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A bitter rivalry between two Rhode Island delegates that ushered in independence · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

0:23
Well, happy good Friday to one and all.
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This is perhaps it is the most special day on the Christian calendar.
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It's one of the most special days.
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Many would deem it the most.
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I don't know.
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I think uh Easter's got to be right up there because you know what transpired three days later.
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That's that's a big deal.
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But many say without obviously, without the cross, Easter isn't happening.
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So I don't know that you can separate the two.
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I think they go hand in hand.
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They are equally important.
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Or they're just right up there.
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So happy Good Friday to all of you.
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If you if you celebrate the Christian faith, then happy Good Friday.
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If you don't celebrate the Christian faith, well, you know, I don't know, happy Good Friday to you anyway, and enjoy the day.
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You certainly don't have to be a Christian to enjoy Good Friday, because the beauty of Good Friday, my friends, is it is salvation for all.
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It is the open door to salvation for everyone.
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And so everyone can enjoy it.
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Uh, if you're not a Christian, uh, well, then you know, I don't know.
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I don't know what to say to you.
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Maybe you'll become one.
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I don't, I don't know.
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That's uh, I I just want to say happy Good Friday.
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And I hope that I hope whatever you're you're doing today, I I hope you enjoy it.
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I hope you spend spend the day and then uh and then take a moment and um sit and and reverence, sit in solitude and and experience the magnitude of the event of Good Friday.
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Today, my friends is also history class.
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That's it.
2:18
That's right.
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The bell is ringing on Fridays here this year, 2026.
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We are exploring who the founders were, specifically the men who signed the declaration and the men who even maybe didn't sign the declaration, but who were part of that uh delegation 1774 and 1775 and 1776?
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Men who debated and stood and fought and argued for an outcome that would bring us independence, and and that's what that's what we're doing here on Fridays.
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That's what today is devoted to.
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And uh today we're gonna go to Rhode Island.
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We're going to explore the two delegates from Rhode Island, because interestingly enough, one of the one of the founders uh who were part of the delegate, I think his name was Tilgman.
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Uh I don't uh Tilgman, T I L G H A N he wrote a note in in early 1776.
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And in that note, he described Rhode Island as being frequently a colony that loses a vote, having only two members, and they are differing.
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Ah, who were the two members from Rhode Island constantly constantly differed?
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That's what we're going to get into today.
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The uh the two men from Rhode Island, the two delegates from Rhode Island were actually bitter enemies.
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They were uh that the nemesis one to the other.
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They were each a nemesis to the other.
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Um Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward, these are the two delegates, and their history here in Rhode Island is fascinating.
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Uh, and it's we're gonna get into it today.
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It's fascinating to me, mostly because before I began this research, I didn't I didn't know who these two were.
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I didn't know the role that they played.
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I didn't realize the importance that they played.
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And that's that's the that's the point of history class here on Fridays, is because I think modern Americans today don't understand the importance that these men played from all of the colonies, all 56 of them and more, even though there were 56 signers, there were more that played a very pivotal role.
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Uh and and two of them here is Stephen Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Ward.
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Samuel Ward is not a signer.
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He does not sign the declaration.
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But the role that he played in getting us there is uh it's imperative.
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I don't know that we get there without him, especially because Rhode Island, as Tilgman suggested, constantly lost a vote.
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Because we have one delegate uh who was for independence, we have another delegate who's just like, yeah, I'm not there.
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I'm I'm not on board.
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I'm not I'm not with it.
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So today, let's let's dive in.
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Now now the history of these two men starts back.
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Let's see, how far do we want to go back?
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Why don't we go?
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Let's go back to the French and Indian War.
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Can we do that?
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Now, if I just lost half the audience, if half of you just fell asleep, I tell you what, but you know, it's history class, and I I know that the people of this audience love history class, but the second I say French and Indian War, I don't know, maybe I lost half of you.
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Before we go there, actually, before we begin history class, and since we are celebrating the signers of the declaration, please allow me to take a minute to remind you that this summer, July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, America out loud, in conjunction with Clear and the Willness Company, we'll be hosting an extravaganza, celebrating the birth of America, like no other extravaganza to be taking place in the country.
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All right.
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So now let's go back to history class.
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Now that I've awakened you back up again.
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There were some things happening in the early 1750s.
