Taxation in Rhode Island, 1636-1689.

The towns before the Union.

Unlike Massachusetts the towns in Rhode Island remained the supreme authority under the king for some years before any central government was established by charter.^[6] The first delegated government established in Providence was in 1640.^[7] It was of the simplest nature. Five men were to be elected quarterly, who, subject to the control of the town meeting, were to have the disposal of lands and of the "townes stocke." Disputes between citizens were to be settled by arbitrators appointed either by the parties to the dispute, or by the five "disposers," payment for their time spent to be made by the "faultive" party.

Provision was also made for a clerk who was to receive 4d. for each cause that came to the town for trial and 12d. for each deed prepared. All the inhabitants were to join in the pursuit of a fugitive from justice.

The "townes stocke" was probably derived from fines and payments for land by the new comers,^[8] as there is no mention of taxation. At the time of the union of the towns in 1647 the delegates from Providence to the general court, which was to organize the colonial government, were instructed to secure to the town the reservation of certain rights in the management of 5their own affairs, but neither in these instructions nor in the charter of very full powers afterwards granted to the town is there any direct reference to taxation. In Portsmouth and Newport the delegated power was in the hands of a judge and elders. These towns probably depended on much the same sources of revenue as did Providence; fines, fees, and payments for land.^[9] The political development however was more rapid on the island than on the mainland and we early find in Portsmouth traces of taxation as well as of comparative advancement in financial affairs.^[10] The records of the first year of the Newport settlement show that their financial transactions were of importance and that certain officers, such as the secretary and sergeant, received considerable payments from the town.^[11] There is no record of the amount charged for land, nor any mention of taxes, though it is not improbable that they existed in some form, as the settlers in their first compact engage "to bear equal charges answerable to our strength and estates in common."^[12] In 1640 Newport and Portsmouth came together under a common government, each town retaining however its own organization, and the control of its own affairs. The general officers were a governor, a deputy governor, four assistants, two treasurers, two constables, a secretary, and a sergeant. The magistrates (governor, deputy governor, and assistants) fulfilled judicial as well as executive functions. The only reference to the payment 6of officers is a provision in 1641 that the secretary should have 3s. per day for his attendance upon the various courts. In the following year this salary is taken away and it is ordered that both the secretary and the sergeant be paid by fees.^[13]

The common expenses were met by drafts on the town treasurers. The financial transactions of the united towns were considerable in amount,^[14] and there are several special taxes of interest. It was ordered in 1640 that the treasury of each town be always supplied with two barrels of gunpowder and with bullets and match. Every man who killed a deer outside of his own property was required to bring in one half to the treasury under penalty of forty shillings. Thus the town derived a revenue from the use of the public domains. In 1642 a bounty of five pounds was offered on wolves, to pay which it was provided that a rate should be levied on every man according to his cattle;^[15] the idea of a direct relation between the tax and the service rendered. Bounties of this kind must have been one of the principal sources of expense to the early settlers. On wolves they were sometimes as high as £5, at other times not more than 30s., while the rate on foxes was 6s. 8d.

The above seems to be substantially all that remains of the financial records of the early towns. We find in them the 7conditions already noted; few needs, abundance of land, for sharing which they could demand a payment of all new comers, payment by fees or, if a tax was necessary, perhaps by a tax on a particular class, as in the case of the bounty on wolves. Fines, too, probably formed a not inconsiderable source of revenue, for the home of religious freedom seems to have been to some extent the home of those who desired freedom from the law as well. When a general tax for the common good was levied the "estate and strength" of each must have been a matter of common knowledge impossible of concealment. It should be noted also that neither at this time nor much later under the charter government was the business of the treasury managed with that exactness which we find today. Receipts were very often far behind expenses and bills were frequently allowed to remain unpaid until the money happened to be in the treasury.

The four towns first organized under a common government in 1647 by virtue of what is known as the Patent, procured through the efforts of Roger Williams in March 1643-4. Under this government the colony remained, with the exception of an interruption lasting from the spring of 1651 to August 1654,^[16] until it reorganized under the charter of 1663 which remained the fundamental law of the colony and state for one hundred and eighty years.

