PROVIDENCE, R.I. (May 5, 2009) — The public is invited to join Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis and history buffs at the State House this Wednesday at noon to unveil a portrait of one of Rhode Island’s early political and religious leaders.
The national Baptist History Preservation Society (BHPS) commissioned the portrait to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the birth of John Clarke in 1609. He co- founded the Baptist church in this country, bought Aquidneck Island from the Wamponoags and authored phrase “lively experiment” made famous in Rhode Island’s Royal Charter.
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Clarke arrived in Rhode Island shortly after Roger Williams, who commissioned Clarke to secure a document from King Charles II that would both ensure religious freedom in Rhode Island and formally recognize the colony in order to protect it from encroachment by settlers in Boston and Plymouth. The 70 inch by 88 inch oil portrait depicts Clarke accepting the Royal Charter from King Charles II in London in 1663.
Mollis will accept the painting on behalf of the citizens of Rhode Island. The Secretary of State’s office is responsible for the preservation of the Royal Charter, which is on display in a temperature-controlled security case outside the Senate Chamber on the second floor of the State House.
“I am proud to join in the celebration of these historic events. This portrait commemorates deeds that have great meaning to all Rhode Islanders and to members of the Baptist Church throughout our nation,” said Mollis, who will display the painting at the State House.
The Royal Charter guaranteed complete religious liberty, established a self-governing colony with total autonomy and strengthened Rhode Island’s territorial claims. It was the most liberal charter to be issued by the mother country during the entire colonial era, a fact that enabled the Royal Charter to serve as Rhode Island’s basic law until the state constitution was ratified in May 1843.
Historians generally give Clarke credit for the phrase in the Royal Charter that states “… to hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained, and that among our English subjects, with a full liberty in religious concernments..”
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