Interviewees:
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C. Morgan Grefe
- Executive Director, Rhode Island Historical Society
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Richard Ring
- Senior Director for Library & Museum Collections, Rhode Island Historical Society
Rhode Island politics before the Revolution were defined by a decades-long rivalry between the Hopkins faction, centered in Providence and allied with the Browns, and the Ward faction, centered in Newport and allied with the Greenes of Warwick. Governor Joseph Wanton, elected in 1769, was eventually removed after the General Assembly declared his conduct since the 1775 Battle of Lexington and Concord hostile to the rights and liberties of America. Nicholas Cooke of Providence replaced him. Stephen Hopkins, a four-time governor and fellow delegate, became Rhode Island's most celebrated signer, remembered for declaring, despite his palsy: “My hand trembles, but my heart does not.”
