Colonial and or territorial days in Rhode Island?

* 1636: Roger Williams, a Puritan minister who had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious beliefs, founds Providence.

* 1638: Anne Hutchinson, another religious dissenter, is also banished from Massachusetts and joins Williams in Providence.

* 1643: Rhode Island is granted a charter by the English parliament, making it the first colony in America with complete religious freedom.

* 1663: The Rhode Island charter is revoked by the English king, but it is later restored in 1669.

* 1729: The colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is merged with the colony of New Plymouth to form the colony of Massachusetts Bay.

* 1776: Rhode Island becomes the first colony to declare independence from Great Britain.

Territorial Period (1776-1790)

* 1776: Rhode Island adopts its first state constitution.

* 1787: Rhode Island becomes the 13th state to ratify the United States Constitution.

* 1790: Rhode Island cedes its western lands to the federal government, creating the Territory of Rhode Island.