History of Taxation
in
Rhode Island
to the year 1790.

By

Henry B. Gardner.

That method of raising revenue for the support of government which we understand by taxation marks a well advanced stage of economic life and is of comparatively recent origin among Germanic peoples. It was unknown while our English ancestors lived upon the continent of Europe and for many centuries after they had settled in their new home Society, and, as a consequence, government had not as yet become differentiated. Some of the most important duties, such as the defence of the kingdom, the care of the bridges and forts, were performed by personal service on the part of the people. Other duties incumbent upon the modern state, those which require the greatest expenditure, had not arisen. The private and public revenues of king were not as yet distinguished. The revenue of his private estates afforded him a considerable income and, in addition, he enjoyed the usufruct of the folkland. The growth of the feudal system gave rise to various other sources of income, and besides these there were payments for special privileges such as markets. The king also enjoyed rights such as that of carriage and purveyance, for example.

Taxation as we conceive it formed no part of the system. "Only in a condition of the deepest degradation, under Athelstan the Unready, could the national assembly be induced 2to levy a tribute upon the country to buy off the horde of Danish pirates."^[1] Taxation developed rapidly after the Norman conquest, but as late as the reign of James I out of a total revenue of about £450,000, £180,000 came from dues on feudal tenures, and the crown lands, rented at much below their real value, yielded £32,000.^[2]

Feudal dues remained an important source of revenue until the time of Charles II. All through the early period "the taxes voted were 'aids' and 'subsidies'; something to help the king eke out his income, as it were. Systematic taxation as a right--nay, as a duty owed by the citizen to the State--was an idea entertained with the utmost reluctance."^[3] Even after national taxation had become established the local bodies continued to depend on personal service (or payments in kind) to fulfil their military, police, or judicial functions. It was the apportionment among individuals of fines incurred by the various local divisions for the neglect of these duties which first gave rise to the county rate, the hundred rate, and the tithing rate or town levy. From the Tudor legislation of the Sixteenth and early Seventeenth centuries local taxation received a definite form and character. The poor law of 43 Elizabeth which established the parish poor rate became the basis of the system. To this rate all others tended to conform.^[4] In 3early New England the conditions were much the same in regard to taxation as in early England. The functions of government were few and simple and often easiest fulfilled by personal service on the part of the citizens. This was the case with respect to the maintenance of the roads, and with military service. The army was the folk under arms. The duties of public officers, whether of town or colony, could not have been burdensome and in many cases acceptance of office was looked upon as a duty to be performed without, or with small, recompense, refusal being accompanied by a fine. A considerable portion of public services such as those of the executive officers of the courts (and even of the judicial officers) were naturally recompensed by fees. Pauperism the great burden of the older country was hardly possible where land was abundant and labor scarce.

What has been said or New England in general applies with added force to Rhode Island, for here the political body concerned itself as a rule with neither religion nor education.^[5] Taxation was regarded for a long time not as the principal means for meeting ordinary expenditures but as something irregular and supplementary.

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.

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:

"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:

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.

With the restoration of the government in 1690, after the fall of Andros, Rhode Island enters upon a new period of her history, a period marked within by a stronger central authority and a more settled and orderly government.^[74]

In 1695, the governor was granted a salary of 26£10 a year, the deputy governor £6 and the assistants £4 each. All these officers had previously been exempted from taxation.^[75] Without the period was one of successive wars against the French and Spaniards, wars which required the support of a paid soldiery and, for a colony situated as was Rhode Island with her great extend of sea coast, the maintenance of strong defences against hostile ships. The charter was also endangered by the attacks of the Narragansett proprietors, and later of Bellemont and Dudley, and this required considerable expenditures to meet the expenses of the agent in England. The taxes and the purposes for which they were levied during the remainder of the period of which we are now treating can be seen in the following table.

There were two wars against the French during this period; "King William's War" from 1689-1697, and "Queen Anne's War" from 1702-1713. In the first Rhode Island took little part. She sent no men to aid the other colonies but confined herself to strengthening her own defences and repelling the French privateers which occasionally appeared in her waters, particularly off Block Island. The same is true of the early years of the Second War, although in this case the danger was greater and really considerable amounts were expended in putting the colony in a condition of defence, especially in strengthening and supplying the fort at Newport. A regular garrison was maintained at Block Island. The colony took part in the expedition against Port Royal in 1707, and in 1709 sent to Boston and maintained for five months two hundred men to assist in the proposed expedition against Canada which did not take place. The useless expenditure necessitated by this failure fell heavily on the colony and when, in the following year, one hundred and fifty-five men were sent to take part in the expedition against Port Royal bills of credit were issued to meet the expense.

31During the earlier years expenses did not increase much and seem to have been principally for the completion of the colony house, begun under Andros, and for the expedition to repel the French from Block Island.^[77] Beginning with 1695 there is a change. The payment of public officers becomes a considerable charge. The expenses of the Agent increase. Then comes the war expenditure, at first the maintenance of the fort and the Block Island garrison and then the expeditions against Canada.^[78]

The receipts are now almost entirely from taxes, other sources having become comparatively insignificant with the increasing revenue. The burden of taxation showed a constant tendency to increase. The average annual tax from July 1695 to February 1709-10 was about £1000, from August 1698 to the same date over £1200, from January 1703-4 nearly £1900, from May 1706 £2300, from February 1707-8 £2500, and during the last year £3700 was raised. A census of the colony in December 1708 showed a total population of 7181 of whom 482 were servants, black and white.^[79] This would show a great increase in the per capita taxation over the earlier period. During the last year the per capita rate was over half a pound. The taxes collected during this single year amounted to as much or more than all the taxes collected during the first forty years of the colonial government. There is no doubt that the burden 32was a heavy one and, following the example of others, the colony sought relief in issues of paper money. With the adoption of this new source of revenue colonial taxation practically ceased and was revived only under the pressure of another and greater war thirty-five years later.

With higher taxes the necessity of a system of taxation just and at the same time capable of strict enforcement, was more strongly felt. We consequently find from the very beginning of the period a great increase of legislation on the subject, so that by January 1703-4 there was placed on the statute book a body of law which contains the substance of our law today, and to which little was added, until, within recent years, the rapidly growing complexity of our industrial life has necessitated^[80] more careful and detailed enactments.

