(May 29, 1790), was the 13th State admitted to the Union. In 1784, the legislature of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations passed an Act abolishing slavery within the State.2037 The Constitution of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, adopted 1842, stated:
Preamble. We, the people of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and to transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generations, do ordain and establish this constitution of Government.2038
Article I, Section 3. Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; and all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness.2039
The original Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, issued by Charles II in 1663, remained the Constitution of the Commonwealth until 1842. It stated:
The object of the Colonists is to pursue, with peace and loyal minds, their sober, serious, and religious intentions of godly edifying themselves and one another in the holy Christian faith and worship, together with the gaining over and conversion of the poor ignorant Indian natives to the sincere profession and obedience of the same faith and worship.(until 1842)2040