RHODE ISLAND HISTORY - Rhode Island Historical Society

37 TIVERTONSmith. a Quaker, and Thomas Taber, Ir., a Baptist,went to jail from Dartmouth. Demonstratingthat they were not intimidated. Tiverton's voterssent two local law enforcement officials to ask theReverend Mr. Marsh what he was doing in theirtown. After talking to him, they exiled him fromtheir community on the grounds that he was a vagrantwith no visible means o f support. Outragedby this disrespect. Marsh departed.Meanwhile the Re verend Samuel Hunt inDartmouth, concl uding it wou ld hardly endearhim to the townspeople if he insisted upon beingpaid by ecclesiastical taxes, petitioned the GeneralCourt to reconsider its position. For the ti me being,he wrote, he would live on the voluntary contributionsof those who cam e to hear him. Hehoped that eventua lly he would convert the majorityto his views and then they would be willingto levy taxes for his salary. With Marsh gone andHunt conciliatory. the General Court backed off.The assessors were released from jail and matterswent on as before. The Boston cler gy did not giveup so easily. Cotton Mather. among others, wasfurious about the whole business and filled his diarywith diatribes against "miserable Tiverton"and equally "wretched" Dartmouth.Fourteen years went by, Samuel Hunt's congregationin Acushnet Village had grown slightlybut it was not sufficiently lar ge enough to providehint with a decent voluntary salary. His auditorspetitioned the legislature for help. Prompted byMather and other established clergy. the legisla ­ture decided it was time for a showdown. Obtainingthe services of the Reverend TheophilusPickering, the General Court se nt him to T iverton.Then the legislature again levied extra provincialtaxes upon the tw o recalcitrant towns forthe support of Hunt and Pickering.Again the towns refused to comply and againtheir assessors were jailed . In 1708. wh en mattershad reached an impasse. the people of T ive rt onand Dartmouth had considered an appeal toQueen Anne against the intolerance of Massachusetts.This plan was dropped when the legislaturebacked down. Now the plan was revived. In 1723Tiverton and Dartmouth sent a Quaker, ThomasPartridge, to London to present their grievancesto the king in council. Partridge was assisted bythe London Yearly Meeting, governin g body ofthe Friends.Massach usetts authorities had their own agentin London to defend their actions. After hearingboth sid es, th e king concluded the Puritans werewrong. What right had Congregationalists, themselvesdissenters from the king's church , to laytaxes in the king's name upon oth er dissenters?He ordered Massachusett s to release the T ivertonand Dartmouth tax assessors. He also susta inedthe two towns in their refusal to levy the religioustaxes assessed by th e legislature for H un t's andP ickering's su pport.It was a stunnin g de feat for the P urita n estab­Iishment. Faced with the king's decisi on, the MassachusettsGeneral Court passed a series of newlaws between 1727 and 1731 which, for the firsttime since the founding of Massachusetts,exempted Quakers, Baptists. and Anglicans fromreligious taxation to support establish ed Congregational ch urches. The long battle over ecclesiasticaltaxes in T iverton and Dartmou th was asignificant turning point in th e history of se parationo f ch urc h and state. The victory was notcomplete. however. for it often proved difficult fordissenters to gain the exemption granted them bylaw. Not until 1833 did Massachusetts finally abolishthe last vestiges of its system of religious taxationfor the support of Congregationalism."Still,the people o f Tiverton and Dartmouth deserve tobe better remembered for th eir contrib ution toNew England 's struggle for re ligious liberty.An eulil!1" venion of this article ..... (1ven ..aleaure at th eAmicable Con e reeationaJ Churc h in Tivenon.. May 9. 1976.Deuila of th is nOl'}' can be found in Suu.n R«