In the case of the very first tax after the Restoration Warwick complained of overrating, and the Assembly finding "that the manner of rating of towns by guess is no suitable nor certain rule, but may prove very prejudicial; x x determine that for the future, all rates that shall be made in the Collony, shall be made according to so much on the pound as the estates of persons are valued at."^[81]

33The three succeeding taxes were, in accordance with the resolution of 1690, percentage taxes and in connection with them we find much interesting legislation. A committee appointed in 1695 to draw up a plan of assessment reported as follows, "We therefore propose this way be for the rateing all lands and meadows and merchants, tradesmen and housings in this Collony; that every town shall yearly choose two or three able and honest men, to take the view of each of their inhabitants of their lands and meadows; and so to judge of the yearly profit at their wisdom and discretion; and so also of merchants and tradesmen; and to make this part of the rate according to the yearly profit; or as they, when they shall have had a more narrow inspection into the lands and meadows, shall see cause to set by the acre." The report was ordered to stand as an act by the assembly.^[82] Persons who did not bring in an account of their estate were to be rated at the discretion of the assessors. In this assessment according to profit, particularly of tradesmen and merchants, we clearly see the influence of the commerce of the colony, which was just at this time beginning to develop.^[83] Here too we see the first idea of assessors annually elected.^[84] The penny in the pound rate of this year was levied in accordance with the same act, as was also the two pence rate of 1696. In 1698 percentage taxation was abandoned, not to be again revived, 34and a return was made to the former custom of assessing a specified sum and apportioning it among the towns. An attempt however was made in the adoption of the most detailed law with which we have yet met, to avoid injustice in the assessment. In each town the assistants or two justices were to appoint two men to take account of rateable estate and of males between sixteen and sixty years of age, a return to be made to the assistants or justices, who were to call a town meeting to choose "three well qualified men" to assess each person's estate, in accordance with the account returned and the act of 1695, so as to raise the required sum. All male persons between sixteen and sixty years of age were required to pay a poll tax of one shilling,^[85] Indians, negroes and impotent persons excepted, unless they were freemen or had set up a trade or calling in the colony.^[86] Any person who should conceal any part of his estate from those appointed to take account was to forfeit one fourth of the amount concealed. Finally an account of the rateable estates was to be brought into the assembly, in order that if any town had been overproportioned the error might be rectified.^[87] Though this act was not a general law it seems in its administrative features at least with some slight modifications^[88] to have been the basis of the tax system until January 1703-4 when was passed the act which as we have said, is 35the foundation of the present law, so far as its administrative features are concerned. Its provisions were as follows: Each town on its annual election day was to make choice of "three able, knowing men x x x for Assessors, or Rate-makers, to stand for the year ensuing, who shall be engaged as all other town officers; they, or the major part of them, in each town so chosen, to make and proportion all town rates, and likewise each town's part of all Collony rates". Collection was to be made by the town constables who in case of neglect were to be responsible for the sums entrusted to them for collection.^[89] The act was amended from time to time as occasion required. In May 1704 the provision was introduced requiring the rate makers before assessing a tax to give ten days notice to each person to bring in an account of his rateable estate, anyone failing to do so to have no redress for overrating.

The rate makers were also empowered to administer an oath to all offering an account of their estates.^[90]

The system of percentage taxation having been abandoned by the assembly that body endeavored to obtain a satisfactory basis for the apportionment of taxes among the towns by ordering from time to time that each town should send into the assembly an exact estimate of its rateable estate. I have been able to find no trace of these early valuations.^[91]

36Looking at the period after 1695, there is a plainly marked progress both in legislation and administration. Before 1695, no well defined system of taxation had been established by general law, but it was customary for each act assessing a tax, or the amendments to it, to contain the rules for assessment and collection. A practically uniform system doubtless prevailed by custom, but it was not embodied in the law. After 1695, we meet with general laws upon the subject of taxation which gradually result in a recognized legal system. When a tax is ordered reference for the method of assessment and collection is generally made either to some former tax or to a general law, the latter being always the case after 1703-4.

The same progress is evident in the administration of the law. During the first few years great difficulties were often experienced, as in the earlier period, and it was frequently found necessary to override town machinery and place the appointment of the assessors and collectors of the tax in the hands of the officers of the central government.^[92] As that government became more firmly established, however, the towns yielded more willing obedience and during the later years of which we are speaking the heavy taxes were collected with great promptness by means of the ordinary administrative machinery. The cost of assessment and collection at the time was great 37amounting to seven or eight per cent. of the tax collected. In addition to this there was frequently a loss resulting from the payment of taxes in kind, either because the articles had to be disposed of at price lower than that at which they had been received or because of injury suffered while in the treasury.^[93]

There still remain to be noticed one or two matters which have not fallen within the foregoing survey.

The first has to do with legislation in regard to traders who cane into Rhode Island from other colonies, sold their goods and then returned remaining often but a short time. It was claimed that these traders carried off much ready money and produce to the detriment of the colony, at the same time escaping the burdens which fell upon the home trader. A law of 1698 levied a tax of five shillings on every ten pounds value of goods sold at retail by any trader who was not admitted an inhabitant of the colony. The tax on goods at wholesale was twenty shillings on one hundred pounds. This provision seems to have been aimed at foreign goods, as grain, provisions, and the produce of neighboring plantations were excepted from its operation.^[94] In 1700 the tax on retailers was raised to five per cent.^[95] and in the following year all merchants remaining in 38the colony for a month were made liable to all rates and duties levied upon inhabitants.^[96]

The second has to do with other sources of revenue, in addition to those already mentioned, enjoyed by the colony, more important for the principle which they exemplify than for the revenue which they yielded. In 1707 an act was passed provided for the survey of vacant lands in the Narragansett country. These lands were sold to settlers and the proceeds devoted to the Canada expedition.^[97]

From the nature of the colony ferries had always been a matter of great importance. The assembly had occasionally interfered to regulate their management in the interest of the public, and in 1699 adopted the policy of leasing the ferries for a term of years on condition of an annual payment to be made into the general treasury. The receipts were small but the principle involved was an important one.^[98]

The history of paper money in Rhode Island has already been treated with considerable fullness.^[99] It does not strictly fall within the scope of this monograph and will be treated only so far as to give a clear idea of the financial policy of the colony, an idea necessary to an understanding of the part 39played by taxation.

According to the report on the state of the treasury in 1709; the year of the attempted expedition against Canada, notwithstanding the heavy taxation, the colony found itself in debt to the amount of £3830-15s.-4d. To cover this deficit and meet the expenses of succeeding expeditions £13000 in bills of credit were issued during the years 1710 and 1711. These bills passed equal to silver at eight shillings per ounce.^[100] By this means the colony succeeded in transferring the balance to the right side of the account.

During the years of peace which followed the peace of Utrecht annual expenses greatly diminished. Ordinary expenditure was considerably under one thousand pounds, extraordinary expenditure sometimes added as much again or even more to the account.^[101] With the growth of population, political and economic development,^[102] and the depreciation of the currency, these sums gradually increased so that in 1731 a report made to the Board of Trade estimates the ordinary expenditure at two thousand pounds and the extraordinary at two thousand five hundred pounds. By 1739, when the Spanish war began the total of these two sums had increased to about six thousand pounds.

Notwithstanding the diminution of expenditure the colonists at the close of the war in 1713 were loth to take up 40again the burden or taxation and for the next forty years the government supported itself almost entirely by means of bills of credit. The usual method of procedure was this. Bills of credit were issued and loaned at interest, for a term of years, to landholders on mortgage security to double the amount of the bills. These loans were termed "Banks." The following table shows the Banks issued before the Revolution, the number of years for which they were loaned, the rate of interest received and the value of the bills at the time of issue.

