Providence Plantation was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a non-conformist minister fleeing from religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was joined there by Anne Hutchinson after her banishment. Other settlements in Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick quickly followed. A Parliamentary patent was secured in March 1643/4, uniting the four settlements.
In 1663 a Royal Charter was granted by Charles II of England for the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It guaranteed religious freedom.
Rhode Island was the last colony of the original 13 British colonies in North America to ratify the United States Constitution.
