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5 Fun Facts About October 14 In Rhode Island History

---Learn Every Day: RI Today In History Facts Texted Each Day - Text: history ri To: 618-270-4005---

1. In 1636, Roger Williams founded Providence, Rhode Island. Williams was a Puritan minister who had been banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious beliefs. He believed in the separation of church and state and purchased land from the Narragansett Indian tribe to establish a new colony in what is now Rhode Island.

2. The Battle of Newport was fought on October 14, 1779, during the American Revolution. British forces had occupied Newport, Rhode Island, since 1776, and American forces attempted to dislodge them with a combined land and sea assault. The attack was unsuccessful, and the British remained in Newport until 1783.

3. In 1863, Rhode Island became the first state to issue a legal tender currency in denominations of less than one dollar. This currency was called "shinplasters" because of their small size and was used during the Civil War to alleviate the shortage of circulating currency.

4. On October 14, 1943, the U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Providence, a Cleveland-class light cruiser. The ship served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It was decommissioned in 1978 and is now a museum ship in Fall River, Massachusetts.

5. On October 14, 1974, Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island introduced the bill that would become the Pell Grant program. The Pell Grant is a federal student aid program that provides grants to low-income undergraduate and certain post-baccalaureate students to help them pay for college. The program has helped millions of students afford higher education since its inception.
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