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The Rhode Island Royal Charter of 1663 was a document giving English royal recognition to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, providing a foundation for the government, and outlining broad freedoms for the inhabitants of that colony. Having been the guiding document for the government of Rhode Island over a period of 180 years, it was the oldest constitutional charter in the world at the time of its retirement in 1843. It was drafted by Rhode Island's agent in England, Dr. John Clarke, and then approved by England's monarch King Charles II in July 1663, and delivered to the colony the following November. Being read by Captain George Baxter to the freemen of the Rhode Island colony on 24 November 1663, the Assembly voted that words of humble thanks be sent to the King, and a gratuity sent to Dr. Clarke and to Mr. Baxter. Within the charter are provisions far different than those found in the charters of other colonies, one of them being the recognition that the aboriginal people of the colony were the rightful owners of the land. Any land used by the colonists was to first be purchased from the natives, and later be recognized by a grant or patent from the crown, a situation reversed from that found in any other colonial arrangement. Another specialeature of the charter was its extensive protection of the rights of conscience, a provision much different than the prevailing spirit of the era. The laws of England required uniformity in religious belief, and this incorporation of religious freedom became the sole distinguishing feature of the history of Rhode Island. A final remarkable point about this document is that it offered democratic freedoms to the colony not found in any other charter. The people would elect their own officers and make their own laws, within very broad guidelines, a degree of liberty highly unusual coming from the throne of a monarch. This charter gave definition to the executive and legislative branches of the government, stated numbers of representatives from each town, and specifically named the Governor, Deputy Governor and the ten Assistants who would initiate the new government under its terms. Only after specific apportionment of town representatives could no longer be done justly under the charter was the document replaced in 1843, after serving as the guiding force of both the colony and the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations for nearly two centuries. Historian Thomas Bicknell described the charter as "the grandest instrument of human liberty ever constructed." == Background == What became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations began as a few scattered settlements of fugitives fleeing from the persecution of other colonies. The scattered cabins along the river or bay became small villages, and eventually the villages grew into towns, each with its own government and laws. Greatly threatened by their ambitious and vindictive external neighbors, the towns banded together under the Patent of 1643/4, recognizing their corporate existence, and compelling recognition from their neighbors as well. The freedoms granted by the patent were, in the early days, a source of weakness, and in essence legalized a collection of independent corporations rather than creating a sovereign power resting upon the popular will. The patent produced a confederacy, but not a union. Its defects were seen in the ability of William Coddington to separate the island towns from the government of the mainland towns under a commission he obtained from the crown in 1651. It was Coddington's very commission that sent Dr. John Clarke to England to have the instrument revoked. Finding success in this endeavor in 1653, Clarke remained in England for the next decade, and became the agent to represent the interests of the fledgling Rhode Island colony before the crown. As the ideas of a government of liberty filled the minds of the Rhode Island colonists, their leaders formed the ideas into letters drafted by the commissioners and forwarded to Clarke. With the end of the English Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell and the accession to the throne of Charles II, the time had come for Rhode Island, and its venerable agent in England, to seek an audience with the King, and present the desires of the Rhode Island settlers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rhode Island Royal Charter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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