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And we we've we've talked about them to some degree.
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Benjamin Franklin is at the um, he's at the apex here of what's going on because the French and Indian War is about to kick in, and and Franklin is calling for a uh a meeting of the colonies in Albany, New York.
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I mean, he's part of this group, and and while there, he proposes this plan that would unite the companies who would who would bring them under an umbrella.
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And who also is there is Stephen Hopkins, the delegate from Rhode Island.
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He's he's very much involved in um in politics.
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He is he's about to be elected governor.
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Uh he's not the governor, though, during this meeting in in Albany.
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He was a chief justice.
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So he he's very involved.
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He's very influential.
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And he is, you know, he he he reads this plan from from Franklin and he and Franklin, you know, these two hang out together.
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They're they're close in age.
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Franklin is a few years older, but it was it was Franklin and Hopkins by the time uh these two men get to the uh the first and second congressional congresses in 74 and 75.
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They are the oldest, they are the elder statesmen of the group.
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But here in 1754, uh Washington is about to surrender Fort Necessity to the French, and it's Hopkins and it's Franklin who are you know debating bringing the colonies together, bringing them under the umbrella.
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Of course, that plan uh fails.
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The colonies don't like it because they felt like it gave the king too much power, too much authority.
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The king didn't like it because he felt like it gave the colonies too much power, too much authority.
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So the plan failed.
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Hopkins, though, this is where you know he um.
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He meets Franklin and these two uh become lifelong acquaintances.
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1755, Hopkins is elected as the governor of Rhode Island, defeating the the previous governor William Green.
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Uh 1757, two years later, William Green defeats Stephen Hopkins and the race for for governor.
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And so we have Green and Hopkins that are kind of you know, duking it out, going back and forth for the governorship of Rhode Island.
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But in 1758, while William Green is governor, he dies in office.
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And then Hopkins becomes governor after Green dies.
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And so uh as governor, 1758.
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Hopkins is, let's see, when was he born?
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I want to say was born in early 1700s, 1707.
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So actually, he's only a year younger than Benjamin Franklin.
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Benjamin Franklin's born in 1706.
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So Hopkins, you know, he's he's what 50 years old?
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50 years old.
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This young whippersnapper, this young whippersnapper by the name of Samuel Ward is just now entering politics.
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He's 20 years younger than Hopkins.
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Uh and uh Ward is a um, you know, he's uh he's he's run for for uh local office in um one of the colonies there or uh one of the counties of Rhode Island province, I think.
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And there's this debate that that begins to rage in the colonies at this point in time, specifically in in Rhode Island, surrounding this whole idea of money.
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And should they be using paper money or should they be backing hard money?
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Samuel Ward was uh among the leading voices who was in support of hard money, and the governor at this time, Stephen Hopkins was the leading voice in support of paper money.
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And this debate began to just rage.
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And this is where Hopkins and Ward first meet each other, and they're on opposite sides of the argument here in terms of of the money.
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Ward backing hard money, Hopkins backing paper money.
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And the debate became so cantankerous at times that Hopkins sued Ward for slander.
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He was he was seeking 40,000 pounds.
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That's what he wanted.
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He wanted 40,000 pounds from Ward because during this debate, he felt like Ward slandered him.
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And so you know, the case was moved to Massachusetts because they wanted to make sure there was there was a fair trial being given.
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They didn't think that either man would get a fair trial in Rhode Island.
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So the case goes to Massachusetts, but Hopkins ends up losing it.
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And uh in the loss, he's forced to pay the the court costs and the attorney feeds and all that.
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So this happened in 1759.
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Hopkins sues Ward for slander, loses the case.
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And this is really the beginning here of this rivalry that that starts between Hopkins and Ward.
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So Ward's like, you know what?
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I'm running for governor.
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I think you're doing a horrible job.
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You support paper money, which is not gonna get us anywhere.
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We without hard money, we're not going to succeed as an as a nation or at least as a colony.
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So Samuel Ward runs for governor and and he wins.
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He's elected governor in 1762.
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And oh, don't you know that that just uh kicked off this uh it didn't kick off the bitter rivalry, but it made it a thousand times worse.
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While Ward is governor, he comes part, he he takes part in what would become the forming of Brown University.
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It wasn't called Brown at the time.
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I think it was called, I don't know, maybe Rhode Island College.
