Conceived in Liberty Volume 2 - Ludwig von Mises Institute

Libertarianism in Rhode Island
Though lacking its old-time consistency and zeal, Rhode Island continued
as one of the most individualistic of the American colonies. No church establishment
marred its libertarian record, and many religious sects flourished
peacefully side by side in the small colony. Indeed, to ensure the prevalence
of the voluntary principle, Rhode Island passed a law in 1715 forbidding any
churches from obtaining any of their revenue by compulsion. And as there
was no establishment, neither was there a network of government schools, as
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, to impose Calvinist theology upon the
inhabitants. The Quakers and especially the Baptists progressed rapidly under
this libertarian regime.
True to its tradition of freedom and free trade, Rhode Island paid even less
attention than the other colonies to British trade restrictions. Nor did Rhode
Islanders, with their Quaker traditions of antimilitarism, treat war as sacred;
they continued happily to trade with their designated "enemies" even in time
of war. The militia too was raised strictly voluntarily, without imposing the
compulsion of conscription. Indeed, the towns themselves elected their militia
officers, a highly democratic check on the military that was abandoned in 1713
under the urging of Governor Samuel Cranston. But town voting for militia
officers was restored the following year, after violent controversy. However,
this unique system was finally scrapped in 1718, when Rhode Island joined
the other colonies in appointing militia officers by the General Assembly and
the governor. In fact, by 1741, Rhode Island had taken a large step toward
militarism by establishing a permanent Council of War, consisting of the governor,
the Council, and the various high officers of the colony.
No colony was as decentralized as Rhode Island. Each town largely gov-
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