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First to Separate, Last to Join

Its not that Rhode Island does play well with others but we have a history of following the beat of a different drummer. Bill Edwards a great barrister once said that to understand Rhode Island you needed to know that we are “otherwise minded”. He gave this explanation if given a choice of A, B or C the Rhode Islander will invariably pick F and later change to G. Our otherwise mindedness made us think differently and was a key to the success that we achieved by seeing problems and their solutions just a little differently. This helps explain why Rhode Island broke with England two months before the rest of the 13 Colonies. On May 4, 1776 our Colonial Assembly voted to no longer pledge allegiance to the King – imagine never saying the Pledge of Allegiance again. That’s why we celebrate our Independence Day on May 4 and July 4. Now one would assume that the first colony out would be the first to sign the new constitution – in fact Rhode Island refused for two years. It turns out that all the way back in 1663 King Charles had given us some personal freedoms that the original constitution did not include. That meant that we would be giving up freedoms by signing. Finally the freedoms were added in the form of the Bill of Rights and on May 29, 1790 we became part of the United States. Astrologically speaking that makes Rhode Island a Gemini and reading our horoscope makes it clear that where our otherwise mindedness comes from.