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It eventually becomes Brown.
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But it's at this time, 1762, that uh, you know, that there's talk of this college, and as governor Samuel Ward gets behind it.
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He's you know, he's on board, he supports it.
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Hopkins, of course, also loves the idea.
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He's in support of it.
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But Hopkins is angry.
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He's and he's angry with Ward.
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He's angry that uh he lost his his his case against Ward, slander case in 59.
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He's angry that in 62, Ward beat him out to become governor.
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He's angry that while in the governor's mansion, if it wasn't mansion then, Ward is able to sign off and be a part of of what would become Brown College when Hopkins was like, I, you know, I'm on board with this, I should be governor.
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So what should happen?
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Well, 1763, Hopkins runs for governor, and this time he he defeats Ward, and he's he's governor again.
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Um the following year, 1764.
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There was perhaps a sign of of reason that that began to be brokered between the two men.
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Ward wrote a note to Hopkins proposing that both of them resign their pretensions.
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Here's the the exact quote that they resign their pretensions to the chief seat of government.
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Let's just stop going back and forth, deciding who's going to be governor.
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Um that very same day that Ward is writing this note to Hopkins.
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Hopkins writes a note to Ward.
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He does no idea that Ward is writing him, obviously.
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Uh, he hasn't received Ward's letter yet, but Hopkins writes to Ward inviting him to accept the position of deputy governor.
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Uh John Gardiner, who was the deputy governor, had just passed away.
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And so this seat is vacated.
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So Hopkins Hopkins extends an olive branch to Ward.
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Simultaneously, Ward is extending the Olive branch to uh to Hopkins.
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Neither one of them accept the proposal, by the way.
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But um at least they're they're putting it out there.
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At least they are making this attempt.
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So Hopkins is governor.
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1764, Brown does become incorporated while while he's governor.
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Both men, again, support the the um university.
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They're they're both uh trustees, and they're they're starting maybe to um maybe come on the same side a little bit.
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But in 1765, there is another governor race, and this time Ward beats out Hopkins.
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And so uh, you know, uh is the is the bitter rivalry ever going to be put down.
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I mean, it was Ward who said to Hopkins, why don't we just let's just not run?
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And it was Hopkins who said to Ward, why don't you be my lieutenant?
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And neither one of them accepted.
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I don't know what happened.
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Brown takes off their their both trustees, but Ward still feels like he can get it done.
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And so he runs in 1764, beating out Hopkins.
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This there's this constant back and forth going on between Ward and Hopkins, and it only gets interesting and interesting and more interesting the more we get into it.
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All right, I'm up against the the clock here.
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I'm looking at the time.
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It is uh time for us to take a break.
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All right.
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Speaking of a blast, we're in history class.
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And really, truly, what is more fun than Friday afternoon history?
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Is there anything more fun than Friday afternoon history class, especially on Good Friday?
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Does it get any better than this?
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I dare say it doesn't.
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All right, we are exploring the identity of two men from Rhode Island, Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward.
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These two men become bitter rivals, yet their bitter rivalry uh gives way to a desire and love for their country, a desire and love for their country to realize independence.
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But first, they first came the rivalry.
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They were bitter rivals, and it really started with this whole idea of paper money versus hard money.
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Uh Ward was a hard money supporter, and Hopkins was a paper money supporter.
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And uh it got it came down to a lawsuit.
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Hopkins sued Ward for slander, uh, Hopkins lost the suit, had to pay costs, had to pay attorney fees, had to had to, you know, pay the court costs, and it just ingrained this bitter rivalry into them.
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At the time, Hopkins is governor during this.
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Uh during the next election cycle, Ward defeats Hopkins, he becomes governor during the the next election cycle, Hopkins defeats Ward, he becomes governor.
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And during the next uh election cycle, Ward defeats Hopkins and he becomes governor.
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So now we're up to 1765.
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And Ward and Hopkins have gone back and forth and back and forth.
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And now Ward is indeed the governor again.
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But 1765 is uh it's an interesting time here.
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The the French and Indian War is over, and both pass, but both houses of Parliament in England decide they're gonna pass the Stamp Act.
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I mean, it's a it's a it essentially boils down to being a scheme for taxing the colonies uh to be because what what England said is we need to be uh we need to have our losses recovered and recouped for defending you during the war, essentially.
