Political Quotes

“I come to the Senate floor every year around this time to discuss an important incident in the history of Rhode Island largely overlooked in the history books, certainly overlooked in consequence to its importance. We have to understand that we Rhode Islanders have always had a pretty fierce independent streak. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was founded by Roger Williams and others fleeing the harsh ideological conformity of the Massachusetts theocracy. Our 1663 charter, describing the colony as a ``lively experiment,'' is the first formal document in all of history granting to a political entity the separation of church and state, along with unprecedented freedoms of speech. Rhode Island was the first colony to declare its independence from Britain, on the Fourth of May, 1776--2 months before the rest of you did on the Fourth of July--and we were the last colony to join the Union, waiting for an independent Bill of Rights. Like I said, an independent streak. Colonial Rhode Islanders chafed at the inequities of British rule, especially the disruption of our liberty at sea. We are the Ocean State. Living and working on the water has always been a Rhode Island way of life. As tensions with the American Colonies grew, however, King George III stationed revenue cutters, armed Customs patrol vessels, in the waters of Narragansett Bay to prevent smuggling, enforce the payment of taxes, and impose British sovereignty.…”