The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of Taxation in Rhode Island to the Year 1790, by Henry B. Gardner

2. Wilson, The National Budget, p. 10:

In the year ending March 31, 1886, the net receipts from domains, forests, &c., were only £380,000, out of a total revenue of over £89,000,000, but it is interesting to notice that even now by the ordinary revenue is understood "the old hereditary property of the king, the original property of the state, which belongs to the king independently of any vote of Parliament," while by extraordinary revenue is understood "the income derived from direct taxation, customs, and excises granted by vote of Parliament," Gneist, Hist. Eng. Const. II, 346-7.

3. Wilson p. 7:

The earliest taxation was on land only. Taxation of personal property was introduced by the Saladin Tithe in 1188. It was the introduction of a poll tax which led to the Wat Tyler rebellion of 1381. The first permanent tax was the hearth money tax imposed in 1663. Much the greater part of the taxes are now permanent.

4. In early times the fines were apportioned among those whose neglect had caused the fine i.e. the freeholders with freeholdings, including houses and profitable rights, as the basis of assessment. (Gneist, Hist. Eng. Const. I, 375, 376.) The system now becomes the household (whether freehold or not) "according to the scale of the visible profitable property in the parish." (Ib. II, 212.) The act itself reads that the overseers of the poor shall have power to raise the necessary funds "by Taxation of every inhabitant, Parson, Vicar and other, and of every occupier of Lands, Houses, Tithes impropriate, Propriations of Tithes, Coal Mines or saleable Underwoods in the said Parish, in such competent Sum and Sums of Money as they shall think fit."

5. No tax was ever levied in support of religion. The colony as a whole seems to have neglected education. In 1640, however, Robert Lenthall, school teacher and minister, was granted 104 acres of land by Newport, and 100 acres was appropriated for a school "for encouragement of the poorer sort." Arnold's Hist. of R.I., Vol. 1, p. 145. Providence also later made some provisions for education.

6. Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and Warwick, founded between 1636 and 1642, were perfectly independent with full powers of self government until united under what is known as the Patent in 1647. This independent character of the towns is brought out in W. E. Foster's Town Government in Rhode Island--John Hopkins University Studies, Fourth Series.

7. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 27-31.

8. Among the entries under the first day of which we have record is an order for the appointment of a treasurer for the "expending of the Towne's stock." (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 13) Some months later it is provided that any one more than a quarter of an hour late at a town meeting shall be fined 1s. 6d. (ib. p. 15) An entry under the second year shows that payments had been made for lands received by new comers, and like payments are ordered to be made by future comers, but the amounts are illegible. (Staples' Annals of Prov., p. 23) In 1661, Roger Williams in speaking of the year 1638, says it was agreed that every person admitted to "injoying landes" should pay 30s. to the common stock (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 23) And in the articles of government in 1640, it is provided that every one received as a townsman shall make the same payment (ib. 30) The same provision is included in the plan for a new settlement proposed by Roger Williams (ib. 40)

9. At Portsmouth the charge was 2s. per acre (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 56)

10. In 1638, a fence was ordered to be built "the charge to be borne proportionally to every mans allottment." (repealed). In the same year two treasurers are chosen; it is ordered that the highways be repaired and that a prison be built both to be paid for out of the treasury. A land subsidy for building a mill is granted and in 1643 a town watch is ordered to be kept every night, also to be paid for out of the treasury. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 53, 57, 58, 59, 78.) Still more interesting is the appointment of four men for the venison trade with the indians. These "truck masters" are forbidden to give more than three half pence a pound, "a farthing for each pound being allowed to the treasury" (Ib. 63) Every inhabitant was ordered to be provided with one musket, one pound of powder, twenty bullets, two fademes of match, sword, rest and bandeliers, (Ib. 54) On another occasion every man was ordered to have by him four pounds of shot and two pounds of powder. (Ib. 77)

11. The treasurer was directed to pay to the secretary for service done £19 and 10 acres of land, and to the sergeant £6. In another instance he is ordered to make a payment of £57 2s. 4d. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 90, 95) There is no evidence of the payment of the judge and elders, who were both executive and judicial officers.

12. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 87: This is the first statement (if we except the payment according to allotments ordered at Portsmouth, which was repealed. See above Note 10.) which we find of a principle that could serve as a basis of taxation. Another entry which might point either to payments for lands or taxes is "It is ordered that such as shall bring in their acquittances from the Treasury to the Judge and Elders shall have their Lands recorded." (ib. p. 99). That payments for land were required would seem clear from an order of the General Court of the inhabitants of Portsmouth and Newport, after the union of the two towns, directing the "Treasurer to make demands for all such monies as are due to the Treasurers for the Lands assigned forth to particular men." (ib. 103)

13. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 122: The order directs "that the three shillings a day allowance be taken off from the Officers." The "Officers" might imply that all offices were paid, but there has been no mention of payment except to the secretary and sergeant. It is not unlikely that the magistrates received fees in their judicial capacity.

14. A committee appointed to examine and balance the accounts of the treasurers reported that £111, 3s. 4d. was due from the treasury of Newport. The frequent examinations of accounts which are ordered also show that financial matters are increasing in importance.

15. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 125.

16. This interruption was caused by William Coddington, a citizen of Newport, who obtained from the Council of State in England a grant to govern the islands of Rhode Island and Conanicut, with a council of six men named by the people and approved by himself. The grant was repealed in Oct. 1652, but mutual jealousies kept the towns apart till the date given.

17. Government under the Patent was marked by extreme decentralization. At first all legislative powers remained with the freemen of the towns; the committee could merely propose measures and declare the decisions reached by the freemen. The committee, however, tended to become the legislative body and was regularly established as such on the resumption of the government in 1654. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 276 et seq.)

18. No solicitor was elected after 1684.

19. This continued until 1747. Arnold Hist. of R.I. II, 157.

20. There are several instances of laws imposing fines of from £1 to £10 for refusal to bear office. A man could not be compelled however to bear office for several years in succession. In 1659, an assistant who had been elected several times was excused from further service, and a law of 1665, imposing a fine of £5 on constables for refusal to serve, provided that the same man should not be elected more than once in three years. By act of 1672, no man need serve as a deputy for two courts in succession. More than this, a town law, "declared all the inhabitants, though not admitted freemen, liable to be elected to office," (Staples Annals of Prov. p. 118) By act of Assembly in 1670, any person judged capable of holding public office might be elected a freeman whether he desired it or not. (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 357).

21. The only legislative officers under the Patent who received any pay were the commissioners from the towns, who were allowed 3s. a day payable by the towns, with a double fine for absence (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 307). No salaries appear to have been paid under the charter for the first few years. In 1666, (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 167) 3s. a day was granted to all who served in the general assembly or colony court of trials (except such as had stated fees), payable in the former case by bills receivable for taxes in the town of the holder and in the latter case out of the general treasury. The fine for non-attendance was double the pay. In April, 1672, these salaries were increased, but the increase was repealed the next month, and in November deputies wages were fixed at 2s. a day, payable by the town, with a fine of £1 for non-appearance at the assembly or £2 in case there was no quorum, for an assistant in the latter case the fine was £5. (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 443, 456, 473) By acts of 1664 and 1666, a like fine had been imposed on magistrates absent from the court of trials in case of no quorum. By act of 1680, (R.I. Col. Recs. III, 87) magistrates and deputies were to be paid out of the general treasury at the rate of 7s. a week. Perhaps this was a substitute for the act of 1679. This comprises all the legislation in the records on the subject. There seems to be some doubt as to the extent of the action of these laws. Arnold (Vol. I, 532) says "Salaries had occasionally been paid to the civil officers, but most of the time public service had been performed gratuitously." In any case the imposition of fines for non-attendance must have gone far to make the system self supporting.

22. The sergeant in particular was a considerable source of expense. Several times as late as 1664, we find taxes of from £5 to £25 levied for the payment of his bills, and an act of 1673, recites that the inhabitants have been "greatly oppressed and grieved" by the sergeant's "great wages" and that henceforth he shall receive but 3s. a day for attendance in the general assembly, and simply his fees at the court of trials, instead of "great fees at the Court of Tryalls, and four shillings a day, alsoe" as heretofore.