41At the expiration of the loans interest ceased and repayment was made in ten equal annual instalments.^[105] The amount legally outstanding in January 1740-1 was £340,000, (sterling value £88074-16s. 10-3/4d.)^[106] the actual amount was doubtless greater, as we know that repayment was not always promptly made.^[107] In addition to the Banks the General Assembly had from time to time made direct issues of bills of credit. Before 1739, however, these issues were principally to replace worn and torn bills and did not increase materially the circulation. According to a report made in October 1739 the amount issued up to that time (including everything but the banks) was £117,001-15s. This sum had been offset by bills burnt to the amount of £105,704-15s. 3d., leaving an increase of circulation due to these issues of £11296-19s. 9d. Under the stress of war which now began and continued for several years these issues were largely increased. According to a report prepared in February 1749/50, for transmission to the English government, there was issued from September 1740 to February 1747 £206,000. The committee sums up its report in regard to these bills as follows: "At divers times, from the year 1710, to the year 1747, the colony has emitted bills of credit to the amount of £312300, old tenor; and there hath been called in and burnt at several times from the year 1728 to 1748, £176,964, 6s. 10d.; 42and by the last settlement of the general treasurer's account, it appears that there was then in the public treasury, £24,891 10s. 10d. from all which it appears that there is now outstanding of the bills issued to supply the treasury, £110,444 2s. 3d.; the whole of which outstanding sum was issued in the years 1746 and 1747,and is equal to £10,040 7s. 5d. sterling."^[108]. The amount legally outstanding in bank money was £390,000 old tenor (£210,000 nominal) sterling value £35,444, 9s. 2d. The increased issues had depreciated the paper money so rapidly that its relation to sterling was now as 11 to 1. As in 1739, the actual amount outstanding the legal amount. By the aid of remittances from England for the reimbursement of war expenditures Massachusetts succeeding in sinking her paper bills. Rhode Island with much larger proportional issues failed to follow the same course.

Douglas in 1748 estimated the total amount of bills of all kinds outstanding at £550,000 old tenor and even this seems to have been an under rather than over estimate.

In 1751 came the ninth and last bank, of a nominal value of £25,000 equal to £237000 old tenor. The issue of this bank was the last victory of the paper money party. For many years a strong opposition had been developing. As early as 1731 a protest against the issue of the fourth bank, signed by 43prominent citizens, had been sent to the king. Protests were also entered against the seventh and eighth banks, and in 1750 another petition against paper money issues signed by seventy two persons, representing the merchants of Newport, the commercial centre of the colony, was presented to the king. In 1751 parliament passed an act which, supported by the growing sentiment in favor of better financial methods, may be said to mark the downfall of the paper money policy. The principle provisions of the act were that, after September 29, 1751, bills of credit could be issued only with the consent of the home-government, and that provision must be made for calling them in within two years in the case of issues to meet current expenses, and in five years in the case of emergencies such as war. The time of the bills already out was not to be extended, and no bills issued or to be issued were to be made a legal tender. It seems best to anticipate for a moment and trace to its end the history of the issues already made. First, as to the bills issued to supply the treasury. Of those which had been called in and burnt previous to 1749, £88725 had been sunk by means of grants made by parliament to reimburse the colonies for the expenses incurred in King George's War. In 1751 £24280 more wore sunk in like manner. Between this date and 1785 £17368 were sunk from the proceeds of taxes leaving outstanding 44£93688. This sum was called in by a tax for the exact amount levied in 1769.

Provision for calling in the bank money by repayment of the loans had been made as we have seen in the acts of issue. The whole amount should have been repaid by 1767, but instead of this a report made to the general assembly in May 1770 shows that there was still outstanding £92615 old tenor value.

The bills continued to depreciate rapidly. In 1763 the following table was adopted as a standard for the determination of old tenor debts.

At the same time it was "enacted and declared, that lawful money of this colony is, and shall hereafter be silver and gold coin; and that nothing else shall be taken and understood to be lawful money of this Colony." Old tenor suffered a still further depreciation, until in the tax act of February 1769 it was ordered that it be received at the rate of $1 for £8. By act of September 1770, its circulation was forbidden after January 1, 1771. The rapid depreciation since the issues at the time of King George's War together with the return of Massachusetts to a specie currency at the end of the war seems to have been disastrous for Rhode Island commerce which was mostly with the West Indies. The disturbance was aggravated by the approaching war, and so numerous did mercantile failures become that a general insolvency act was passed in 1756.

Financial History 1751-1775.

During the French and Indian war paper money was issued in large quantities but provision was made for its redemption in accordance with the Act of Parliament in 1751, and an earnest attempt was made to meet the obligations thus incurred.

The period from 1751 to 1775 was really a period of war financiering, for the debt incurred for war purpose was not extinguished until the beginning of the Revolution, and we shall treat it as a whole.

The sources of revenue were loans, bills of credit, treasury notes, grants made by the English government, and taxes.

Loans.

These were usually advanced by private individuals. Unfortunately the accounts entered in the colony book by the auditing committees were not kept in such a manner as to enable us to determine with satisfactory certainty either the amounts borrowed or the times of repayment. The difficulty is the greater with regard to the latter point. So far as the books show the sums borrowed between 1751 and 1775, reduced to sterling, amounted to about £28,441, of which all but about £4,000 was borrowed during the six years 1755-1761.

The history of the bills issued up to the year 1751 we have already considered. It remains to describe the issues of the present war.

The first of these issues was in 1755 to meet the expenses of the Crown Point expedition. The bills were of the old tenor denomination, amounting to £240,000 equal to £13,500 sterling. They were to circulate two years without interest and then be called in and sunk. The subsequent issues were all in what were known as lawful money bills. They were issued at various times from 1756 to 1767, the total amount being £97,569 equal to £73,360 sterling. All but £6660 were issued on or before August 1762, £14,000 issued in 1756 were to run for two years and without interest. The other emissions were for five years with interest at 5%. The bills were declared equal to silver at 6s. 9d. per ounce.

Treasury Notes.

These were interest bearing notes issued to meet the bills of credit, bonds given for money borrowed or other treasury notes as they fell due, when receipts from other sources did not suffice for redemption. The practical effect was to work an extension of the debt. As shown by the treasury reports 48these notes seem to have been issued for the most part between the years 1765 and 1775 and amounted to £46,549 lawful money equal £34,999 sterling. The greater part seem to have been redeemed at the outbreak of the Revolution.

Receipts from England.

These were grants made by the English government to reimburse the colony for expenses incurred in the war. These grants made throughout the course of the war amounted to about £50,000 sterling and there was received from the English commanders in this country about £4000 or £5000 more, making in round numbers £55,000.

Taxes.

We now come to the source of revenue which concerns us most nearly. A slight attempt to resume taxation had been made at the time of King George's war. A tax of £10,000 old tenor (£1677 sterling) had been ordered in 1744 and another of £5,000 new tenor (£2000 sterling) in 1747/8, but the paper money party was still in the ascendant and it was not until after the overthrow of that party that the policy of taxation was seriously resumed in 1754.

