Governor Hopkins had incurred the displeasure of the British ministry previous to the revolution, by licensing vessels from Rhode Island to trade with the French and Spanish colonies. So long as it did not violate any act of parliament he continued to exercise the privilege, and disregarded the authority assumed but not delegated, of directing the local concerns of the colony. He had long been convinced that the mother country cared more for the fleece than the flock she claimed in America, which had often been left to contend alone against a merciless foe. With convictions like these upon his mind, a republican to the core, and valuing liberty above life, he was fully prepared to resist the first scintillations of the unconstitutional claims made by corrupt and corrupting ministers. When the stamp act was passed, his voice and his pen were arrayed against it. He showed clearly, that this and other acts of parliament had no foundation in justice, and were contrary to the spirit of the constitution of Great Britain. In 1772, the mountain torrent of local party spirit having subsided in the colony, and its effervescence submerged in the more absorbing question of British oppression, Mr. Hopkins again took his seat in the assembly and continued a member for the three succeeding years. In 1774, this patriarch statesman was elected to the national Congress, and entered with a calm but determined zeal upon the responsible duties of that august convention. The same year he proposed and obtained the passage of a bill by the assembly of Rhode Island, entirely prohibiting the slave trade in that colony; and, to show that he strongly felt what he earnestly advocated, he emancipated all his negroes, some of the descendants of whom still reside in Providence. He had incorporated their freedom in his will dated some time previous.