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So the the stamp act directed that all commercial and legal documents must be written on stamped paper only and sold at fixed prices by governmental officers, and it also directed that a duty be applied to newspapers, and during this time, parliament assumes the right to tax the colonies and put additional taxes and duties on sugar, coffee, other articles.
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Umgland required that lumber and iron from the colonies only be exported to England.
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You know, you can't send this stuff off to other places.
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So this is a trying time for all of the colonies, and it just so happens that Samuel Ward is the governor here.
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Um the news of the Stamp Act, of course, infuriates everybody, not only Rhode Island, but but everybody.
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And Samuel Adams calls for a Congress of delegates, all the colonies to uh amass a Congress of delegates to meet in New York for the express purpose of discover discussing how they're going to get relief from the unjust taxes.
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The Rhode Island General Assembly passed resolutions in in August of 1765 after Virginia had had done the same, following the lead of Patrick Henry.
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Matter of fact, many, many colonies followed the lead here of Virginia and Patrick Henry.
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Um matter of fact, Rhode Island's appointed stamp distributor was the attorney general, Augustus Johnson, and Augustus Johnston.
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Uh, I'm sorry, Johnson.
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There's no T in his name.
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Augustus Johnson is a as a patriot.
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And he refused.
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He refused to execute his office of being stamp distributor.
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Here's what he said.
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His direct quote is Um I will not execute this office against the will of our sovereign lord, the people.
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Bum bum bum.
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Not our sovereign lord, King George the Third.
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No, our sovereign lord, the people.
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Is this the first mention of the people being being sovereign?
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I don't know.
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I'm I'm intrigued by this.
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When I came across this quote, I wondered aloud to myself.
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Is this the first mention?
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Is this the first time somebody has referred to the people as being sovereign?
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Because we are, by the way.
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The declaration put it so.
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And the Constitution supports the declaration that we the people, we the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, support the general welfare.
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Um, and you know, establish the the blessings of liberty to our posterity.
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Uh it's it's we the people, we do this.
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We we are the sovereign, not the government, the government that doesn't do these things.
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The government isn't listed in the preamble of the constitution.
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We the people.
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So we are sovereign.
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And I'm just curious here if if Augustus, Augustus Johnson is the first to get this ball rolling.
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So the Rhode Island General Assembly.
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They meet again in September 1765.
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And it's here that they choose delegates to New York to go to the Stamp Act Congress.
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They appoint a committee to consider all of this.
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And interestingly, the committee reported six resolutions that pointed to absolving all allegiance to the British crown unless the grievances were removed.
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So we've we've already got discussion right here.
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1765, there's already talk of absolving ourselves from Great Britain.
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And it's probably Sam Adams who who was leading the charge here.
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He he really wanted this.
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He and John.
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This is probably the beginning of their uh 20-year struggle.
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20 years to get us separated, really.
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I mean, and that's what this amounts to.
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I mean, we're looking at 20 years.
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So the committee reports back these six resolutions.
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All six are pointing to absolving allegiance to the British Crown unless the grievances are removed, unless the Stamp Act is removed.
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And of course, 1760.
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Just a few months later, the Stamp Act is indeed repealed.
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And of course, news doesn't get it doesn't hit America until probably May of 1766.
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But everybody's excited about it.
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Everybody, everybody's stoked about this.
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And really, it's during the Stamp Act here, even though a Ward is governor, it's during this Stamp Act that these two rivals become united.
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Because truly they do.
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They become united around this cause.
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This cause that the colonies should not be taxed by this power from overseas, wherein the colonies have have no voice.
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I mean, if this is the case, you know, they're all living in indentured servitude.
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When you've you've got this invisible power that can just decide, hey, we're going to take your money whenever we want.
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Oh, and by the way, you can't ship particular products to any other port except England.
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You know, I don't know, products like that, say lumber and iron.
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Nope, can't go anywhere.
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It's got to go here.
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These men aren't, they're not on board with that.
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And while Hopkins and Ward are bitter rivals, they are on the same page here.
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And they're equally on board with this idea.
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So Ward is the governor, 1765.
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Well, there's another election in 1767.
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And guess who's going to win?
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Yes, you guessed it.
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Hopkins.
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I mean, we're just going back and forth, back and forth, back and back and back and forth.