The following table will show the taxes levied from that date to the beginning of the Revolution, together with their 49sterling values at the time the tax was ordered.

This would give an average annual taxation for the twenty-one years of £6,950 sterling or $33,777. in our money, equal to about 70 cents per capita.

Taxation, however, varied greatly at different periods. For the eleven years 1756-1766 the average annual tax was $43,707., about $1.00 per capita; for the five years 1757-1761 it was $51,935., equal to $1.18 per capita. Taxation reached its height in 1760 and 1761 amounting to $57,637. a year and $1.28 per capita. By 1773 it had fallen off to $14,619. a year, or a trifle less than 25 cents per capita. An estimate of the rateable property in 1762 gave a valuation of £26,105,423 old tenor, equal to about $4,224,178. Using this as a basis the rate of taxation in 1760 and 1761 would have been about 1.36 per cent. on the value of rateable property. An estimate of 1769 gave a property valuation of $7,706,449. (£2111356 lawful money). The rate of taxation in 1773 and 1774 was only .19 per cent. on this valuation. The average rate for the whole 51period seems to have been about one half of one per cent. By far the greater part of this taxation was for war purposes. The regular expenses of colonial government do not seem to have exceeded $7300. (£2000 lawful money) per annum, which towards the end of the period would amount to not more than 12 cents per capita, or one tenth of one per cent on valuation.

The above is a general outline of the financial operations of the period. The indebtedness of the colony at any particular date is difficult to determine. A committee in 1762 estimated that there were outstanding bills to the amount of about £53231 sterling. According to a report of a like committee in 1762 the amount was about £43000. In addition, however, the colony was considerably in debt for money hired. Whatever debt there was, however, seems to have been, for the most part, extinguished in the early years of the Revolution.

Financial History of the Revolution.

With the opening of the Revolution a new debt began to roll up. £60,000 in bills of credit (lawful money) were emitted in 1775 and £80,000 in the following year. A meeting of commissioners from the New England states, in Providence, December 1776, recommended that Rhode Island issue no more bills of credit, except of fractional denominations, but depend upon 52loans and taxes. The State complied with the suggestion and the only other issue of bills, before 1780, was in May 1777, when £4,500 in fractional currency was emitted. These bills of credit, as well as the continental bills, were declared a legal tender. They seem to have kept their value fairly well until the beginning of the year 1777, when a rapid depreciation set in. In accordance with the recommendation of Congress they were called in by Act of May 1778, and their circulation forbidden after July first of that year. After this date continental money, probably, formed the main circulating medium, until depreciation had gone so far that in 1780 the tender laws were repealed and a return made to a gold and silver basis. Up to June, 1779, the colony seems to have borrowed £162,756. In addition there were, all through the war, issues of certificates in payment of various obligations. It is impossible even to approximate to their amount. They were in many cases made receivable for taxes and were redeemed in this way. Taxation was resumed in March 1777, and vigorously applied, but so heavy were the burdens which fell upon the State in its weakened condition that in the summer of 1780 the treasury was empty.

This led to the issue of £20,000 more in bills of credit. This was the last issue of paper money by the State during the War. A considerable portion of the debt had been redeemed 53by taxation. That part of the debt incurred during the paper money period, which still remained outstanding, was called in by several Acts of 1782 and scaled down to the basis of the special value at the time the obligation was incurred, for which amount the treasurer issued his notes, payable in lawful money (silver), in from three to six years, bearing interest at six per cent. The want of accurate accounts leaves us in doubt as to just what was the effect of this consolidation and reduction. A committee reporting in October 1783 places the state debt at £123,892-15-11, in addition to £19,922-2-0 of the state's proportion of the new continental emission (March 1780) outstanding.

The greater part of this latter sum, however, had never left the treasury. A report of a committee in March 1787 placed the debt at £153,047-15-7. In the mean time steps had already been taken for its extinguishment.

In the years succeeding the war the colony was in a wretched economic condition. It was exhausted by the heavy financial and other burdens, the disturbance to industry, and the loss that had resulted from a long continued and destructive occupation of the commercial centres or the state by the British, as well as by the presence of the American army which had to be clothed and fed. Trade was interrupted, a large portion 54of the able bodied men had entered the army, and even those who remained at home were liable to be called upon at any moment for temporary service, or to have their property taken at an appraised valuation. Services rendered to the state were paid for only by promises of constantly decreasing value. As a result of all these causes economic society was disorganized. In the midst of such conditions the state was called upon to face a heavy debt. The treasury was completely exhausted and the people seemed unwilling to submit to further taxation. The legislature again turned to paper money for relief, and in May 1786 ordered the issue of the tenth bank. The amount was £100,000 and it was to be loaned, as were the others, on double mortgage security. The rate of interest was four per cent., and repayment to be completed within fourteen years. Depreciation was immediate and rapid, but the paper money party was firmly seated in power and the legislature passed acts of the most extreme character to enforce the circulation of the bills. The ordinary legal procedure, including trial by jury, was suspended in the case of offenders against the paper money laws. These "forcing acts", as they were called, came to naught, however, as the supreme court refused to exercise jurisdiction. Balked in their effort to force the circulation of the bills, the legislature turned to the easier task of paying off the state 55debt in the depreciated currency. By a series of acts, ranging from December 1786 to March 1789, the holders of the state debt were ordered to bring in their claims and receive payment in the paper bills, under penalty of forfeiture of the whole amount. As a result of this threat about one half of the debt seems to have been presented and paid, the smaller holders as a rule yielding to necessity, the larger holders standing out in the hope of a more profitable adjustment. The paper money party was now nearing the end of its power. An act of October 1789 made the bills of 1786 receivable at fifteen to one for coin, and authorized those to whom the money had been loaned by the state to make repayment upon the same basis.

In May 1790 the state entered the Union, and the possibility of such schemes in the future ceased. Those who had been able to resist the attempt of the state to pay their claims in a depreciated currency now reaped the benefit of their foresight. By act of August 4, 1790 Congress provided for the assumption of $21,500,000. of state debts, of which $200,000. was allowed to Rhode Island. Seeing the injustice which would accrue to those who had been compelled to accept their payment in paper money, the assembly in June 1791 passed an act repealing the various acts which had declared null and void the securities which had not been brought in in accordance with the acts 56of 1786-1789. Where payments had been made on securities in paper money the treasurer was authorized to reduce the amount so paid to specie value and deduct it from the face value of the security, the remainder to be presented with other securities for subscription to the United States loan. The United States commissioner, however, refused to receive these certificates, as the law under which the assumption took place provided that only those notes and certificates which had been issued prior to January 1, 1790 would be received. Thus the whole of this assumption enured to the benefit of those who had not brought in their securities for payment, as ordered by the state. On the day following the assumption of the state debts, just referred to, Congress provided for a settlement of accounts between the United States and the individual states. The latter were to be debited with all advances made by the general government and credited with all disbursements made for "the general or particular defence during the war, and on the evidence thereof according to the principles of general equity (although such claims may not be sanctioned by the resolves of Congress, or supported by regular vouchers)." The settlement of these accounts showed Rhode Island to be a creditor of the United States to the amount of $299,611. The final settlement between the state and its creditors is shown in the report of the general 57treasurer in Feb. 1797. The whole amount of the debt recognized by the state was $503,594.76. $419,662.30 of this was paid by the transfer of United States stock in the possession of the state and $83,932.46 by the issue of 4% state certificates. This last formed what was known as the registered state debt. It was added to, from time to time, by the recognition of new claims for Revolutionary service and was diminished by occasional purchases by the state at a rate below the par value, but the state was always loth to recognize its full responsibility for the debt and ended by practical repudiation.

