Conceived in Liberty Volume 2 - Ludwig von Mises Institute

of Indians or Negroes. Furthermore, a slave suspected of theft was liable to
be tried without a jury.
In Rhode Island, as in the other colonies, only freeholders could vote.
Whereas this ensured a democratic system in most of New England, the reverse
was true in the Narragansett Country, where the landowners were few and
large. In 1729, this requirement was fixed at the substantial sum of two
hundred pounds sterling freehold, or an annual value of ten pounds sterling
—a substantial sum for the time, and five times the Massachusetts voting
requirement. As a result, the small landowners were disenfranchised and large
landowners achieved strict oligarchic control of the local government of the
Narragansett Country. And these governments, headed by town councils
unique in New England, had far more power than the usual town selectmen.
For one thing, the council decided absolutely on who could be admitted into
the settlement and who prohibited; it functioned also as a local court. Furthermore,
jury trial was discouraged in the area, and a body appointed by the
council decided disputes over roads. In contrast to the elected officials of other
townships, the town council was partially appointed and only partially
elected. In all these ways, the rule of a local landed oligarchy was reinforced.