8The general officers under the Patent were a president and four assistants, a general recorder, a treasurer, and a general sergeant. There was also a committee composed of six representatives from each town.^[17] A general attorney and a solicitor were added in 1650.^[18] Under the charter of 1663 the president was replaced by a governor and deputy governor, the number of assistants was increased to ten, and, instead of the committee of six from each town, provision was made for six deputies from Newport, four each from Providence, Portsmouth, and Warwick, and two each from all other towns that might come into existence. The other general officers remained the same as before. Under both governments the magistrates (president, or governor and deputy governor, and assistants) performed judicial functions.^[19]

Public service was considered as a duty the fulfilment of which was enforced by law^[20] while payment, except where the method of fees was available, was either not given at all or was but daily wages for the time actually employed in the service. Payment for service in the general assembly or the court of trials did not exceed three shillings a day, with a much heavier fine for non-attendance.^[21] In addition to this a law of 1679 provided that diet and lodging should be furnished those in attendance, the expense to be met out of the fines and forfeitures 9coming into the general treasury.

The services of the recorder, sergeant, and general attorney were compensated by fees, though the first two seem also to have had daily wages for their time employed, and their payment was among the chief sources of expense at this early period.^[22] The general treasurer enjoyed a percentage, sometimes as high as ten per cent, on the amount of his transactions.^[23]

The care of the highways and the poor was given over to the towns.^[24] It is evident that the expenses of such a government could not have been great.

So small were the financial operations during the earlier years that the general treasurer "returned his accompte into the courte for the year 1649, that he (had) received nothing as Treasurer and therefore have nothing in his hande,"^[25] and Gregory Dexter, town clerk of Providence, could write to Sir Henry Vane "Sir we have not known what an excise means. We have almost forgotten what tythes are; yea, or taxes, either to church or commonweale."^[26]. In fact for many years fines and forfeitures seem to have been the chief reliance for defraying ordinary general expenses and they continued to form a principal element of the receipts until the end of the century.^[27]. Taxation however could not be entirely avoided. It was necessary to place the colony in a position capable of defence and 10in 1650 each town was ordered to have in its magazine a certain quantity of arms and ammunition, the amount assigned to each town to be equally laid upon the inhabitants of the council thereof "according to each man's strength and estate."^[28] Taxes were also levied to pay for powder and shot sent, over from England.^[29] Prisons were necessary and in 1655 the towns were ordered to build two prisons, two cages, and two pairs of stocks, one of each on the mainland and one on the island at a total cost of £135.^[30] Later court houses and a state house were required, but on the whole taxation to meet ordinary expenses remained almost ludicrously small until long after Rhode Island had become a state. The exercise of the taxing power was reserved for special occasions. The most important of these was war; next came the support of an agent in England. Wars which required the employment of a paid soldiery did not begin until the end of the Seventeenth century; agents in England to look after colonial interests were a necessity from the very beginning of the colonies and lasted until the colonies became states. Particularly was this the case in Rhode Island, small in population and territory, its jurisdiction attacked on every side by the claims of more powerful neighbors,^[31] with a charter containing grants of such unusual freedom that it was a constant target for those opposed to colonial self-government. 11One of the acts of the first general assembly under the Patent in 1647 was to assess upon the towns a tax of £100 to pay Roger Williams for his exertions in procuring that document more than three years before.^[32] Williams in company with John Clarke again went to England to secure the repeal of Coddington's commission. The former returned on the accomplishment of his mission but Clarke remained and cared for the interests of the colony, and it was in connection with his efforts to secure the charter of 1663 that taxation on any considerable scale began. The following table will show the taxes levied from 1662 to the fall of the Andros government in the spring of 1689. Those taxes marked with a star were levied under the Andros régime.

Date of Ass'm'nt. Amount. Purpose. Payment may be made in.

^[33]June 1662 £288 "in silver pay" Agent. "beefe, porke pease, and wheat, at such prices as it then goeth to the merchants as moneye pay;"

^[34]Oct. 1662 £106 Agent. "goods" to be priced by men chosen for the purpose.

12Oct. 1663. £100 "in current bills." Agent

^[35]Oct. 1664. £600 Agent and others to whom the colony is indebted; wheat, peas, pork, horses, cattle, or any sort of provisions "according to the usual rate that it doth pass at amongst us".

^[36]June, 1670. £300 "in pay currant of this Collony" Agent. Seems to have been diverted to general purposes. pork, peas, wheat, Indian corn, oats, wool, butter or such other pay as the General treasurer may accept.