23. A law of 1670, (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 361) provides that for rates formerly or now ordered the treasurer shall have one shilling in the pound for all he receives in provisions, but nothing for what he shall receive in money or for any fines now due the colony, "and what charge he shall be at he shall be allowed for that besides." In 1671, (ib. 385) it is ordered that for all (in money or other pay) that the treasurer has received during the last, or shall receive during the coming, year he shall be allowed twelve pence on the pound. An audit of 1681, speaks of the treasurer's commissions as 5%. An audit of the accounts of the treasurer under Andros show that the commission was 10%, and this rate seems to have been continued after the reestablishment of the colonial government. In the case of the tax levied in 1679, the towns are ordered to pay the treasurer's salary in addition to the tax, but as a rule his commission seems to have been deducted from the receipts.

24. Later the colony, in some instances, made grants to meet the expenses of certain of the roads and bridges of more than local importance.

25. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 222.

27. This is shown often in the wording of the laws; for example, in the salary law of 1666. (see p. 97 Note 21) the treasurer is ordered to make payment "out of those monies which either by fine, forfeiture or otherwise, are brought into the Treasury," and in the act granting diet and lodging in 1679, (see ib.) the expense is to be met out of "the fines and forfeitures due to the Collony." Taxes are not specified as a source of revenue. The audit reports entered in the colony account book show the same thing. The decentralization which marked the government under the Patent is seen in the order "that the Publick Treasurer shall only receive such fines, forfeitures, amercements and taxes, as fall upon such as are not within the liberties" of the four towns. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 197). An act of 1656 (Ib. 334) provides that all "fines that are committed about ye Generall Courts, as of juriemen, &c., shall all returne and belong to ye Generall Treasurie." And in general it was the fines imposed in the colony courts that were the most fruitful sources of revenue.

28. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 223: The towns of Providence and Warwick were to have each one barrel of powder, five hundred pounds of lead, six pikes, and six muskets. Portsmouth was to have two barrels of powder, one thousand weight of lead, twelve pikes, and eighteen muskets; Newport, three barrels of powder, one thousand weight of lead, twelve pikes, and twenty-four muskets.

29. A tax of £24 was levied for this purpose in November, 1658, and in the following May another of £50 (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 395, 416). It is not quite clear whether or not the second was meant to include the first.

30. Three years later the order had not been complied with. Newport however had a prison under way. This was adopted as the prison of the colony and the other towns were ordered to contribute to the cost. The portion of the law ordering cages to be built was repealed.

31. The claims of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth included practically the whole territory of the colony. The claim of Connecticut up to the bay on the west was not settled until 1703, and the claim of Massachusetts (which had succeeded to the Plymouth claim) up to the bay on the east was not settled until 1746.

32. None of this tax was paid for some years, and the whole amount was never received by Williams (See his letter to the town clerk of Providence, Jan. 1680-81, printed in the Narragansett Club Publications, Vol. 6, p. 400) Contributions (amounting it was claimed to £200) seem to have been taken up in Warwick and Providence to send Williams on his second agency (See R.I. Col. Recs. I, 234, & II, 78), but he was obliged to sell his trading house in Narragansett to support his family during his absence (Arnold I, 239), and he seems to have been compelled to support himself by teaching while in England (Arnold I, 251). As he himself expresses it he was "left to starve, or steal, or beg or borrow." (Letter to Providence R.I. Col. Recs. I, 351). He was also obliged to sell several islands in the bay owned by him to meet his expenses incurred on his journeys to England (Arnold I, 105). Clarke seems to have supported himself in part by preaching and other means. (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 79)

33. It was first attempted to raise the necessary amount by contribution (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 443). About £40 seem to have been secured this way. Those who had contributed were allowed to set off their contributions against their part of the rate.

34. Does not seem to have been fully paid Oct., 1663. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 506)

35. This tax was collected with the greatest difficulty. Hardly any of it seems to have been paid for several years. A "great part" remains unpaid in October, 1669, (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 288) and we find measures taken for its collection in certain places as late as May, 1671. (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 380-3). In October, 1666, (ditto II, 183) it is mentioned that "several persons" are "yett behind" in former rates.