The above is an outline of the financial history of the state during the Revolution. We now turn back for a moment to obtain a more detailed idea of taxation. Perhaps this can best be done, as in the case of the French and Indian war, by means of a table. (The date given is that of the passage of the act assessing the tax. The first column contains the nominal amount of the tax as stated in said act. The second column contains the nominal amount of the tax actually assessed, certain deductions being necessary on account of the occupation of portions of the state by the enemy and for other reasons. The third column contains the same reduced to specie value, and the fourth column contains the same expressed in our present dollars. The taxes marked with a star are for continental 58purposes)^[109].

In addition to these money taxes there were various other burdens which took the form of more or less arbitrary contributions. Enactments were early passed regulating the prices of all articles, and, in case they could not be otherwise 60procured, authorizing their seizure at these stated prices to meet various expenditures. It became customary, when troops were to be raised, to require each town to raise a certain number, often a cause of considerable expense, and, as the war went on and paper money and loans failed as sources of state revenue, it was common to hold each town responsible for a certain quantity of clothing or provisions. Payment of some kind was generally provided for, but, owing to the wretched financial conditions of the time, these requirements must have operated to a certain extent as a tax.

The long continued presence of the enemy necessitated in addition to the maintenance of an army as large or larger than the states proportion of the continental levies, an almost constant militia service which, though nominally paid for, must have been a severe burden and interfered seriously with industry. Again, in any attempt to estimate the burden of taxation during the Revolution, we must take into consideration not only the impositions above mentioned, which partake more or less of the character of taxation itself, but also the general condition of the colony. The British held possession of the island towns from December, 1776, to October, 1779. These towns were in great part deserted by the sympathizers 61with the American cause, who, having lost almost all their property, became a burden upon the rest of the state. All the towns situated upon the sea coast or upon the shore of the bay were subject to the incursions of the enemy and were kept in a constant state of alarm, while on one occasion at least arrangements were made for the evacuation of Providence. Commerce was practically destroyed and economic life apparently to a great extent disorganized, giving rise to wide spread suffering from poverty.

If we assume the population of the taxable portion of the state for the years 1777-8-9, to be 46,000, the per capita rate of taxation for the period was about $2.71 per annum, and the rate for the years 1780-1-2, on the basis of the population in 1782, was $2.80. The highest rate during the period was in 1780, when it reached $4.08. With the close of the war taxation diminished. In 1783-4-5, it was about $1.35 per capita, and after the issue of paper money in 1786, it gradually sank until in 1789, it amounted to only about 9 cents.

Estimating the rateable property in this state, exclusive of the towns in possession of the British, at $10,165,048, the rate of taxation for the three years 1777-1779, 62would have been 1.22 per cent per annum.

On a ratable basis if $10,903,312, the rate in the years 1780-82, was 1.34 per cent, the highest rate during the period was 1.96 per cent in 1780. On the basis of the valuation computed in 1783, the rate for the years 1783-1785, was only .6 per cent and had fallen to .05 per cent in 1789.

When we remember that this taxation was for both state and continental purposes, it does not seem excessive, judged by the figures of today. Taking into consideration however the general and special economic conditions of the period, it is safe to say that it was a heavy burden.^[110] Any comparison with recent times must necessarily be unsatisfactory, for finance was an art but little developed in the United States one hundred years ago, and the burdens of the Revolution were felt much more in the shape of a constantly depreciating currency, forced seizures of property, service without recompense, unpaid debts, and general economic disturbance, than in excessive taxation.

The history of the law of taxation shows us no change of principle but only a further development of detail where experience had shown^[111] existing provisions inadequate. Additional measures against foreign traders were passed. In 1738 each town was directed to choose "three discreet and prudent Persons" to assess such foreign traders according to their trade. In case of non-payment the delinquent might be distrained upon or in case there was not sufficient visible property he might be committed to jail.^[112]

Considerable progress was made in developing the law of assessment. In 1744 when taxation was resumed, a law was passed which declared in detail the various kinds of rateable property and the values at which they were to be assessed. It is of so much value, both as affording a comparison with the like enactments of the earlier period and as giving an example of the acts in accordance with which colony valuations were taken, that it seems best to print it in full.^[113]

"An Act ascertaining what Estate is Rateable, and for proportioning the same in Value.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of this Colony, 64and by the Authority thereof, it is Enacted, That the following Estates shall be deemed Rateable in all Publick Colony Rates and Taxes, therein made and levied, and shall be included and considered in the Proportioning the same, and that in the following Manner, and according to the Specifick Value they are hereafter fixed at, viz:

All Neat Cattle of Four Years old and upwards, shall be valued at Ten Pounds per Head.

All Neat Cattle from Two Years old to Four Years old, shall be valued at Five Pounds per Head; and Neat Cattle that are under Two Years old, are not to be considered.

All Horse Kind to be rated in the like Manner, as to their Age and Value.

All Sheep and Goats of One Year old and upwards, shall be valued at Fifteen Shillings per Head; and if younger, not to be valued.

All Swine of One Year old and upwards, shall be valued at Thirty Shillings per Head; but not to be considered before.

All Slaves for Life, that are between Sixteen and Fifty Years of Age, shall be set at the Price of Eighty Pounds; those under Sixteen, or above Fifty, not to be rated.

All deck'd Vessels that are in Port, shall be set at 65Five Pounds per Ton; and those not deck'd, at Three Pounds per Ton.

All Trading Stock shall be set at Half the real Value thereof; to which is to be added, what Estate every Man hath, either in Money, Bonds, or other Estate that lies concealed, to be considered as other personal Estate, which the Rate makers shall have Power to require, and take an Account of as visible Estate.

All Lands, Houses, Mills, Wharffs and other real Estates, shall be valued at the Rate of Ten Years, and so considered in the Assessment.

All Males from Sixteen Years old and upwards, shall be stated at One Shilling per Head, for every Thousand Pound Rate assessed by the Colony; and in Proportion for a greater or lesser Sum: In which Assessment upon Poles, shall be included all Servants for Years, of the Age aforesaid.