^[37]Oct. 1673. A farthing in the pound. "payment of the collonys now knowne debts." See general tax law p.

^[38]Nov. 1678. £300 sterling. paying the colony's debts. money, pork, beef, peas, Indian corn, barley, barley malt, sheeps' wool or butter at stated prices.

13^[39]July, 1679 £60 sterling. to repay disbursements in England on the colony's account. money or pay equivalent.

^[40]May, 1680. £100 payment of the colony's debts and supplying the treasury.

^[41]Oct. 1684. £160 "in or as New England money." to discharge colony's debts.

x^[42]Jan. 1686-7. A penny in the pound; poll tax 1s., 8d. general expenses of the Andros government.

x Aug. 1687. A penny in the pound; poll tax 1s. 8d. General expenses of the Andros government.

x Dec. 1687. £160. Building two court houses, repairing the prison and paying the debts of the province. money, wool, butter, Indian corn, rye or pork at stated prices.

14x March, 1687-8. £53-6s. 8d. Bounties on wolves. same as last.

x ^[43]Aug. 1688. A penny in the pound; poll tax 1s. 8d. general expenses of the Andros government.

The requirements of the militia service, which at this time supplied the whole military power of the colony, should also be taken into consideration. Militia systems had been established in the towns before their union under one government. The law of the island towns appointed eight training days a year for each town with two general musters. A fine of five shillings was imposed for non-appearance, and all men remaining on the island for twenty days were liable to the service.^[44] The first assembly under the Patent enacted substantially this same law for the whole colony^[45] and it remained essentially unchanged throughout the period of which we are treating. The limits of age were fixed at sixteen and sixty years. The only exemption from service were on account of "age, monage, sickness, lameness, or publique barringe of office at that time 15in the commonwealth."^[46] In 1665, the number of training days was reduced to six and the fine for non-attendance was gradually lowered to two shillings. Those who were able seem to have been required to provide themselves with arms and ammunition, but in case of inability they might be furnished by the town council by means of rates or from the proceeds of military fines.^[47] The military requirement acted to a certain extent as a poll tax, but the relations of the colony with the surrounding Indians was for the most part friendly; the need of strict military discipline does not seem to have been felt and various references in the laws themselves tend to show that military regulations were not strictly observed unless under the influence of some pressing emergency when special laws requiring their enforcement were passed; so that the military system seems in general to have been but little of a burden.

It is evident that on the whole taxation daring this period was light. The nominal amount of taxes of all kinds levied between 1647 and 1689 was not much over £3600 or about £84 a year. Nearly £1100 of this amount was levied between June 1662 and October 1664 to meet the expenses of procuring the charter. It was levied for the most part in "current pay" and the sterling value, probably, did not exceed £600. The collection also was extended over several years. Such taxation appears 16to us extremely light and even though we make, as is necessary, a large allowance for the difference in economic conditions then and now, the burden does not appear excessive,^[48] while, if we look at the remaining years, taxation is almost insignificant;^[49] it amounted on the average to but a few cents per capita each year. In fact it was altogether too light to meet expenses. The colony seems always to have been in debt. In September 1673 the debts due from the treasury exceeded the debts due to it by £71 9s. 2d.^[50] Five years later the colony was indebted for £437 3s. 10d.^[51] In 1684 the Assembly affirm that the existence of the government is endangered for the want of funds in the treasury.^[52] In several instances money to meet public expenses was raised by contribution. In other cases the necessary amounts were advanced by individuals, to be repaid when the money should come into the treasury.^[53] Though, judged by amount, taxation at this period was unimportant, yet it is here that we find the beginnings of a system which in theory at least endures at the present time. We turn therefore to a consideration of the law and administration of taxation.