36. Westerly had contributed £65 and was excused from the tax. In May, 1671, (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 380 et seq.) a great portion of this tax had not been assessed.

37. This was the first percentage tax. In May, 1674, "under severall pretences few or none paid." (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 521). Some are also behind in former rates, (ditto 522). So far as shown by the colony account book, the receipts from this tax amounted to but a few pounds.

38. In May, 1679, several towns had not assessed the rate. (R.I. Col. Recs. III, 33) An audit in July, 1681, shows that £108 6s. 10d. is due on this and the rate of 1680, a considerable portion of the deficiency being for the present tax.

39. The sum was paid down by Stephen Arnold, who was guaranteed by the notes of several other persons who in turn were to be paid out of the tax. In June, 1681, certain of those who had given their notes to Arnold petition for relief, from which it is evident that the tax had not been paid. The delinquent towns are ordered to pay.

40. For delinquency in payment see notes 38 and 41.

41. The colony account book shows the receipt of but £59, 13s. 10d. up to September, 1686, from the deficiency of £108, 6s. 10d. (Note 38) and the present tax. More may have been received for the accounts were left in an irregular manner, and the custom of offsetting debts due from the colony against rates may have prevented some payments being recorded at all. On the other hand it was in the summer of 1686, that the colony forfeited its charter so that it would not be strange if the taxes due were not collected.

42. I have been able to find no trace of this tax in the colony records, but such a tax seems to have been ordered by Andros throughout his whole jurisdiction, and it is mentioned as levied in Staples Annals of Providence, p. 177.

43. This tax as assessed in Providence amounted to £37 12s. 3d. of which £14 was poll money, giving the number of polls assessed as 178. The number of separate property assessments was 144. In the rate of £120 levied in the same year Providence paid one sixth of the whole. Using this as a basis of calculation the penny in the pound and poll tax would have amounted to about £225. The other penny in the pound taxes do not seem to have yielded quite so much. The three perhaps yielded about £600.

44. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 104-5. Herdsmen or lightermen detained on their necessary employment were subject to a fine of only 2s. 6d., and farmers might leave one man at home subject to the same penalty.

45. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 153: Provision was also made for archery. Every person above seven years of age was required to be supplied with bow and arrows and to practice shooting. (Ibid 186)

46. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 372: In 1673, those also were exempted who could not fight without violating their conscience. A concession to the Quakers, but the abuse to which the law was subject led to its repeal a few years later.

47. The arms required by the act of 1647, were "a musket, one pound of powder, twenty bullets, and two fadom of match, with sword, rest bandaliers all completely furnished." By act of 1665, in addition to his arms each man must be furnished with two pounds of powder and four pounds of lead or shot. (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 117). Under the law of 1677 the requirements were one gun or musket, one pound of powder, and thirty bullets (Ibid 570). The act of 1665, speaks of the burden on the poorer citizens in keeping their arms in repair, and ammunition on hand, and provides that to meet these expenses nine shillings a year in current pay shall be paid to each enlisted soldier, the necessary amount to be levied by rate. No future law makes any mention of such payment and service was probably as a rule without recompense.

