Providence Combination of 1640
The Providence Combination of 1640, referred to then as the Combination & Plantation Agreement, established a civil government for the Providence Plantation, which encompassed what is now Providence and parts of Cranston and Pawtucket in Rhode Island. This document stands as the first governmental instrument in Western history to explicitly mention "liberty of conscience."
The Combination—so named because it "combined" the inhabitants into a unified civil body—brought several groundbreaking advancements to colonial governance, including a democratic government based on arbitration, the formal acknowledgment of liberty of conscience as a fundamental right, and the unprecedented inclusion of women as signatories to a political agreement.
Articles of the Combination
The Combination, drafted on, 1640, by elected committee members Robert Coles, Chad Browne, William Harris, and John Warner, contained twelve articles establishing representative government and guaranteeing religious freedom.- Article 1 : Established specific geographic boundaries between private properties in Pawtuxet and the common lands of Providence, using natural landmarks like springs, rivers, and a marked oak tree.
- Article 2 : Created a system of five elected officials to manage land distribution, town finances, and governance, while explicitly guaranteeing "liberty of Conscience" to all inhabitants.
- Article 3 : Established a multi-tiered arbitration system for dispute resolution, with voluntary arbitration encouraged and a formalized process for compelling arbitration when necessary.
- Article 4 : Authorized the disposers to intervene proactively in matters concerning "the peace of the state" or when "any person abuse an other person or goods."
- Article 5 : Required all inhabitants to assist in apprehending wrongdoers, creating a community-based system of mutual protection.
- Article 6 : Established provisions for calling special town meetings for urgent matters that "cannot be deferred till general meeting of the towne."
- Article 7 : Required the five disposers to provide formal deeds to all landowners for their properties "to hould it by for after ages".
- Articles 8-9 : Established monthly meetings of the five disposers and quarterly town meetings for all inhabitants, with the town clerk responsible for organizing these gatherings.
- Article 10 : Set compensation for the town clerk at 4 pence for recording each cause and 12 pence for creating land deeds, with annual rotation of the position.
- Article 11 : Confirmed that all previous land disposals made during the dispute period would remain valid.
- Article 12 : Required settlers who had only paid 10 shillings to contribute an additional 20 shillings to match the 30-shilling fee paid by original purchasers, establishing uniform fees for all community members.
Innovations in colonial governance
Arbitration-based governance
One of the drafters, Robert Coles, had served as an elected representative to the Massachusetts Bay's General Court when arbitration was adopted there, bringing this procedural knowledge to Providence. While arbitration was practiced in Massachusetts Bay Colony as one method among many for settling disputes, the Combination elevated it to the central mechanism of governance.The Combination created a structure where five elected "disposers" managed civil affairs, but disputes were first to be resolved through mutual arbitration between parties. Only when voluntary arbitration failed would the disposers select additional arbitrators to make binding decisions. This systematic implementation of arbitration represented a significant departure from the magistrate-centered governance of other colonies, institutionalizing a more collaborative decision-making process that emphasized consensus and compromise over authority.
Positive liberty of conscience
Providence marked a groundbreaking shift in religious liberty by evolving from merely limiting state interference to actively protecting individual conscience. The 1637 Civil Compact restricted government authority to "only in civil things," establishing a negative liberty—freedom from state-imposed religious control. However, this framework left individuals exposed to private coercion, particularly within households.This limitation became evident in the 1638 Joshua Verin case, in which he was disfranchised for beating his wife, Jane Verin, after she attended prayer meetings against his will. The community ruled that liberty of conscience must extend into the domestic sphere and be protected from private interference.
Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay observed with concern that in Providence even "wives, children, and servants" claimed the right to attend religious meetings, indicating that liberty of conscience was broadly understood to override patriarchal authority.
