COMMENTARIES, 24 MAY 1790

either expressly or implicitly, to assume and exercise a Sovereignty dis-
connected from the People of our then Sister Colonies.
Resolved, That the People of this Town owe no Allegiance to the
Government administered over them at present, any further than this
State is considered as one of the Thirteen United States of America.
Resolved, That in Case the Convention of this State refuse to become
re-united with the Rest of the States aforesaid, the People inhabiting
this Town will be authorised to make Use of all their natural Rights,
for the Security of their Lives, Liberties and Property.
Resolved, That any further Continuance of the Question for deciding
on the proposed Federal Constitution in the present State Convention,
will be considered by the Freemen of this Town equivalent to a Rejec-
tion thereof.
And to the End that the Sentiments of the People of this Town may
be seasonably made known to their Brethren in other Parts of the State,
that such of them as may concur in Opinion with us may be prepared
to co-operate with us in such Measures as may be eventually judged
proper:
Resolved, That a Copy of these Resolutions be certified by the Clerk
and delivered to the Delegates representing this Town in the present
State Convention, to be by them communicated.
Resolved, That the aforegoing be printed in the next Providence
News-Papers.
1. Providence Town Papers, Vol. 13, no. 5627, RHi. The request was addressed "To
Daniel Cooke Esqr./Town Clk of Providence." Cooke immediately notified the town's
sergeant or either of the two constables to warn the freemen to meet at the statehouse
at 4 P.M. on that day. Town Sergeant Henry Bowen warned the freemen as requested.
For the 24 May warrant, see Mfm:R.I.
2. Providence Town Records, pp. 168-70, City Clerk's Office, City Hall, Providence,
R.I. The original manuscript report of the committee, with the signatures of the com-
mittee members affixed, is in the Providence Town Papers, Vol. 13, no. 5628, RHi. "A
true Copy" of the instructions witnessed by town clerk Daniel Cooke, which he sent to
the town's Convention delegates, is in the Papers Relating to the Adoption of the Con-
stitution, R-Ar.
A version of the resolutions was printed in the New York Daily Advertiser, 1 June, and
reprinted in the Pennsylvania Mercury, 3 June; Pennsylvania Packet, 4 June; and Virginia In-
dependent Chronicle, 16 June. On 30 May, U.S. Senator Philip Schuyler, in New York City,
wrote that Jeremiah Olney had written him on 25 May stating that "the Rhode Island
Convention had convened on the preceeding day, and the appearances of an Adoption
were very Slender.-The Town of Providence have in town meeting resolved that If the
state does not Acceed to the constitution, that town will entreat the protection of Congress
and separate from the state. It is believed Newport will do the like" (to Stephen Van
Rensselaer, DHFFC, XIX, 1644-45). Olney had been on the committee that drafted the
Providence instructions adopted on 24 May.
3. Reprinted: Boston Gazette, 31 May; Salem Mercury, 1 June.

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