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Rhode Island Independence Day

Floor Speech

Date: April 30, 2026
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, 250 years ago, on May 4, 1776, the people of Rhode Island became the first in America to declare their independence from the British crown.

Two months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, the Rhode Island General Assembly met in Providence and passed an act of renunciation to separate our State's political ties with the English King.

Rhode Islanders have always believed in freedom, democracy, and the right to chart our own course. Our State's founding document in 1663 made us the first place in the Western Hemisphere to allow freedom of religion.

In 1772, when the British Empire sent ships to enforce its unfair laws, we took matters into our own hands and burnt the HMS Gaspee in the Narragansett Bay, an act of defiance to inspire the continent to rise up against tyranny.

Rhode Island did not just participate in the American Revolution. We launched it. Happy May 4.

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