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Stephen Hopkins (March 7, 1707 – July 13, 1785) was a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. From a prominent Rhode Island family, Hopkins was a grandson of William Hopkins who served the colony for 40 years as Deputy, Assistant, Speaker of the House of Deputies, and Major. His great grandfather, Thomas Hopkins, was an original settler of Providence, sailing from England in 1635 with his first cousin, Benedict Arnold, who became the first governor of the Rhode Island colony under the Royal Charter of 1663. As a child Stephen Hopkins was a voracious reader, becoming a serious student of the sciences, mathematics, and literature. He became a surveyor and astronomer, and was involved in taking measurements during the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun. Hopkins began his public service at the early age of 23 as a justice of the peace in the newly established town of Scituate, Rhode Island. He soon became a justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, while also serving at times as the Speaker of the House of Deputies and President of the Scituate Town Council. While active in civic affairs, he also was part owner of an iron foundry and was a successful merchant who was portrayed in John Greenwood's 1750s satirical painting, ''Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam''. In May 1747 Hopkins was appointed as a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and in 1751 became the third Chief Justice of this body. In 1755 he was elected to his first term as governor of the colony, and served a total of nine of the next 15 years in this capacity. One of the most contentious political issues of his day was the use of paper money versus hard currency. His bitter political rival, Samuel Ward championed hard currency, whereas Hopkins advocated the use of paper money. The rivalry between the two men became so heated, that Hopkins sued Ward for £40,000, but lost the case and had to pay costs. By the mid-1760s the contention between the two men became a serious distraction to the government of the colony, and realizing this they attempted to placate each other, but initially without success. Ultimately, in 1768, both agreed to not run for office, and Josias Lyndon was elected governor of the colony as a compromise candidate. In 1770 Hopkins once again became Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and during this tenure became a principal player in the colony's handling of the 1772 Gaspee Affair, when a group of irate Rhode Island citizens boarded a British revenue vessel, and burned it to the waterline. In 1774 he was given an additional important responsibility as one of Rhode Island's two delegates to the First Continental Congress, Samuel Ward being the other. Hopkins had become well known in the 13 colonies ten years earlier when he published a pamphlet entitled "The Rights of Colonies Examined," which was critical of British Parliament and its taxation policies. In the summer of 1776, with worsening palsy in his hands, Hopkins signed the Declaration of Independence while holding his right hand with his left, saying, "my hand trembles, but my heart does not." He served in the Continental Congress until September 1776 when failing health forced him to resign. A strong backer of the College of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (later named Brown University), Hopkins was one of the school's most ardent supporters, and became the institution's first chancellor. He died in Providence in 1785 at the age of 78, and is buried in the North Burial Ground there. Hopkins has been called Rhode Island's greatest statesman. == Ancestry and early life == Born in Providence in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Hopkins was the second of nine children of William and Ruth (Wilkinson) Hopkins. His grandfather, also named William Hopkins, was very prominent in colonial affairs, having served for more than 40 years as a Deputy from Providence, Assistant, Speaker of the House of Deputies, and Major. His grandmother Hopkins was a daughter of Providence settler John Whipple, sister of the wealthy Providence merchant, Joseph Whipple, and aunt to Deputy Governor Joseph Whipple, Jr. Stephen Hopkins' great grandfather was Thomas Hopkins, who was baptized in Yeovilton, Somerset, England in 1616, the son of William and Joanne (Arnold) Hopkins. Orphaned at an early age, Thomas Hopkins was raised by his uncle William Arnold, and sailed to New England in 1635 with his Arnold relatives, including his first cousin, Benedict Arnold, who became the first governor of the colony under the Royal Charter of 1663. The early part of Stephen Hopkins' life was spent in the wooded northern part of Providence known as Chopmist Hill, an area that became Scituate, Rhode Island. There were no schools in this area at the time, but the books belonging to the family, supplemented by a small circulating collection, provided Hopkins with reading material, which he consumed voraciously. Richman called Hopkins "a close and severe student, filling up all the spare hours of his life with reading," while Sanderson wrote, "He attached himself in early youth to the study of books and men." Besides reading, Hopkins also gained skills in surveying from his grandfather, Samuel Wilkinson. He used his surveying skills to revise the streets and create a map of Scituate, and later did the same for Providence. Because of his responsibility as a youth, at the age of 19 Hopkins was given of land by his father, after which his grandfather Hopkins bestowed an additional upon him. Hopkins' interest in surveying spilled over into an interest in astronomy and other scientific endeavors as well, which was illustrated by an event when he was much older. Before the American Revolutionary War, on June 3, 1769, Hopkins was involved in the observation of a rare astronomical event, the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event was used to determine the distance of the earth from the sun, and also in this case to improve the measure of the latitude of Providence. Joseph Brown, noted for his scientific accomplishments as well as his commercial enterprise, was able to obtain a complete set of necessary instruments, including a reflecting telescope, a micrometer, and a sextant. An observatory was erected on a hill in Providence where a street, later named "Transit Street" in honor of the event, was laid out. Brown was assisted by a group of individuals, including Hopkins, Dr. Benjamin West, and others who were also interested in science. The observation was able to very accurately determine the latitude of Providence (to the nearest second of arc), after which the longitude was determined by comparing observations of the moons of Jupiter with similar observations made in Cambridge, England. 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「Stephen Hopkins (politician)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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