The Right Place at the Right Time His time at the pan-colonial congresses was pivotal. He became friends with Benjamin Franklin as well as others who would become leading revolutionaries. In the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, he authored pamphlets attacking the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, both of which were punitive taxes levied by the British crown. And in 1768, when John Hancock’s ship was seized by the British and sent to Newport to become part of the Royal Navy, it was burned by an angry mob. When the British ordered those involved to be apprehended and tried, Hopkins, as chief justice, refused to do so. At a meeting of the General Assembly of Rhode Island in 1774, Hopkins introduced a bill to prevent the further importation of slaves and freed those slaves that he owned. Since the slave trade was a core economic driver in Rhode Island at the time, this was a notable stance from a leading politician. Even as he was holding public office, he also went into business with his brother to build and outfit shipping vessels. He also founded the Providence Athenaeum, which is an association for the advancement of learning, an institution first created by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in about A.D. 133. He was the first chancellor of Rhode Island College (now Brown University), helped found the Providence Gazette and contributed to building a telescope in Providence for observing the transit of Venus. Hopkins was named as one of two Rhode Island residents to the First Continental Congress in 1774, where he made this declaration concerning the resolution of the differences between the colonies and the British: “… powder and ball will decide this question. The gun and bayonet alone will finish the contest in which we are engaged, and any of you who cannot bring your minds to this mode of adjusting this question had better retire in time.” In June of the same year, Hopkins was appointed to the 13-member committee (one from each state) to draft the country’s first constitution, The Articles of Confederation. With his health failing, he returned to Rhode Island soon thereafter. Hopkins died on July 13, 1785, and is buried in the North Burying Ground at Providence. An extensive assembly of notable people followed the funeral procession of Hopkins to the cemetery, including court judges, the president, professors and students of the college, citizens of the town and inhabitants of the state. The Rhode Island Legislature dedicated a special monument at his gravesite in his honor, and it provides an elaborate testimony to the life of the patriot. The more I learn about this country’s early surveyors, the more I am amazed by their incredible contributions to shaping the nation. They not only set boundaries and settled disputes, but they were civic leaders, legislators and visionaries. I’m not a civic leader, but I know the work I do matters. It’s essential to the very foundation of our economy — and it’s the foundation that we all build upon. Resources https://www.dsdi1776.com/signers-by-state/stephen-hopkins/ UCLS Foresights 22
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