Providence codified this broader understanding in the 1640 Combination: "Wee agree, as formerly hath bin the liberties of the town, so still, to hould forth liberty of Conscience." This marked a transition from passive non-interference to an active commitment to protecting conscience. This shift anticipates what philosopher Isaiah Berlin would later describe as a movement from negative to positive liberty.
This 1640 Combination contrasts sharply with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees only a negative right: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The First Amendment protects against government interference and coercion, but does not obligate the state to shield individuals from private coercion. Moreover, First Amendment protections applied to state governments only after incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in the 20th century.
A year after the Combination, even neighboring Newport's 1641 Statutes granted only limitations on government coercion in religious matters, stating: "none bee accounted a delinquent for doctrine: provided, it be not directly repugnant to ye government." Providence's model thus stands as a rare colonial example of positive liberty in action: not merely freedom from government interference, but a community-affirmed right to believe and worship—even in defiance of patriarchal and private authority.
Female political participation
The inclusion of two women—Joane Tyler and Jane Sayes, both widows and heads of household—among the 39 signatories marked a distinct and radical departure from prevailing colonial norms. Previous agreements in other American colonies such as the Mayflower Compact, the Cambridge Agreement, the Salem Covenant, the Watertown Covenant, the Massachusetts Oath of a Freeman, the Dedham Covenant, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the Portsmouth Compact, and the New Haven Fundamental Agreement all restricted civic participation to men. In every case, only male freemen—typically church members or landowners—were permitted to sign compacts, vote, or hold office.Providence's more inclusive approach may have been influenced by Indigenous governance models in the region. Nations such as the Narragansett, Wampanoag, Pequot, and Mohegan had political systems in which women held meaningful decision-making roles as saunkskwa. A notable example of Indigenous female leadership known to early colonists was the "Squaw Sachem of Mistick", who ruled the Pawtucket Confederation lands and signed multiple land deeds with Massachusetts settlers in the 1630s. Female Narragansett-Niantic leader Quaiapen, who married into the family of sachem Canonicus around 1630, would have been visible to early Rhode Island settlers.
Other early signs of women's autonomy were emerging in Providence. In 1638, the town permitted Alice Daniels—a respected apothecary who had previously treated Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop—to marry John Greene Sr., despite Massachusetts having denied her petition for a divorce from her unfaithful husband in England. John Greene later became a vocal defender of Jane Verin's liberty of conscience during her husband's disciplinary trial. This spirit of female independence extended beyond Providence to nearby Portsmouth, Rhode Island, founded in 1638 by Anne Hutchinson, a prominent religious leader who had been banished from Boston for her theological challenges to authority.
Dissolution
Roger Williams secured a Patent from Parliament for "the Providence Plantations in Narragansett Bay" in 1644. The first meeting of the colony's General Assembly under this Patent occurred in 1647. However, Providence itself continued to operate under the Combination until it finally received a town charter of incorporation on, granted at a session of the General Assembly held at Warwick.Extant 17th-century copies
The original 1640 Combination is presumed no longer to exist. However, two historical copies provide the document's content and signatories.Providence Town Papers 02
This handwritten copy, held in the Rhode Island Historical Society collection, bears a red catalog mark "PROVIDENCE TOWN PAPERS 02." It was created on by Thomas Olney Junior, Town Clerk of Providence. The heading is "A True Coppie of that which is called the Combination: as it standeth upon Record in Providence this 27th of the 5th Month in the yeare so called 1640." In the Julian calendar, the 5th month was July, making July 27, 1640, the Old Style date. When converted to the modern system, it aligns with August 6, 1640, in the Gregorian calendar.The document bears a certification note by Olney indicating it is a true copy of the original, with only one noted correction: "Memorandum. The lost and true words in the first page of this Copie missing, the which words are these those words are in the originall, from whence this Copie was taken and was inserted by me Thomas Olney Junior Clerke." This copy includes all twelve articles of the original agreement along with their accompanying "instances" - practical examples that explain how each article should be applied in real situations. The instances appear as marginal notes labeled "Instans" in the document.