Pawtuxet Rangers Period Copy Founding Charter (1774)

Pawtuxet Rangers, Period Copy, Founding Charter (1774) Bifolium, folded, with some breaks along old folds and archival tape repairs, some chips, spots, and ink burns, in a legible hand, 12 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. This secretarial copy of the original charter establishing the Pawtuxet Rangers, an independent militia for the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is written in an 18th century hand on period laid paper. The copy is attested by John Waterman Junior, who signs as Clerk. This may be the same Waterman (d. 1812) who served as a colonel in the Rhode Island militia in 1776 and 1777. On the eve of the American Revolution, colonial militias like the Pawtuxet Rangers were established all over New England. Royalist governors and George III approved the formation of these groups, unaware that they were ratifying a power that would assure their own destruction.