And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Assessors in all and every Rate, levied as aforesaid, shall consider all Persons who make Profit by their Faculties, and shall rate them accordingly."^[114]

In 1747 the poll tax was reduced to nine pence per one thousand pounds of tax levied. As a matter of fact the usual 66amount of the poll tax, as determined in the various acts ordering the assessment of taxes, was six pence per one thousand pounds.^[115]

The digest of 1767,^[116] defines somewhat more minutely than before the procedure to be followed by assessors. They were directed to make separate lists, first of the estates, the valuations of which had been handed in by the owners, second of the estates estimated by the assessors, and third of the number of polls.

The amount to be raised on polls was then to be deducted from the total tax and the remainder was to be apportioned among the rateable estates. Even in the case of those who made return of this property, the power of making the final estimate remained with the assessors, subject to an appeal to the next general sessions of the peace for the county. If it appeared that a true list had been handed in the tax payer might recover from the town treasury. The appeal was not to interfere with the process of collection. By act of 1769 all lands or other real estate granted or purchased for religious uses or for^[117] schools were exempted from taxation.

It would appear that in the case of leased estates taxes had been assessed on the owner. This had rendered collection 67difficult, and in 1784 it was provided that in the future the tax should be assessed on the occupant who was to be liable in his real and personal property. If this was not sufficient the real estate occupied was liable.

By the same act assessors were required to distinguish between real and personal estate, and assign a separate column to each in their rate lists.^[118]

The law in regard to collection also underwent considerable development. It was about the middle of the century that collectors began to be regularly elected as town officers.^[119] A law of February 1755 provided that if a person rated in one town removed to another town without paying his rate, the collector of the town where he was rated might follow him and collect the tax.^[120] The difficulty of collecting taxes on the lands of non-residents led to laws which provided that the land itself might be sold for taxes.^[121] The general treasurer was first given the power to call special courts for the prosecution of delinquent collectors,^[122] and later was authorized to bring actions directly against the town treasurer^[123], who in return might recover from delinquent collectors and their bondsmen. In 1781 the real estate of collectors and their sureties was declared liable for the satisfaction 68of all judgements secured against them.^[124] Warrants for collection were declared to be in force until the tax was collected.^[125]. Collectors were empowered to call before them any one who they had reason to believe possessed property of any person who had been rated, but who had left the colony, and compel him to pay the tax of the absent person. In case the person summoned failed to appear and make declaration, he himself was liable to distraint for the amount of the tax.^[126] Personal property seized by distraint might be removed, for sale, to any part of the colony.^[127]

There were several other general laws of less importance^[128] and, besides these, there were certain provisions which were re-enacted with each tax assessment. In this way the towns were required to pay all charges and fees for collection. Interest was charged against the towns in arrears. It was generally provided also that the towns might appoint new assessors for the assessment of each colonial tax, and, in some cases at least, it was customary.

The law of taxation as it appears in general acts has to do principally with questions of administration. What we might call the principle of the tax system was not as a rule embodied in the general law. It was the growth of custom and its existence was assumed in legislative acts. That the state might apportion the taxes among the towns with some degree of justice, it was necessary, however, that it should obtain information in regard to the value of the property existing within its borders. Thus, from time to time, general estimates were taken, and in the acts ordering these estimates we find a more detailed statement of the methods and principles to be followed, together with certain departures from the usual custom which reflect the various phases of economic life in the period to which they refer.

Just what was the basis of apportionment among the towns when taxation was resumed in 1744, we do not know. By act of June 1747 the assessors in each town were required to take an exact account of the rateable estate of all inhabitants on the basis of the act of 1744, and made returns to the next session of the assembly, for use in the apportionment of taxes. A similar valuation was ordered in 1754, and again in 1757. 70Return was generally made, but they showed only the total valuation of each town as estimated by the assessors, and the assembly made use of no means of verification or revision. Protests against apportionment were frequent. In June 1761 another act was passed for marking a general valuation of the colony. The assessors of each town with two other persons appointed by the assembly did the work. Detailed rules were laid down for their guidance. They were to take account of all "Male Polls of Sixteen years old and upwards, distinguishing such as are exempt from Rates, and of all Rateable Estates lying within said Towns, by whom occupied, and what each Person's Real Estate may rent for by the year, particularly mentioning Land," and the various kinds of structures thereon. The estimate was also to distinguish all negro, Indian, or mulatto servants for life from fourteen to forty-five years of age, the number of tons of vessels upwards of ten tons burthen, each person's whole stock in trade including vessels under ten tons, all goods, merchandize, and money owned by any person or in his hands by "factorage," all wrought plate and money at interest "which any person hath, more than he pays interest for," and all horses and other cattle. The committees were ordered to distinguish the various "Improvements of Land", and to specify 71in their lists the number of acres of pasture, tillage, orchards, salt marsh, and sedge, fresh meadows, and English mowing land respectively, also the stock each pasture was ordinarily capable of feeding, and what quantity of produce the land yielded on the average. Persons handing in lists of their estates might on oath declare the amount of debts which they owed and deduct the same from their personal estates. The person in possession of an estate was obliged to give an account of the same, and when no one was in possession the committee was to estimate.

The committees were empowered to administer oaths, and if any inhabitant refused to hand in an account of his estate, he was to be "doomed" by the committee and forfeit £30. A committee was appointed to receive the reports of the various town committees, to compare and revise them and thus make a general estimate.

In February, 1762, this committee reported such an estimate. It was adopted by the assembly and declared to be the basis of future apportionments among the towns. The report contained the following estimates: acres of woodland 247,685; value of woodland £4,613,778; amount of live stock £2,835,007; money and trading stock £8,455,428; rents £1,458,748; polls 728,285. On the basis of these estimates the committee reported the following standard for apportionment:

A protest on the part of the country towns signed by twenty members was immediately presented. The grounds of complaint were that the committee had reduced trading stock one half when the act for taking the estimate had already "provided for large deductions," and secondly that twelve years purchase was too high an estimate for land values. Although the estimate of 1762 had been accepted as the legal basis of apportionment, departures were made from it which gave use to more or less weighty protests. In the case of the tax assessed in October, 1765, there was a protest signed by fifteen members which declared the estimate of 1762 to be the only legal rule of apportionment, and that the present departure from it was "altogether arbitrary, unequal and oppressive to particular towns, nor founded on any real knowledge of the circumstances of the people taxes." Providence, Scituate and Cumberland refused 73to pay the tax. Another protest by the representatives of the same towns was made against the apportionment of the tax in the succeeding year, when the apportionment was declared to be "a high act of arbitrary power and despotism and an exercise of such authority as is utterly inconsistent with a British Constitution." The assembly proceeded against the towns and recovered judgment, but did not venture to put it into execution and finally agreed that the refractory towns should pay their portion of the last two taxes on the basis of the estimate of 1762. The result of this dispute was the general estimate of 1769. The act for taking the estimate was passed in June, 1767. A committee of five (one from each county) were directed to proceed into each town and make the valuations. The principles laid down for the guidance of the committee were much the same as those employed in 1762. Trading stock however was to be estimated at its full value, except vessels at sea and their cargoes which were to be estimated at two thirds of their real value. Negro and other slaves and improved lands were to be estimated at their full value, the value of the lands to be reckoned at twenty years rental. Houses and buildings of all kinds, including those used for manufacturing purposes, were to be estimated at fifteen years rental, horses and other farming stock at full value. Debts 74might be deducted from the personal estate if the "Committee shall think the same best". The committee were given power to examine on oath and to send for papers and records. If any person refused to testify or give an account of his estate, he was to be taxed two fold in the next colony rate. No colony tax was to be levied until the valuation was made and approved, when it was to be the standard for the apportionment of taxes until a new estimate was taken. A protest was entered signed by eight members asserting that twenty years purchase was an over valuation of land, while fifteen years purchase was no higher than, if indeed it was so high as, the real value of houses and buildings, and that unimproved land as it yielded no profit, should not be taxed. Land holders, it was claimed, would bear a much larger share of the public burdens than in justice they ought in proportion to the merchants and traders.