48. We have of course no accurate records of the number of the population at that time. From the data which we do have however it is probably safe to say that when the four towns came together in 1647, the colony contained less than one thousand inhabitants, and that the number gradually increased until at the end of the period, it amounted to between four and five thousand. The royal commissioners reported in 1665, that the "Colony hath its scattered townes upon Rhode Island, two upon the maine land, and four small villages" (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 129). By 1678 the towns had increased to nine, at which number they remained for many years. Certain parts of the colony, as the island and some of the country in the south and to the west of the bay (the Narragansett country) seem to have been very fertile. Say the commissioners above quoted "In this Province also is the best English grasse, and most sheepe, the ground very fruitfull, ewes bring ordinarily two lambs, corn yields eighty for one, and in some places, they have had corne sixe years together without manuring." The industry of the colony at this period was wholly agricultural and tended to stock and dairy farming rather than to the raising of grain. Indeed the colony seems on some occasions to have been dependent on its neighbors to supplement its own supply of the latter article. The colonists seem to have been comfortably off, without either great wealth or great poverty. In Providence estates were of small size (a few acres), life was on a very humble scale, the inhabitants enjoying only the real necessities. On the island estates were also small in size but there was more wealth, and the Narragansett country a few years later saw the growth of large stock farms and plantations, sometimes five, six, or even ten square miles in extent, managed by slave labor. Perhaps the condition of the colony as a whole during the period from 1647 to 1689, is best summed up in the words of Governor Ward in a letter to the Board of Trade many years later, "for, although we were not rich, yet poverty was a stranger among us, till the year 1710." An excellent picture of the early economic development of Providence can be found in Dorr's "Planting and Growth of Providence," published as No. 15 of the Rhode Island Hist. Tracts. A description of the "Narragansett Planters" is given by Mr. Edward Channing (Johns Hopkins University Studies, Series IV, No. III). Not only were the people of that time lacking in wealth according to the standard of today, but the organization of their economic life was entirely different from that we now know. Each family possessed a sufficiency of land, but produced only enough to meet the current needs of the household. There was no chance for saving, investment and accumulation; there was no adequate money system. All this would make a tax fall much more heavily than under our present conditions. Another circumstance that added to the burden was that taxes were not levied continuously, a small amount each year, but in considerable amounts, at intervals of several years. The colony suffered greatly at the time of Philips war. Warwick and a large part of Providence were destroyed, the inhabitants taking refuge on the island. All these considerations must be taken into account in the endeavor to form a judgment of the burden of taxation during the period.

49. In the letter from Roger Williams to the town clerk of Providence, already mentioned (note 32) he says that taxation in Rhode Island is far lighter than in any other colony. He also mentions that the charter cost about £1,000, while that of Connecticut cost £6,000. The letter itself is a plea for the more prompt payment of rates.

50. R.I. Col. Recs. II, 505.

53. That these loans or contributions were often only for a few pounds is expressive of the poverty of the treasury. The occasional reports entered in the colony account book give us some idea of the financial transactions of the colony at this time. The amount entered as due the colony from May, 1672, to May, 1673, was £33, all from fines (£8 from jurors fines), of which £23 12s. had been received. In August, 1673, there was reported due £64 14s. 4d. for rates and fines unpaid between 1664 and 1670. The amount expended from May, 1672, to August, 1673, was £21 6s. 3d. for jury dinners, provisions for the general court (wine and brandy), for transportation of public officers, for books for the treasurer, for capturing a prisoner, for support of prisoners, for hanging prisoners, for messengers to and from Plymouth. The audit committee in August, report £137 6s. due from the colony. The receipts entered from October, 1673, to May, 1675, are £125 9s. 10d. of which £95 is specified as coming from fines, and £3 12s. from rates (the farthing in the pound rate of 1673), the remainder not being specified. This may not be the amount actually received, but rather what was known to be due the treasury, for the amount entered as expended between May, 1672, and April, 1677, was £101 2s. 3d., the most important items being as before jury dinners. (£7 1s. 8d.) criminal matters (£ll 16s. 6d.), carriage of public officers (£2 11s.), general sergeant (£23 1s. O.) general recorder (£17 11s.) The committee to audit the accounts of Peleg Sanford whose term of office as treasurer was from May, 1678 to May, 1681, reported payments amounting to £392 1s. 9d., largely for surveys made in the Narragansett country, expenses in connection with the boundary line, and other expenses similar to those previously mentioned. In the greater part of the payments, however, only the name of the person paid and not the purpose is given. Some of these payments may have been on account of expenses in connection with the war. Fines form a principal element of the receipts, but the principal item was £299 13s. 2d. from the taxes of 1678 and 1680. The expenditures entered between September, 1681, and September, 1686, amounts to only £82 0s. 11d. largely for jury dinners and payments to the sergeant and recorder. The audit of the accounts of the treasurer under Andros show nominal receipts of £213 6s. 8d. from taxes, and expenditures of £232 7s. 1d, the principal items being the court houses and the bounty on wolves, the purposes for which the taxes were laid, and payment of the sheriff. (£18 4s.).

