Hello and welcome to a history of the United States. Episode 88, Cranston.

In our last episode, we looked at how the glorious revolution played out in New England,

following how it managed to completely destroy the ill-conceived dominion of New England.

The new political unit fractured.

Plymouth was dissolved as a colony, being absorbed into Massachusetts,

which was to be given a greater role within the imperial system.

New Hampshire was allowed to break free of Massachusetts and the other colonies,

New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, East Jersey and West Jersey began to return to normal.

So, today, I want to look at how this affected Rhode Island in particular.

Firstly, let's go back a bit. Back to 1689, when news

arrived that King James II had been overthrown by William and Mary. The hated Governor

Andros was imprisoned and the Dominion collapsed. A number of freemen met in Rhode Island and decided that

the best course of action was to resume their government under the royal charter and that all officials

who had held a position when the dominion came into effect, should be restored.

The old governor took charge for a couple of months,

not wanting to deal with the military matters that were

the overwhelming issue affecting New England at the time.

The French and Indians.

The deputy governor assumed control and wrote to William and Mary,

asserting Rhode Island's loyalty and petitioning for the old charter to be confirmed.

What followed was a particularly interesting period in the colony's history. In theory, the old government of Rhode Island had been restored, but in practice it was a little bit more complicated, by which I mean it was a lot more complicated.

The votes of a few men and a couple of proclamations were not enough to restore the Charter Government.

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