The report of the committee as at first presented was subjected to careful re-examination and correction. The final result was reported and accepted in February, 1769, and the estimate was declared to be "the Law and Rule for future Taxation." The estimate as adopted contained the following items:

Protests against apportionments under the estimate were few. From October, 1774, to March, 1777, no tax was levied. When it was found necessary to resume taxation a committee was appointed to consider the changes which had occurred in each town since 1769, and agree upon a new basis of apportionment. The committee completed its work in one day, and made a report containing an estimate which was accepted as a temporary standard. The total valuation of the new estimate was only a few pounds greater than that of eight years before. The island towns, then in possession of the enemy, were relieved at the expense of the main land, the most important change being the removal of £100,000 from the valuation of Newport and the placing of it on Providence, increasing the valuation of the latter town by nearly eighty per cent. Providence, in its desire to further the resumption of taxation, accepted this large addition, but only on condition that it should not become a precedent. The General Assembly however showed no desire to take a new estimate and continued to apportion taxes 76in accordance with the estimate of March, 1777.

Providence, beginning to feel the burdens of the war in the stoppage of its commerce and the demands of military service, protested and refused to pay its tax as it had done ten years before. The assembly reduced the valuation of Providence first by £25,000, then by £50,000, and in October, 1778, passed an act for taking a new estimate. As in 1769, a committee of five was appointed and was directed to proceed into each town and take account of ratable estates and all male polls of twenty-one years and upwards, except ministers of the gospel and officers and soldiers in the army and naval service. The principles on which the estimate was to be taken varied but little from those laid down for the estimate of 1769. All the property enumerated was to be appraised at its full value, "whether the said rateable Property be removed without the limits of the state of not." The committee as before were empowered, if they thought best, to deduct debts from personal estate. No report was made until July, 1780. The committee had visited each town "and with great care, and as much precision as possible, have endeavored to obtain an exact account of the real value of this state." The report was accepted and the estimate declared to be the legal basis of apportionment. 77The total valuation was £2,778,145-10-0. In September several towns complained that the estimate was erroneous, and a committee was appointed to revise it. This committee reported in November having increased the total valuation about £10,000, and made considerable alterations in the relative portions of the towns. This report was submitted to still another revision, the final report however being presented at the same session. The total remained unchanged and the changes made in proportions assigned to the towns were, for the most part, not important. This last report gives merely the total valuations of the towns, but the earlier report of the November session comprises the following headings:

In none of these estimates were the island towns included. A valuation of these towns, in accordance with the act of 1778, was ordered in June, 1783, and completed in October of the same year. It showed a total of £502,227-5-0 which, added to the valuation of the mainland towns in 1780, gave a total valuation for the state of £3,290,372-15-0. 78This was the last general estimate made before the adoption of the constitution of the United States.

The first point which we notice in these valuations is the prominent part played by the poll tax. On the basis of the estimate of 1762, and a poll tax of six pence per one thousand pounds, the poll tax supplied 20.7 per cent of all receipts from taxes. In 1769, the proportion was 22.2 per cent. This proportion increased of course with the growth of population, and by 1774, must have amounted to 24 per cent, but the diminution of the taxable population during the war brought it down again to 22 per cent in 1780. As to the proportions in which personal and real estate entered into the valuation, personal estate formed about one third of the total in 1762, and about one fourth in 1769, while, owing to the destruction of personal property during the war, it had sunk to about one-eighth in 1780. In all these estimates there is a tendency to favor personalty, as represented in the growing commercial interests, at the expense of the proprietors of land. In 1762, money and trading stock was valued at only one half of its true value, and in 1769, land was valued at twenty years rental which must certainly have been a high valuation.

79A comparison of the proportions in which the various towns contributed to the various taxes is instructive. The figures following refer to the estimate of 1769. The whole number of towns was twenty-eight. Eleven towns paid a larger proportion of the total property tax than of the total poll tax, showing they contained more than their proportionate share of wealth. As a whole they comprised the territory which borders on Narragansett Bay, and which had been long settled. Together they contained 40.32 per cent of the rateable polls, and 56.10 per cent of the property in the colony. The most important towns among them were Newport, which contained 12.44 per cent of the polls, and 15.6 per cent of the property; Providence which contained 5.06 per cent of the polls and 5.94 per cent of the property, and South Kingstown which contained 4.78 per cent of the polls and 9.3 per cent of the property. As a rule these were also the towns which contained the largest proportions of personal property.

Of the property valued in Newport 47.4 per cent was personal, in Providence 51 per cent. Newport contained 30 per cent of all the personal property in the colony, Providence 12.4 per cent (i.e. the two commercial towns with 17.5 per cent of the polls contained 42.4 per cent of the personal property) and South Kingstown 6.2 per cent. Eleven towns out of the 80twenty-eight contained 77 per cent of the personalty. These same towns contained 49.5 per cent of the polls.

The gain in valuation from £2,111,295-10-7 to £3,290,372-15, between 1769 and 1780-1783, was entirely on real estate, the personal property valuation remaining practically stationary, owing to the destruction caused by the war.

There is a falling off in the share of taxes paid by the commercial towns in proportion to their population. In 1782, Providence contained 8.23 per cent of the population, but it paid only 6.98 per cent of the taxes. Newport's per centage of population had fallen to 10.56 per cent and the per centage of taxes to 7.81. On the other hand, the country towns had gained proportionately. Taking Providence county, exclusive of the town of Providence, we find that in 1769, it contained 26.64 per cent of the polls and 19.2 per cent of the property, in 1782 it contained 25.27 per cent of the population and 27 per cent of the property. There was but little change in the relative positions of the other counties, Kings County made a slight gain, and the other counties suffered a slight loss, with the exception of Newport County. Here the loss of the Island towns was great. In 1769, they contained 19.09 per cent of the polls and 26.7 per cent of the property 81while in 1783 they had but about 16 per cent of the population and 15.2 per cent of the property.

Among the acts of the first assembly under the Patent in 1647, occurs the following:

"It is ordered that the Dutch, French or other alliants, or any Englishman inhabitating among them, shall pay the like customs and duties, as we do among them for all such goods as shall be imported for the English, except beaver."

