Town marks 382nd birthday with Portsmouth Compact viewing

The town’s copy of the Declaration of Independence also displayed

By Jim McGaw
Posted 3/6/20

PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth Compact once again was busted out of its vault at the State Archives to make a brief appearance for public viewing at Town Hall Friday, March 6. As a bonus. the …

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Town marks 382nd birthday with Portsmouth Compact viewing

The town’s copy of the Declaration of Independence also displayed

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth Compact once again was busted out of its vault at the State Archives to make a brief appearance for public viewing at Town Hall Friday, March 6. As a bonus. the town’s rare copy of The Declaration of Independence kept it company at stage left.

The occasion was the seventh annual Founders’ Day, which is celebrated only in Portsmouth on or around March 7, the date the town was founded under the Compact in 1638. The event was hosted by the Portsmouth Historical Society, which began the tradition in 2013.

“One of these documents is 382 years old, and the other is 244 years old,” said Town Historian Jim Garman, a board member of the Society who spoke briefly to about 30 people inside the Town Council Chambers. “It’s really special that we have them both here today.”

The Portsmouth Compact, which was signed in Boston by followers of outspoken midwife and preacher Anne Hutchinson, signified that settlers agreed to form a colony “under God’s laws, not the King of England” nor the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s Puritan clergy from which they were fleeing.

Hutchinson, being a woman, wasn’t allowed to sign the Compact. After the signing, her followers — led by wealthy merchant William Coddington, the Rev. Dr. John Clarke and including William Hutchinson (Anne’s husband) — had to find a new home. After checking out several places to settle — Long Island, New Jersey and Delaware — the group decided on Aquidneck Island after discussions with Roger Williams, who himself had been banished from Massachusetts three years earlier. 

Williams brokered a deal with the Narragansett Indians. The price for the island? Forty fathoms (about 240 feet) of white beads. For an additional 10 coats and 20 garden hoes, the Indians agreed to abandon the island by the following winter, Mr. Garman said.

Declaration of Independence

The history of the town’s copy of the Declaration of Independence is “really bizarre,” Mr. Garman said.

John Dunlap, an Irish immigrant, made copies of the document which were sent to every state in the union at the time. Then, Newport printer and newspaper publisher Solomon Southwick made third-generation copies for each town in Rhode Island on July 13, 1776.

Portsmouth’s copy hung in the clerk’s office for many years, but at one point it seemingly disappeared. In 1984, while Town Hall was being painted, it was discovered after inquiries by former Police Chief John Pierce, Sr., a history buff, with the help of then-Town Clerk Carol Zinno.

“It was in a broken frame, on the floor, behind a filing cabinet,” said Mr. Garman, adding that the document was later authenticated by the National Archives.

“This is the only one we know of that’s still in existence in its intended location,” he said, noting that most of the other copies got scattered over the years or were lost.

For example, Tracey Croce, a local government records analyst with the State Archives who accompanied Portsmouth’s copy down from Providence on Friday, said the state has West Greenwich’s copy, while Exeter’s is held by the John Carter Brown Library.

The presentation also featured remarks by Craig Clark, the Society’s Vice president, and Town Council President Kevin Aguiar, who thanked the Society, Ms. Croce, Town Clerk Jennifer West and Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea for making the viewing possible.

Portsmouth Compact, Portsmouth Historical Society

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Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.