Stephen Hopkins (politician)
Stephen Hopkins was a Founding Father of the United States, a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and a signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. He was from a prominent Rhode Island family, the grandson of William Hopkins who was a prominent colonial politician. His great-grandfather Thomas Hopkins was an original settler of Providence Plantations, sailing from England in 1635 with his cousin Benedict Arnold, who became the first governor of the Rhode Island colony under the Royal Charter of 1663.
Stephen Hopkins (politician)
Hopkins (dozing at the table) and other Rhode Island merchants in Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam, a 1750s satirical painting by John Greenwood
Hopkins's bitter rival Samuel Ward fought with him over the use of paper money.
Governor Stephen Hopkins House, 15 Hopkins Street, Providence
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until 1707, and then a colony of Great Britain until the American Revolution in 1776, when it became the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
The original 1636 deed to Providence signed by Chief Canonicus
Roger Williams returning with the royal charter
Four-time governor of the colony and first chancellor of Brown University Stephen Hopkins was influential in his support of the American Revolution