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1767.
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Hopkins beats Ward, and he is yet again the governor.
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And it's here, 1768, the following year.
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Hopkins offers a proposal to ward.
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He says, why don't we uh why don't we just do what you suggested that we do, you know, I don't know, 10 years ago, and let's relinquish our claims on the elections, and let's agree.
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The next term, neither one of us are gonna run.
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We're not gonna do it.
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And I I wonder, is Hopkins is he is he offering this proposal because he doesn't want Ward to beat him again.
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You know, here he's one now, and he's governor, and so now he's extending this this olive branch.
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Uh or is the uh olive branch genuine?
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You know, did they both did the stamp act truly bring these two rivals together and and cause them to want to be on the same side, even though after the stamp act, Hopkins runs against Ward.
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I don't know.
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I I don't know the details to that.
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But in 1768, uh Hopkins proposes this to Ward.
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Why don't I'm not gonna run?
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How about you run?
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Why don't we why don't we find a uh a substitute candidate?
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Let's let's agree on a compromise candidate.
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And Ward agreed.
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So he and Hopkins, based upon accepting his proposal, they essentially choose a man by the name of Josiah Linden, because Hopkins and Ward are not running.
33:32
Josias Linden runs uh he's their compromise candidate.
33:36
They both put their backing behind him, and he's now the new governor.
33:42
And uh Ward and Hopkins come together.
33:46
They they meet and they are united in a in a uh a cordial friendship, and ultimately they they do remain friends for the rest of their lives.
33:56
And it's actually a very good thing that this happened.
33:59
It's a very good thing that that one of them manned up and invited the other, who also manned up.
34:06
I mean, they they both did.
34:08
Uh, and they both decided that they would bury the hatchet, as it were, and it's a good thing they did, because the country would absolutely need them later on down the road.
34:21
Absolutely uh require that these two uh should come together, some way, shape, form, or fashion.
34:32
So Ward retires, he goes back to his farm.
34:36
I mean, he he was a farmer to begin with, goes back to his farm.
34:41
Hopkins is re-elected to the state supreme court.
34:45
He's the chief justice.
34:46
He he was on the court earlier before all these runs at being a governor, and he decides you know what?
34:55
I'm going to uh I'm going to uh uh reclaim my seat.
35:01
And so he is uh again appointed uh back to the court, and he's the chief justice.
35:10
And it's here during this time that uh are you familiar at all with the Gaspi affair?
35:17
Anyone familiar with with the Gaspia affair?
35:19
It's here at this time that this event takes place involving the Gaspy.
35:26
Uh while Hopkins is the chief justice of the state court.
35:32
Um it appears that there was a British schooner called the Gaspee.
35:41
And the Gasby had been cruising up and down the bay, disrupting the traffic of individuals, stopping and searching commercial ships, and just being up a holy terror.
35:54
Um, and so the deputy governor, Darius Sessions, sent a Leviner uh a letter to the governor at the time, Joseph won in Newport.
36:05
And Sessions says, Look, I've consulted with Hopkins, the chief justice, and I'm alarmed that the British schooner Gasby has been cruising up and down the the bay.
36:16
I don't know how to pronounce the name of this bay, Narraganset.
36:20
You guys from Rhode Island, you can correct me on this.
36:23
Narraganset Bay, maybe and Session is like, you know, the Gaspi is traveling up and down the bay, disrupting traffic, stopping ships, you know, seizing commercial property.
36:36
I'm concerned about this.
36:39
And so he sends this letter to the governor.
36:41
He says, I've consulted with the chief justice, who's Hopkins, who is of the opinion that no commander of any vessel has any right to use any authority in the body of the colony without previously applying to the governor and showing his warrant for for for doing so.
37:01
And also being sworn to a due exercise of his office.
37:10
And this, he informs me, has been the common custom in this colony.
37:16
So Sessions went on to request that the governor take measures to bring the ship's commander to account.
37:23
So a chain of threatening correspondence ensues between the governor and the commander of the Gaspi, who is one lieutenant William Duddingston.
37:32
Uh Duddston's superior admiral John Montague is also involved in some of these correspondences.
37:40
And they don't appear to be going anywhere.
37:42
I mean, the the Gasby is still cruising the bay doing its bidding.