54. One of the complaints made against the colony by Bellemont in 1699 was, "They raise and levy taxes and assessments upon the people, there being no express authority in the charter for so doing." (R.I. Col. Rec. III, 386). Article IV, Sec. 10, of the present constitution provides that "The general assembly shall continue to exercise the powers they have heretofore exercised, unless prohibited in this constitution," but makes no more definite grant of the right to tax. It would seem that this right has never been specifically granted to the assembly.

55. The separation took place in 1696, Arnold I, 533.

56. During the early years of the colony there were several outlying districts (Block Island, Conanicut, and certain districts which afterwards became Kingstown and Greenwich) not yet incorporated into towns. For those places assessors were generally appointed by the general assembly, collection was by the general sergeant. By 1678, however, these places had all attained to the dignity of towns.

57. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 306: If any person refused to assist an officer in gathering rates he was to be fined ten shillings.

58. R.I. Col. Recs. I, 227: Those individuals that did not pay their tax within twenty days were to be liable "in Generall, and each man in particular x x to the penealtie of the forfeiture of ten pounds," imposed by the court of commissioners upon the town for failure to pay its quota. Both of these provisions are also found in the act ordering that the magazines be supplied in 1650. (Ibid 223)

59. In the act ordering the erection of prisons in 1655, the assembly chose three men to make the rate in each town except Newport, for which four were chosen. Each town was empowered to add to the number, or to substitute others for those chosen. These same men were to have the charge of building the prisons. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 311). The several acts in regard to the rates of 1662 and 1664, do not prescribe the machinery of assessment and collection except where extraordinary measures are adopted as a result of non-payment. In other cases it is simply ordered that the inhabitants of the towns meet and assess the rate. It does not seem probable that a full town meeting would undertake to apportion a rate. It is more likely a committee of assessors would be appointed for the purpose. The law of 1665, providing for the military assessment orders the appointment of men to make the rate. An act of October, 1670, directs each town to choose a convenient number of persons to make the rate ordered the June before. After 1678, the records of Providence show that the election of assessors was customary. They were elected for each tax. It was not till well into the next century that assessors became regular town officers.

60. It is probable that in the earlier years each individual was his own collector, the constable being sent for the rate only on failure to pay. Before long, however, the constable must have become practically the collector. A law of June, 1684, provides that all future rates shall be gathered by the town constables who were to be allowed two shillings on the pound for their services, and to forfeit double their fees in case of neglect (R.I. Col. Recs. III, 162)

61. R.I. Col. Recs. II, 510.

62. Taxation according to "strength and estate," as it usually reads, is the almost unvarying form in which these early colonists expressed their idea of equality in taxation. It would be difficult to find a better expression.

63. Payment however must be made in what may be kept in a store house three months without damage.

64. This is explained as follows, "or that is accordinge to tenn upon the hundred a yeare forbearance". This and a like reference further on in the text would seem to show that it was ten per cent interest which was to be charged on rates not paid when due and that the usual rate of interest was five per cent.

65. The only case before the time of Andros was the farthing in the pound tax levied at the time of the passage of the law. Very little seems to have been received from this tax. The following provision of the law may afford some explanation. "All rates to be paid in country pay, accordinge to price of wooll twelve pence a pound; and to vallue their estates according as it would be worth to pay a debt in old England." It was added by way of explanation at the next session, "every penny of English money to be the value of four pence here." From other laws &c., it appears that the English pound sterling was only a little more than twice as valuable as the pound of "country pay" so that a valuation at the rate of four to one would be an undervaluation. And again, wool was usually received in payment at six or seven pence a pound so that payment at the rate of wool twelve pence a pound would be payment in a depreciated currency.