Neither in the Patent nor in the Charter is there any specific grant of the power to tax;^[54] it seems to have been regarded as implied in the grant of government, and was always exercised by the highest legislative authority, under the Patent 17at first by the body of freemen assembled in general court, and later by the court of commissioners, under the charter by the general assembly consisting of the deputies and magistrates, at first sitting as one body and later as two distinct houses.^[55] The legislature apportioned the tax among the separate towns and required each town to collect and pay into the colony treasury its quota by the time specified in the act ordering the tax, the towns employing their own administrative machinery for the purpose.^[56] Perhaps the system is best summed up in a law passed in 1655. "It is ordered, that ye raisinge of Generall Taxes shall be ordered by ye Generall Court of Commissioners, as they shall see cause from time to time as to ye sumes, and how they shall be proportioned on each Towne; as alsoe, who in each Towne shall have power to make ye rates, and who are to give forth warrants for ye gatheringe of them; as alsoe in case of any refusinge to pay, to order assistance to him or them that are authorized to give warrants, or to gather ye rates as need shall require."^[57] In the case of the tax levied for the payment of Roger Williams it was ordered in 1650 "that the councill of ech Towne be enjoyned forthwith to proportion Mr. Williams that debt and other summes apoynted thereto, according to every mans strength and state;"^[58] and for a while the town council seems to have acted as assessors. Just when the duty of assessment 18began to be assigned to separate officers we do not know, probably very early.^[59] Collectors did not come until well into the next century, their functions being exercised by the town constable or sergeant.^[60] During these early years custom rather than law seems to have been the regulating power, and it doubtless left much to be desired. An attempt to remedy these shortcomings was made in 1673 when what may fairly be called the first tax law was passed.^[61] It throws much light on existing conditions. The preamble recites "the great dissatisfaction and irregularity that hath been by makeinge rates or raising a common stock for public Charges in the Collony in general or for any perticuler towne, and the great faileableness to accomplish it, and great delaies in performance," and affirms that public charges "should be born according to equity in estate strength."^[62] The law then provides that where a rate is levied by the colony or a town every one shall "make a true valluation of theire estate and strength, every thinge that is any estate to them be vallued, which they are not rated for to another place; and when for a pertickular towne rate, what they are not rated to another towne." Each person is to pay "to the Treasury to whome it doth belong" a certain amount upon the pound of valuation as the assembly may order. Payment may be made in "anything that is rateable, and it shall not be refused 19at the price as by two indifferent men vallued."^[63] If any do not rate themselves "the Generall Assembly may appoint men to gess at their estate, and rate them as they should have done themselves, and according to double the proportion for forbearance."^[64] "If the Assembly judge any have undervallued their estates, such shall be required to give in to the Treasurer a true forme of an inventory of all their estate and strength in pertickular, and give in writeinge what proportion of estate and strength in pertickular he guesseth tenn of his neighbours, nameinge them tn pertickular, hath in estate and strength to his estate and strength." If they do not comply they are to be rated as those who have not rated themselves at all; "or if it be proved that there is more due from any than they have rated themselves, they are to pay double as much therefor (and for the forbearance), as for it they should have rated themselves." These latter provisions of the law clearly show the fact which would render it possible to successfully carry our such a system at that time. Each man could know the property of his neighbor almost as well as his own property and it was not for his interest to bear any burden which should properly fall upon another.

As a matter of fact taxes were seldom levied at so much on the pound,^[65] but a definite amount was ordered, to be apportioned 20among the rate payers. This law provides for assessors only in case individuals neglect to rate themselves, and makes no mention of collectors. The custom, however as has been said was for the towns to appoint assessors whenever a tax was to be levied and to entrust its collection to the constables or sergeants. There were however many exceptions.

The central government was comparatively weak. Towns very often paid no attention to the orders of the assembly and it became necessary to resort to special means to assess and collect the tax. Town machinery was overridden. The magistrates were empowered to call town meetings to assess the rate^[66] or the assembly appointed a committee for the purpose. The general or colony sergeant was required to collect the tax after the assessment had been made.^[67] The troubles in connection with the collection of rates seem to have culminated in the spring of 1672, when what is known as the "sedition act" was passed.^[68] This act after reciting the dangers arising from the opposition to the collection of rates provides that "if any person or persons in any town or place within this jurisdiction, shall at any time more especially in any town meeting or other publique assembly of people, appear by word or act, in opposition to such rates and impositions," made by the assembly or in opposition to any act of the assembly, made in accordance with the 21charter, such person shall be "proceeded against as for high contempt and sedition," and on conviction shall suffer at the discretion of the justices, "corporall punishment by whipping, not exceeding thirty stripes, or imprisonment in the House of Correction, not exceeding twelve months; or else a fine or mulct, not exceeding twenty pounds." This act was passed in April. In the following month the annual election occurred. Not a single deputy was reelected, and the same was true of the governor and six assistants.^[69] Political revolution was never more complete. The new assembly repealed every act of its predecessor. So strong was the reaction that in the following November a limitation was placed upon the assembly's power of taxation, by the provision "that noe tax nor rate from henceforth shall be made, layd or levied on the inhabitants of this Collony without the consent of the Deputys present pertaining to the whole Collony, as there must be a major part of the Assistants (by the Charter), nor any way bringe the Collony in debt by any meanes." The assembly does not seem to have recovered its former powers until 1679.^[70]