37:47
So on the night of June 9th and into the 10th, uh a party of incensed colonists.
37:55
This would be this would be a precursor, by the way, to the Boston Tea Party.
37:59
This is Rhode Island's own version of the Boston Tea Party.
38:03
Incensed colonists attack the vessel.
38:06
And they set it on fire, burning it to the waterline.
38:11
Officially, by the way, Sessions, you know, publicly comes out as being outraged at the incident.
38:17
And he offered the colonies assistance and bringing the perps to justice in order to um uh provide retribution um to the British authorities.
38:30
And and so Rhode Island officials took visible public steps to find the culprits who burned the ships.
38:38
However, behind the scenes, it's a different story.
38:41
Sessions and Hopkins secretly did all they could to thwart any attempts to identify the attackers.
38:48
They're like, mm-mm.
38:49
I mean, publicly we're gonna say one thing, but privately we're gonna do another.
38:54
We're not gonna, yeah, we're not gonna bring these people to quote unquote justice.
39:00
So a royal commission was appointed by the crown to investigate the incident, and it demanded that any indicted person be sent to London for trial.
39:12
This, of course, prompted the colonists to form the what they call the committee of correspondence.
39:19
Uh the the loyalist Massachusetts governor Hutchinson uh further aggravated the colonists' sensitivities by urging the crown to rescind the Rhode Island Charter.
39:30
He's like, you guys just rescind it.
39:32
We will we will take Rhode Island, we'll absorb it into Massachusetts, rescind their charter.
39:38
Get what they're doing here.
39:41
Uh again, Sessions confers with Hopkins, the chief justice, and uh along with uh two other men, a lawyer John Cole, and uh Moses Brown.
39:53
The four men drafted a letter to uh a particular Massachusetts statement by the
40:00
Name of Samuel Adams.
40:02
And Adams replied, urging Rhode Island to remain defiant, or at least to stall matters by appealing the creation of the Royal Commission.
40:13
Governor Monton was put at the head of this commission.
40:18
He is the governor of Rhode Island at the time.
40:20
He's put at the head of this commission.
40:26
But he was compliant with Sessions and Hopkins attempts to frustrate the aims of the commission.
40:32
So the governor here is acting uh right alongside the chief, right alongside the lieutenant governor, uh governor.
40:41
And and and they're just making uh England ticked, they're making Massachusetts ticked, they're making all the other uh uh royal colonies tick.
40:51
You know, the the royal colonies were ticked anyway.
40:53
They were ticked at Rhode Island because in 1765, when Ward was the governor, and the the Stamp Act is happening.
41:05
Uh Ward was the only governor to refuse to sign on to the to the Stamp Act.
41:11
Uh all the other governors, all the royal governors, they all took an oath to sustain the the Stamp Act.
41:17
But Ward at Rhode Island was like, no, I'm not taking this oath.
41:21
I'm not climbing on board.
41:22
I refuse to comply with the Stamp Act.
41:27
Uh so the Royal Governor for Massachusetts is mad at Rhode Island anyway, to begin with.
41:34
And here he's pleading with the king, King, cancel their charter, be done with Rhode Island.
41:39
And so now you've got the new governor, the lieutenant, and um Hopkins, the chief justice, all conspiring to thwart the efforts of this uh committee, and they are doing so successfully.
41:56
This the the this commission, as it were.
41:59
So Sessions, Hopkins, others coordinated their efforts to to lose the evidence and threatened potential witnesses and discredit those who testified.
42:10
Of course, the vast majority of Rhode Island citizens were supportive of the the burning of the ship.
42:17
They were supportive of the attackers, and they kept quiet.
42:19
They were like mum's the word.
42:21
I don't know who did it.
42:22
I don't know who burnt that ship to the waterline.
42:26
A year after the incident, the Royal Commission was terminated without a single indictment.
42:31
So the advice from Sam Adams to just, you know, stretch this thing out.
42:36
Hold out, fellas, hold out, and you will outlast them.
42:42
That advice uh worked, and uh the commission eventually uh dried up and withered on the vine.
42:50
All right, my friends, I'm looking at the time.
42:51
Let's pause here.
42:53
We are about to get into the the Continental Congress.
42:57
We're about to get into the calling of the Congress, and there the role that both Hopkins and and Ward played.
43:05
Ward is brought out of retirement, and the the friendship here is reunited.