66. It should be noted however that the magistrates were also members of the councils of the towns in which they lived.

67. It was a common thing to make the rate makers, whether appointed by the town or the assembly, responsible for the rate in case it was not made. The same is true for the constables and sergeants in case it was not collected. The reasons for the non-payment of taxes seem to have been political rather than economic. All through this period, particularly in the early part, the central government, as we have said, was weak and the colony was torn by dissensions. There does not seem to have been entire harmony between the main land and the island, and it was in the main land towns and outlying districts that the greatest difficulty was found in collecting taxes. Warwick protested strongly against paying her portion of the £600 tax to pay Clarke in 1664, (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 78) claiming that most of the time Clarke had been merely the agent of the island. If the tax must be levied, the town prayed that it might be levied on the Indians who had intruded on their lands and stolen their goods, or by "just fines and amersements, layd upon such in the Collony as have not only gone about, but allso have betrayed the Collony." This tax was not collected in Warwick for six or seven years. There were also internal dissensions in the towns themselves, particularly in Providence where the opposing parties seem to have been of nearly equal strength. In 1641, the inhabitants of Pawtuxet, an outlying district of Providence, submitted to Massachusetts jurisdiction and was not permanently reunited to Rhode Island until 1658, (Arnold I, 111). Until 1703 the conflicting claims in Narragansett country continued to interfere seriously with the exercise of jurisdiction in that country, sometime rendering it altogether impossible. Another cause which rendered collection difficult was the custom of offsetting debts due from the colony against rates. One of the provisions enacted at the same time with the sedition act was "neither shall any persons plea that the Collony is in his debt, be of any force or offset to his or their said rate on that pretence, untill the end be answered for which the rate is or shall be made." Similar acts were passed on many other occasions. Nevertheless offsetting rates against debts was customary and the practice is authorized by a general law of 1684. (R.I. Col. Recs. III, 165)

68. R.I. Col. Recs. II, 438: The act speaks of "a covetous or ffactious and mallicious sperritt appeeringe in sundry townes and places of this Collony; who oppose all or any rates, and thereby prevailinge, by their deluded adherents in overpowering the more prudent and loyall partys in such towne and place, to the frustration of the most necessary and needfull ends for which such rates are levied."

70. It does not seem quite clear whether this provision means merely that each town should be represented, or that each town should have its full representation. Arnold (I, 365) thinks the latter. When the tax of 1673 was levied no deputies are recorded as being present from New Shoreham (Block Island) or Westerly. The great distance in the one case and the interference of Connecticut in the other, rendered attendance from those towns very uncertain and may have caused their absence to be necessarily disregarded. Only five deputies from Newport and one from Warwick however are reported as "engaged." This would make it seem doubtful if a complete representation was actually required. An act of April, 1678, (R.I. Col. Recs. III, 6.) repealed this act of 1672, and provided that the general assembly should consist (as provided in the charter) of the governor or deputy governor with six assistants, "and soe many of the freemen as shall be elected in each respective towne, x x x or the major part of them then present," who should have to make laws and levy taxes, provided however that no tax should be levied without notice given to each town, that the "townes may accordingly by their representatives give their due attendance." A year later the restriction was removed and the assembly resumed its old powers. (R.I. Col. Recs. III, 53).

71. Arnold II, 502: Under the Andros government (in the case of the per centage taxes and the £120 tax ordered in December, 1688) a return seems to have been made to the system of assessment by town councils. A copy of a warrant, dated July 20, 1687, from John Usher, treasurer and receiver general of his majesty's revenue in New England, to the constable and selectmen of Providence is preserved among the papers of the historical society. The constable is ordered to call a town meeting for the choice of a "commissioner" who, with the selectmen, is to make a list of all males over sixteen and "a true Estimation of all reall & personall Estates," as provided in the act of Andros and council, and then to assess a poll tax of 1s. 8d. (members of his majesty's council exempt) and a property tax of a penny in the pound. The commissioner was then to meet with the commissioners of the other towns of the county (Rhode Island), when as a body they were to "examine x x & correct & perfect" the rate lists according to the true meaning of the act and transmit the result to Usher, together with the names of the constables in each town to whom warrants for collection were to be issued. I have not been able to find the act of Andros and his council here referred to, but it seems to have included the provisions contained in the warrant and also a table of values at which the different kinds of property were to be estimated. It is in these taxes levied by Andros that we first meet with the poll tax which was soon to become a part of the regular system of taxation adopted by the colony.

Notes.