Church es.—The strongest denominations in the State are the Roman Catholic; Regular Baptist; Protestant Episcopal; Congregational; Methodist Episcopal; Free Will Baptist; Unitarian, and Afri can Methodist.
Railroads.—The railway mileage in 1919 was 550. Practically all of this was included in the lines of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford rail roads. There was no new construction during the year.
Finances.—The receipts for the fiscal year 1919 amounted to $5,321,722. There was on hand at the beginning of the year $496,240. The total disbursements amounted to $5,142,533, leaving a balance on hand on January 1, 1920, of $675,429. The net bonded debt of the State in 1920 was $6,410,140. The total assessed value of the property was $850,000,000.
Charities and Corrections.—The insti tutions under the control of the State include a hospital for mental diseases, an infirmary, a workhouse, houses of cor rection, State Prison, and a reform school, all at Cranston. The Exeter School for the Care of Feeble Minded Children is under the control of the Penal and Chari table Commission. There is also under control of this board, a State Home and School for Children, at Providence.
State Government.—The governor is elected for a term of one year. Legisla tive sessions are annually, beginning on the first Tuesday in January and are limited to 60 session days. The Legisla ture has 39 members in the Senate, and 100 members in the House. There are 3 Representatives in Congress.
History.—It is claimed that the North men visited this region about A. D. 1000, and certain antiquities have been ascribed to them, but the question of the location of Vinland seems never likely to be defi nitely settled. The first English settle
ment was made at Providence in 1636 by Roger Williams, whose religious opin ions had caused his expulsion from Mas sachusetts. He and other settlers bought lands from the Indians, and an unwonted degree of religious toleration was estab lished. The charter granted by Charles II. to the colony was so liberal in its pro vision that it remained the fundamental law of the State till 1842. Rhode Island was firm in opposition to the King Philip War, yet that State suffered more severely therefrom than any of her sister colonies. King Philip himself was killed in what is now the town of Bristol. The great "swamp fight" occurred in 1675, in the Narragansett country, where more than 1,000 Indians were killed. The charter was temporarily suspended from 1686 to 1687 by Sir Edmund Andros, who, how ever, was never able to gain possession of the original document. Andros was deposed in 1690, and a new government was immediately organized under the old form. This continued till, in 1841, a le gally unauthorized people's convention met and framed a new constitution which action precipitated a crisis, culminating in the "Dorr rebellion," and the adoption of a new constitution in 1842, this going into effect in 1843. Under this charter suffrage was limited, about 9,500 men composing the electorate in 1840, out of a population of 109,000. The present suf frage laws were adopted in 1888. Rhode Island was the last of the States to ratify the Federal Constitution in 1790. It took an active part in the Revolutionary War, being long held by the English.