This act was probably of little practical importance as the trade of the colony during the seventeenth century was very small. In 1655, an excise duty of five shillings was imposed on every anchor of liquors and quarter cask of wine, and three years later a like customs duty was added. The revenue from both taxes at first went to the towns, but in 1674 it was transferred to the colony, as "the whole excise seems almost all lost by neglect." The collection of the tax was to be farmed out. Whether the tax was more productive than under town government we do not know. It was repealed in 1686. Both customs and excise duties were introduced by Andros, but disappeared with his government. In 1696, however, the customs duties on liquors was reimposed by the colony, and molasses was added to the list.^[130] In 1707 slaves were added to the dutiable articles, at £3 per head. About twenty or 83thirty were annually imported from the Barbadoes, and their value was from £30 to £40 a piece. The income from this source must have been of considerable importance at the period. In 1715 the revenue from this tax in the naval officers' hands was £289-17-3. In the same year the law was amended so as to cover negroes brought in from the neighboring colonies. The act seems to have remained in force until May, 1732, when it was repealed under instructions from the English government. There seems to have been no further imposition of customs or excise duties on the part of the colony until the period of the Revolution. The state, as we have seen, was left in an exhausted condition at the close of the war. The people were unwilling to continue the payment of taxes and were behind on those already levied. The annual interest on the debt was considerable.

A committee, appointed to devise means for supplying the treasury, reported November, 1782, recommending the imposition of customs and excise taxes. In February of the following year, an act was passed in accordance with this recommendation to take effect on the tenth of April following. Both customs and excise duties were imposed. Collectors do not seem to been appointed until May, and in June the act was repealed so 84that it was of little practical importance. At the same session, however, its place was supplied by an act laying a duty of two per cent ad valorem "on the Value, and at the Time and place of landing of all Goods which shall be imported into this State being of the Growth or Manufacture of any foreign State," the revenue, as before, to be devoted to the payment of interest on the public debt. The act was to take effect on July 1.

The law was enforced with severe penalties. No imported goods were to be landed without permit obtained, on penalty of forfeiture of vessel and cargo. No dutiable goods imported by land could be removed from the town into which they were imported, or sold or consumed in that town without a permit from the collector of impost, under penalty of forfeiture or a fine equal to the value of the goods. In June, 1784, the duty was raised to two and one half per cent. It was at this period that manufacturing industries began to take root in Rhode Island, and, as a natural result, we find evidence of the growth of the protective principle in tariff legislation.

In February of the following year a committee was appointed "to draught an act laying an additional duty upon hats, shoes, boots and such other articles of foreign manufacture as may be manufactured within this State." In May 85an act was passed discriminating against British vessels. It provided for an additional duty of 7 1/2 per cent on goods imported in any vessel owned in whole or in part by British subjects.

The result of the work of the committee appointed in February is seen in an act of June, 1785, entitled 'An Act for laying additional Duties on certain enumerated Articles, and for encouraging the Manufactory thereof within this State, and the United States of America." The act is quite extensive including the following articles:

Ready made garments, canes, brush handles, warming pan handles, mop sticks, tailors' press and notch boards, house bells, toys.

Scythes, hoes, leather goods.

Paper, blank books, pewter ware, tin ware.

Tools for the use of block makers, chaise makers, tanners, curriers, caulkers, shoe makers and husbandmen, (sickles, plane irons and saws excepted) muffs, tippets, ermine, candles, soap, manufactured tobacco, goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellers ware. 86Instrument and cabinet makers work, frame chairs, porter, beer.

Cordage, twine.

Axes and adzes (per doz.) 6s.-20s.

Cards (per doz. boxes) 12s.

Women's shoes (per pair) 1s. 1s. 6d.

Cheese 3d. per lb.

Wrought gold 6s. per ounce.

Clocks and gold watches 18s.

Carriages £ 3, 15s. - £ 15.

Loaf sugar (3d. per lb.)

Hats 1s. - 6d. - 3s.

Iron hollow ware 3s. per cwt.

Dressed and tanned leather 3d. per lb.

Wrought silver 1s. per ounce.

Silver watches 6s.

Though the purpose of the act was protective, it is evident that in the case of many of the articles enumerated, the duty was entirely a revenue tax. In March, 1786, steps were taken towards laying an excise duty. A committee was appointed to draw up a bill for the purpose. The committee reported at the same session and an elaborate excise act was passed, which was to go into effect on May 16; but at the session in that month the act was suspended until the next 87session, when a committee of revision was appointed. There is no farther mention of any legislation in regard to the excise until December, when another excise law was passed to go into effect on May 15, 1787, and remain in force for three years. Neither of these acts seem to have been generally enforced. No collectors were appointed under the act of March. Under the December act collectors were appointed in May, 1787, but there is no record of any subsequent appointments.

When government under the United States constitution went into operation, in 1789, it became impossible for Rhode Island to pursue an independent policy in regard to customs duties, and the General Assembly at the May session passed a law providing that the same duties, payable in the same money, be collected in Rhode Island as should be ordered by Congress for the United States. In September the assembly supplemented this provision by enacting a law similar to that which had been passed by Congress. Goods imported from the United States and from North Carolina were exempt from duty. In May, 1790, the state adopted the constitution and the power to levy impost duties ceased.

The want of method in keeping accounts at the time renders it impossible to state exactly the amount of revenue received under the acts imposing import duties. I have found 88however nearly complete returns of the duties collected in the counties of Providence and Newport, which contained the principal posts of entry.

Such figures, of course, are not exact, and it has been impossible to find more than fragmentary returns from other counties. Such counties were, however, comparatively unimportant. It will probably not be far from the truth if we place the total receipts under the customs acts for the period of between six and seven years, when they were in force, at something over $90,000 or about $14,000 a year. The interest on the public debt must have amounted to between $30,000 and $40,000 per annum, so that the revenue from customs duties fell far short of satisfying the purpose for which it was imposed.

Tonnage duties were imposed as early as 1690, and continued until Rhode Island entered the union. They were first levied for the support of the fort and were payable in either money or powder. About the middle of the eighteenth century a light house was built and additional tonnage duties were imposed for its support. The amounts varied from time to time, according to the needs of the fort or light house, and there was discrimination in favor of vessels engaged in home trade. 90In 1767, a time of peace, the duty imposed for the support of the fort was 2 S., or 1 lb. of powder per ton for all vessels above ten tons, not owned by inhabitants of the colony. The "light money" was 4 1/2d. per ton for foreign vessels and 3s. for each clearing for coasters.

Henry Brayton Gardner was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1863. He fitted for college at Mowry and Gregg's English and Classical School, Providence, Rhode Island. He entered Brown University 1880, and was graduated with the degree of A.B. in 1884. He entered the Johns Hopkins University as a graduate student in the Department of History and Political Science, in 1884; and remained there until 1888, holding the position of Fellow in History during a portion of the year 1887. Since 1888, he has held the position of Instructor in Political Economy in Brown University.