43:10
All right, we're gonna pick it up on the other side.
43:12
You're listening to the dean's list on America out loud talk radio.
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45:14
All right, let's wrap up history class today.
45:17
It's our favorite day of the week, by the way, history class, Fridays.
45:21
This is the day that we get it done.
45:23
Today we are we are highlighting, we we are documenting the uh the rivalry between two Rhode Islanders.
45:34
Is that what we call these people from Rhode Island, Rhode Islanders?
45:38
You uh natives of Rhode Island can correct me if I'm wrong.
45:41
Uh Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward, and they were bitter rivals.
45:46
They buried the hatchet though in the I don't know, the summer of 1768.
45:52
Let's just call it the summer, 1760.
45:54
I don't know when it was.
45:56
But they buried the hatchet and they decided that they would they would not compete against each other in the governorship any longer.
46:06
But their friendship uh was uh created at this point.
46:11
They buried the hatchet, and they just didn't uh become uh you know acquaintances, they remained friends, and they were called upon in 1774, both of them.
46:26
Uh they were both elected by the Rhode Island Assembly as the two delegates to that first continental congress, 1774.
46:37
And it's here that uh interestingly enough, we we wonder which one opposed independence.
46:47
One of them did because Tilgman, who is a delegate, writes a letter home to his father, and then the letter he is he's talking about all of the colonies that have aligned themselves with Massachusetts.
47:01
He go he names New Hampshire, he names Virginia, he names Massachusetts.
47:07
I feel like there was a fourth one that he named there uh that was in line with Massachusetts and the Adams Cousins, they were who they referred to as the violence in terms of independence, but he called out Rhode Island, and he said Rhode Island frequently loses a vote, having only two members, and they differing.
47:29
Well, we know who the two members were.
47:31
We know it was Hopkins and Ward, bitter rivals who would become friends, but apparently they differed on this issue of independence, and it appears that it was Hopkins who was leaning temporarily at least towards reconciliation, because in February 1776, a letter written by Ward urged that Payne's common sense should be reprinted and distributed at public expense if necessary.
48:08
Uh and of course, common sense is detailing, outlining, describing why Americans should want to be independent from Britain.
48:20
That's the point of common sense.
48:23
So we think that maybe it was Hopkins who was pro-reconciliation.
48:30
Uh but John Adams, you know, he would write um about Hopkins.
48:36
He said, Mr.
48:37
Lee, Mr.
48:38
Gadston were sensible men, but Governor Hopkins of Rhode Island, above 70 years of age, kept us all alive.
48:46
When the business of the evening was over, he shared with the others his wit, his humor, his anecdotes, his science and learning.
48:56
He had read Greek, Roman, and British history, and was familiar with English poetry, particularly Pope, Thompson and Milton.
49:05
So obviously Adams is very friendly with with Hopkins.
49:10
Um, we don't know.
49:15
We uh on October 30th, Hopkins with John Adams, Mr.
49:19
Hughes, and Mr.
49:20
Lee were added on a committee for fitting out armed vessels.
49:25
Uh so you know, Hopkins was not opposed again to the to the fight.
49:30
Of course, you know, that that group that wanted reconciliation, they were they weren't afraid of the fight.
49:38
They just didn't want to become independent.
49:41
Um either way, we we think that it was probably Ward who would uh who would make the vote, uh, or who was and and the words of Tilgman, the one who was maybe more interested.
50:00
And independence on uh on January 6th, 1776.
50:06
Ward received a letter from General Green in camp.
50:11
Uh he was camped at Boston, recommending a declaration of independence and urging a call upon the world and the great God who governs it to witness the necessity, propriety, and rectitude thereof.
50:26
Of course, at this time, Rhode Island's instructions are still straddling the issue.
50:32
Their delegates were not always uh even back in Rhode Island.
50:37
They're not united necessarily around the measure of independence.
50:44
Uh, unfortunately, uh, it was Ward who again, this is another reason why we think Ward is the one who was rooting for for independence.
50:59
Uh President John Hancock at the time in March started nominating Harrison as chairman of the committee of the whole instead of Ward.
51:09
Ward had been the chairman of the committee of the whole.
51:13
Uh and Adams had you know previously promoted him to that role.