With the establishment of the Andros government the assembly disappeared. The right of taxation throughout his whole jurisdiction belonged to Andros and his council; for local purposes it seems to have been delegated to a court of nine 22justices which succeeded to the powers of both the Assembly and the Court of Trials.^[71] So much an examination of legislative enactments shows us. We are fortunately enabled to fill out the picture to some extent from other sources. In Jan. 1678-9 the freemen of Providence took action in regard to their quota of the colony tax assessed in the preceding October. A committee of four was chosen "to draw aside a Little space of time, to consider togather of the suitablist prices, Which is meet to be sett on (ya Esteemed) Rateable Estate of ye Inhabitants of this Towne, x x x for to be a helpe & preparation to ye Lieviers." The rates of valuation agreed upon were as follows:

"Meaddow Land: One acar Improved, to be Vallued at 04-00-00

planting Land: One Acar Improved to be Vallued at 03-00-00

Vakant Land; & unimproved: £ Acar to be Vallued at 00-03-00

An ox 04-00-00

4 or five yeare old steers 03-10-00

Cowes & three yeare old Cattle, To be Vallued at 03-00-00

two yeare old Cattle, To be Vallued at 01-15-00

Yearleings-Cattle--Each of whom--To be at 01-00-00

23three yeares old Horses, & horse kind--To be Vallued at 02-00-00

two yeare old horse, & horse kinde To be Vallued at 01-10-00

hoggs, or swine, Each of them above a yeare old 00-15-00

sheepe--above a yeare old--To be Vallued at 00-04-00"

"Ye Rate-makers" however "are not soe strictly tyed x x to ye Instructions of ye above sayd Committee, but yt they have a Libberty to Vary therefrom, as in theire discrescesion shall seeme meet Unto them, x x x they having the sayd Instructions as a Line for some guide of theire Judgement therein." Five men were then chosen to assess the rate.^[72] At the meeting of the following March, it is ordered that notices be set up in public places stating that the rate is to be levied and requiring all inhabitants within fourteen days to bring in to the rate makers an account of "The quantity of their Land & Meadows Layd out to them, Improved & unimproved, As alsoe what Cattle of any Sort they have, otherwise none can justly be offended, if ye Raters only use what information they can get." When the rate makers have made up their lists of what each man is to pay they are to post them in public places and each tax payer is then to bring to the treasurer, at his dwelling, the sum for which he is 24rated. The assessors completed their lists in July. The town clerk was ordered to prepare a copy of the list and deliver it to the town constables who should collect the rate. If any refused to pay application was to be made to a Justice of the Peace who should grant a warrant of distraint against the property of the defective person.

Among the manuscripts in the Rhode Island Historical Societies Cabinet in Providence are preserved several hundred of the lists of rateable estates returned to the assessors by individuals during the period of which we are now treating.

The following is "The Account of ye Rateable Estate of Jon. Whipple of providence:

First Sixe Cowes, and one heifer; not 3 yeares old.

Secondly 2 Oxen

3dly 3 Steeres of 3 yeares old

4ly one heifer; 2 yeares old

5ly 3 of one yeares old, one a steere; ye 2 heifers

6ly 3 horses

7ly one mare and colt, beside 3 more if not stolen or alive or made bobtailes

8ly one house lott within Fence

9ly 2 shaires in ye Great meadown where I mowe 4 lods of hay

2510ly 4 Swine

11ly one yeare old horse colts"

John Whipple seems to have been blessed with more than the average amount of wealth in personal estate, but this list as do all the others clearly shows the character of the property which existed at the time.^[73] But little if any property was owned beyond the limits of the town. Everything was tangible and could be concealed neither from the neighbors nor the assessors. It was not difficult to fix on a standard of valuation which should apply uniformly and fairly to all property owners. The method of taxation adopted was clearly the most suitable, indeed the only one suitable at all, for a community of farmers, where land was abundant, and where trade had not developed but each family produced for its own consumption.