As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of Independence, I was curious as to what was happening this week in 1776.
May 4, 1776
On May 4, 1776, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed the Act of Renunciation in Providence, becoming the first American colony to officially renounce allegiance to King George III and Great Britain. The act repealed the 1756 oath of allegiance to the Crown and required all legal proceedings to be held in the name of the colony, not the King.
The British Royal Navy had been targeting Narragansett Bay. Feelng harrassed, Rhode Island declared sovereignty before the other colonies.
While not formally adopting the term “independence,” the act declared Rhode Island a free and independent republic. This action preceded the Continental Congress’s Declaration of Independence by two months.
As I researched this story, it was the week of the Real Housewives of Rhode Island premier. I imagine that the Real Patriots of Rhode Island would find this new TV show unimaginable and not at all what they were fighting for. Yet upon second thought, this is exactly what the American Revolution was all about: Freedom. You have the right to watch or not watch, to flip a table or not.
Two hundred fifty years ago, the smallest state in our union did a very big thing.
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