51:18
But uh, I'm sorry, Hancock had previously uh promoted Ward to that role, but Adams would write that Ward had become extremely obnoxious to Mr.
51:29
Hancock's party by his zealous attachment to Mr.
51:34
Samuel Adams and Mr.
51:35
Richard Henry Lee.
51:37
So um we we think that that out of the two delegates, Ward is the one who was pro-independence, and Hopkins is the one who was pro-reconciliation.
51:51
Unfortunately, however, Adams would write that Governor Ward caught smallpox and died on March 25th, and the violent men lost an honorable, a conscientious, a benevolent and inflexible patriot.
52:08
So uh Ward passed away.
52:10
Smallpox had taken the better of him here at the end of March.
52:16
This is March 76, and again, you know, he was the vote for independence.
52:22
Hopkins was the vote against it.
52:23
So even though Ward and Hopkins had buried the hatchet, even though they had uh buried their rivalry, as it were, they were still uh of differing opinions.
52:35
And I gotta say, Ward, in my opinion, uh was on the right side of history.
52:41
I mean, when it comes to paper money versus gold versus hard money, you gotta vote hard money.
52:47
You just have to.
52:49
And Ward was on the side of hard money.
52:52
And when it when it comes down to independence or reconciliation, you gotta go with independence.
52:58
Which Ward, of course, was on the side of independence.
53:02
So when Ward passed, uh Hopkins, who is now the sole delegate, he writes to the governor of Rhode Island, and he's making queries concerning dependence or independence.
53:14
He's saying, Look, I'm it, I'm your loan delegate.
53:18
I need some, I need some instruction.
53:20
What do you guys want me to do?
53:22
And on May 4th, the Rhode Island Assembly passed instructions, which were still indecisive.
53:30
I mean, they were still up in the air, but at this point in time, they did vote um for an act discharging the inhabitants of the colony from allegiance to the king.
53:43
You know, so that at least that's something that's a step in the right direction.
53:48
And this act gave Hopkins what he would say is little room to doubt what is the opinion of the colony.
53:57
And also at that time, they elected a new a new delegate, a man by the name of William Ellery, who was considered an excellent member chosen for for Congress.
54:10
Um Hopkins was chosen on the committee, which drafted the Articles of Confederation.
54:17
Uh, he served in Congress until 1779.
54:20
He was very active.
54:22
Uh Benjamin Rush said that he had an original understanding, extensive reading, and great integrity.
54:28
He perfectly understood the principles of liberty in government and was warmly attached to the independence of his country.
54:35
So I don't know.
54:36
I don't, I don't know who Tilgwyn was referring to here.
54:40
Was it uh why they, you know, obviously at some point the votes were split.
54:46
Maybe Rush was referring to Hopkins coming on board later on.
54:53
William Ellery, however, is interesting.
54:55
He does sign the declaration.
54:56
So the two men from Rhode Island to sign are Hopkins and Ellery.
55:01
And it's Ellery who often described his signing of the declaration a little over two months after he comes into Congress.
55:12
Later years, he would he would say it this way.
55:15
Here's his direct quote.
55:16
I was determined to see how they all looked as they signed what might be their death warrants.
55:23
I placed myself beside the secretary Charles Thompson and eyed each closely as he affixed his name to the document, undaunted resolution was displayed in every countenance, including, of course, his colleague Hopkins.
55:46
What's that?
55:47
Undaunted resolution was displayed on the face of all of them.
55:52
This is what Ellery was interested in.
55:54
I sat myself right down to the secretary, and I looked every man in the eye as they signed the document.
56:00
And they were undaunted.
56:02
They were filled with ultimate resolution.
56:06
And he signed.
56:07
He and Ian Hopkins both signed.
56:09
But uh the interesting thing is here that the bitter rivalry that took place between Hopkins and Ward, right?
56:16
I don't want to say right to the last, but obviously they were on opposing sides right to the last.
56:22
So there it is, my friends, two more, actually, three more if we count Ellery.
56:26
We don't really get into Ellery a lot because he uh came in late to the game, and the interesting history is between Ward and Hopkins.
56:34
At least interesting from my perspective and my point of view.
56:38
All right, my friends, that's it.
56:40
It's all the time we have.
56:41
Thank you for joining me.
56:42
Thank you for attending history class.
56:44
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56:47
Let's unite to renovate the age.