11/30/2023 0 Comments New port map coloniesAs Newport’s trade throughout the Atlantic basin grew, the city became an epicenter in the development of modern American capitalism.ĭuring the 17th century the cornerstones of Newport’s architectural heritage were laid. Trade and the export of rum, candles, fish, furniture, silver, and other goods were the main engines of economic growth during the 18th century, activities inexorably linked to Newport’s participation in the slave trade and widespread ownership of slaves by families throughout the city.ĭuring this time the waterfront bustled with activity with over 150 separate wharves and hundreds of shops crowded along the harbor between Long Wharf and the southern end of the harbor. Surveyed by Charles Blaskowitz and published by William Faden, 1777. Among the best known of these were the Townsend and Goddard families, who made extraordinarily fine and beautiful furniture.Ī Plan of the Town of Newport in Rhode Island. The Quaker’s neighborhood on Easton’s Point was home to some of the most highly skilled craftsman in colonial America. The Quakers became the most influential of Newport’s numerous early congregations, influencing the political, social and economic life of the town into the 18th century, and their “plain style” of living was reflected in Newport’s architecture, decorative arts and early landscape. The Society of Friends flourished and grew, and, by 1700, over half of Newport’s population were members of the Society of Friends. The Quakers also came to Newport in the late 1650s. Although the Jews came to Newport in the 1650s, their real contribution to the cultural and economic life came in the 1750s. Their presence, along with their international trade connections, helped transform the town from a small agricultural outpost to one of colonial America’s five leading seaports (along with Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston). The founders’ commitment to religious freedom had a profound impact on all aspects of the town’s subsequent history.Īmong the religious groups attracted to this haven in a world of threatening intolerance were Quakers and Jews. These early settlers founded their new town on the basis of liberty of conscience and religion and Newport became one of the first secular democracies in the Atlantic world. A group lead by William Coddington and Nicholas Easton moved south to form Newport in 1639.īy the time they arrived in Newport, many of these settlers were becoming Baptists and embraced a belief that was central for the Baptists of Europe at the time – the separation of church and state. In just over a year, however, that settlement split in two. View from top of Washington Square, or “The Parade.” Oil on canvas, painted by an unidentified Hessian artist, 1818.Īnn Hutchinson’s group settled at the northern end of the island in an area known as Pocasett. Current evidence points to the existence of a large summer settlement in what is now downtown Newport, and the work these native people had done clearing the land was one of the factors that made this area attractive to English settlers. Native people had been in the area for at least 5,000 years, and had established sophisticated land management and fishing practices. What the English settlers found on their arrival was hardly an empty wilderness. After consulting with Williams, her group arranged with the native Americans to settle on Aquidneck Island. She and her band of supporters followed the path taken by Roger Williams when he, too, was banished from Massachusetts for religious reasons. She had been driven out of Boston for her religious beliefs which challenged the very foundations of Puritanism. The first English settlers arrived on Aquidneck Island in 1638 following a remarkable woman named Anne Hutchinson. This contradiction was recognized from the earliest days by many, but it took over 100 years for the abolition movement to gain prominence in the community. However, a central paradox in Newport and Rhode Island’s early history was the combination of a commitment to liberty in the religious realm with a willingness to participate in the practice of enslaving other human beings. This policy was a beacon to settlers with wide-ranging religious beliefs, who came primarily from other colonies at first, and co-existed in the rapidly growing settlement, unaware that their town’s religious diversity was a prototype of the America to come. The policy of liberty of conscience and religion embodied in the Newport Town Statutes of 1641 was a result of the religious beliefs of its founders and their frustration over political intervention in their religious life in Boston. Since its founding by English settlers in 1639, Newport has bustled with diversity.
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