state by the government of the United States.
17.-Sect. 14. The assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the general assembly shall be required to every bill appropriating the public money or property for local or private purposes.
18.-Sect. 15. The general assembly shall, from time to time, provide for making new valuations of property for the assessment of taxes, in such manner as they may deem best. A new estimate of such property shall be taken before the first direct state tax, after the adoption of this constitution, shall be assessed.
19.-Sect. 16. The general assembly may provide by law for the continuance in office of any officers of annual election or appointment, until other persons are qualified to take their places.
20.-Sect. 17. Hereafter when any bill shall be presented to either house of the general assembly, to create a corporation for any other than for religious, literary or charitable purposes, or for a military or fire company, it shall be continued until another election of members of the general assembly shall have taken place, and such public notice of the pendency thereof shall be given as may be required by law.
21.-Sect 18. It shall be the duty of the two houses upon the request of either, to join in grand committee for the purpose of electing senators in congress, at such times and in such manner as may be prescribed by law for said elections.
22. Having disposed of the rules which regulate both houses, a detailed statement of the powers of the house of representatives will here be given.
23.-1. The house of representatives is regulated by the fifth article as follows; Sect. 1. The house of representatives shall never exceed seventy-two members, and shall be constituted on the basis of population, always allowing one representative for a fraction, exceeding half the ratio; but each town or city shall always be entitled to at least one member; and no town or city shall have more than one-sixth of the whole number of members to which the house is hereby limited. The present ratio shall be one representative to every fifteen hundred and thirty inhabitants, and the general assembly may, after any new census taken by the authority of the United States or of this state, re-apportion the representation by altering the ratio; but no town or city shall be divided into districts for the choice of representatives.
25.-Sect. 2. The house of representatives shall have authority to elect its speaker, clerks and other officers. The senior member from the town of Newport, if any be present, shall preside in the organization of the house.
26.-2. The senate is the subject of the sixth article, as follows: Sect. 1. The senate shall consist of the lieutenant-governor and of one senator from each town or city in the state.
27.-Sect. 2. The governor, and, in his absence the lieutenant-governor, shall preside in the senate and in grand committee. The presiding officer of the senate and grand committee shall have a right to vote in case of equal division, but not otherwise.
28. Sect. 3. If, by reason of death, resignation, absence, or other cause, there be no governor or lieutenant governor present, to preside in the senate, the senate shall elect one of their own members to preside during such absence or vacancy, and until such election is made by the senate, the secretary of state shall preside.
29.-Sect. 4. The secretary of state shall, by virtue of his office, be secretary of the senate, unless otherwise provided by law; and the senate may elect such other officers as they may deem necessary.
30.-Sec. 2. The seventh article regulates the executive power. It provides: Sect. 1. The chief executive power of this state shall be vested in a governor, who, together with a lieutenant governor, shall be annually elected by the people.
31.-Sect. 2. The governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
32.-Sect. 3. He shall be captain general and commander-in-chief of the military and naval force of this state, except when they shall be called into the service of the United States.
33.-Sect. 4. He shall have power to grant reprieves after conviction, in all cases except those of impeachment, until the end of the next session of the general assembly.
34.-Sect. 5. He may fill vacancies in office not otherwise provided for by this constitution, or by law, until the same shall be filled by the general assembly, or by the people.
35.-Sect. 6. In case of disagreement between the two houses of the general assembly, respecting the time or place of adjournment, certified to him by either, he may adjourn them to such time and place as he shall think proper; provided that the time of adjournment shall not be extended beyond the day of the next stated session.
36.-Sect. 7. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the general assembly at any town or city in this state, at any time not provided for by law; and in case of danger from the prevalence of epidemic or contagious disease, in the place in which the general assembly are by law to meet, or to which they may have been adjourned; or for other urgent reasons, he may, by proclamation, convene said assembly, at any other place within this state.
37.-Sec. 8. All commissions shall be in the name and by the authority of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; shall be sealed with the state seal, signed by the governor and attested by the secretary.
38.-Sect. 9. In case of vacancy in the office of governor, or of his inability to serve, impeachment, or absence from the state, the lieutenant governor shall fill the office of governor and exercise the powers and authority appertaining thereto, until a governor is qualified to act, or until the office is filled at the next annual election.
39.-Sect. 10. If the offices of governor and lieutenant governor be both vacant by reason of death, resignation, impeachment, absence, or otherwise, the person entitled to preside over the senate for the time being, shall in like manner fill the office of governor during such absence or vacancy.
40.-Sec. 11. The compensation of the governor and lieutenant governor shall be established by law, and shall not be diminished during the term for which they are elected.
41.-Sect. 12. The duties and powers of the secretary, attorney general, and general treasurer, shall be the same under this constitution as are now established, or as from time to time may be prescribed by law.
42.-Sec. 3. The judicial power is regulated by the tenth article as follows: Sect. 1. The judicial power of this state shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the general assembly may from time to time, ordain and establish.
43.-Sect. 2. The several courts shall have such jurisdiction as, may from time to time be prescribed by law. Chancery powers may be conferred on the supreme court, but on no other court to any greater extent than is now provided by law.
44.-Sect. 3. The judges of the supreme court shall in all trials, instruct the jury in the law. They shall also give their written opinion upon any question of law whenever requested by the governor, or by either house of the general assembly.
45.-Sect. 4. The judges of the supreme court shall be elected by the two houses in grand committee. Each judge shall hold his office until his place be declared vacant by a resolution of the general assembly to that effect; which resolution shall be voted for by a majority of all the members elected to the house in which it may originate, and be concurred in by the same majority of the other house. Such resolution shall not be entertained at any other than the annual session for the election of public officers: and in default of the passage thereof at said session, the judge shall hold his place as herein provided. But a judge of any court shall be removed from office, if, upon impeachment, he shall be found guilty of any official misdemeanor.
46.-Sect. 5. In case of vacancy by death, resignation, removal from the state or from office, refusal or inability to serve, of any judge of the supreme court, the office may be filled by the grand committee, until the next annual election, and the judge then elected shall hold his office as before provided. In cases of impeachment, or temporary absence or inability, the governor may appoint a person to discharge the duties of the office during the vacancy caused thereby.
47.-Sect. 6. The judges of the supreme court shall receive a compensation for their services, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
48.-Sect. 7. The towns of New Shoreham and Jamestown may continue to elect their wardens as heretofore. The other towns and the city of Providence, may elect such number of justices of the peace resident therein, as they may deem proper. The jurisdiction of said justices and wardens shall be regulated by law. The justices shall be commissioned by the governor.

Rhode Island

Rhode Island

Rhode Island

Rhode` Is′land

Rhode Island

Rhode Island,

Rhode Island,

Facts and Figures

Geography

Economy

Government, Politics, and Higher Education

History

Early Exploration and Colonization

The Coming of Revolution

Industrialization

Mill Towns, Discontent, and a Changing Economy

Bibliography

Rhode Island State Information

List of Rhode Island counties:

Rhode Island Parks

Rhode Island

Rhode Island

Legal Holidays:

Rhode Island

Rhode Island

Rhode island

Rhode Island

Synonyms for Rhode Island

noun a state in New England

Synonyms

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