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Country Party (Rhode Island)
Encyclopedia
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Rhode Island General Assembly
The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Senate with 38 senators...
from 1786 and 1790 and opposed the Federalist Party, which supported the U.S. Constitution. The Federalists were largely from the "town," Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, while the Country Party members were from the surrounding rural areas. The Country Party opposed the U.S. Constitution largely because of civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
concerns (support for the Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
), distrust of distant government, opposition to slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
in the Constitution, and disagreements about monetary policy
Monetary policy
Monetary policy is the process by which the monetary authority of a country controls the supply of money, often targeting a rate of interest for the purpose of promoting economic growth and stability. The official goals usually include relatively stable prices and low unemployment...
(honoring paper currency as legal tender).
Control of the General Assembly
Although Rhode Island passed legislation asserting its independence from Great Britain prior to the Declaration of IndependenceDeclaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
in 1776, it remained the last of the thirteen colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Rhode Island's movement for state independence lasted long after the passage of the Constitution in 1788. Scituate
Scituate, Rhode Island
Scituate is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 10,329 at the 2010 census.-History:Scituate was first settled in 1710 by emigrants from Scituate, Massachusetts...
's William West and South Kingstown's Jonathan Hazard
Jonathan Hazard
Jonathan J. Hazard was an American statesman and anti-federalist who served as a delegate for Rhode Island in the Continental Congress....
were leaders of the rural party. The Country Party "was suspicious of the power and the cost of a government too far removed from the grass-roots level, and so it declined to dispatch delegates to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, which drafted the United States Constitution. Then, when that document was presented to the states for ratification, Hazard's faction delayed (and nearly prevented) Rhode Island's approval."
Rhode Island Quakers were opposed to the Constitution largely because of its sanctioning of slavery. Some Rhode Islanders were also concerned about the Constitution for libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
reasons and wanted a Bill of Rights
Bill of rights
A bill of rights is a list of the most important rights of the citizens of a country. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement. The term "bill of rights" originates from England, where it referred to the Bill of Rights 1689. Bills of rights may be entrenched or...
to protect individual liberties, particularly Baptists (one of the largest denominations in Rhode Island) who had historically been persecuted by central governments. In the rural areas of Rhode Island, citizens wanted to ensure that their paper currency was redeemable as legal tender
Legal tender
Legal tender is a medium of payment allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. Paper currency is a common form of legal tender in many countries....
in the future.
William West's protest
William West led nearly 1,000 armed, rural farmers to Providence to protest an ox roast celebration and toast to the Constitution on the 4th of JulyIndependence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
in 1788 (shortly after the ninth state had ratified it). A compromise between the federalists and anti-federalists was reached, and civil war was averted (the federalists agreed to celebrate only independence and not the adoption of the Constitution). The incident was largely reported in newspapers throughout the thirteen colonies. Resistance to the Constitution, however, remained strong, and Rhode Island was the last of the 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution in 1790.
Passage of the U.S. Constitution
After delaying a constitutional convention eleven times, the legislature finally called for a convention in South Kingstown (KingstonKingston, Rhode Island
Kingston is a village and a census-designated place in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, and the site of the main campus of the University of Rhode Island. Much of the village center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Kingston Village Historic...
) in March of 1790. After failing to reach a majority, another convention was held in Newport in May of 1790 where the Constitution narrowly passed after several antifederalists absented themselves and Governor John Collins
John Collins (delegate)
John Collins , was the third Governor of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, born in Newport, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Collins.He stood forth as a staunch advocate of the independence of the Thirteen Colonies...
decided to support the Constitution (costing him his office). Rhode Island was the last of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution in 1790 and ratified it by the narrowest margin of any state (34-32) .
Aftermath
Arthur Fenner
Arthur Fenner served as the fourth Governor of Rhode Island from 1790 until his death in 1805 and was a prominent Country Party leader...
, governor for the next 15 years. After passage of the Constitution, some Country Party leaders such as William West were left bankrupt because the federal government refused to honor the state's paper money as legal tender. Also, largely because of Rhode Island and North Carolina's libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
objections, a Bill of Rights passed in 1791.