Providence, beginning to feel the burdens of the war in the stoppage of its commerce and the demands of military service, protested and refused to pay its tax as it had done ten years before. The assembly reduced the valuation of Providence first by £25,000, then by £50,000, and in October, 1778, passed an act for taking a new estimate. As in 1769, a committee of five was appointed and was directed to proceed into each town and take account of ratable estates and all male polls of twenty-one years and upwards, except ministers of the gospel and officers and soldiers in the army and naval service. The principles on which the estimate was to be taken varied but little from those laid down for the estimate of 1769. All the property enumerated was to be appraised at its full value, "whether the said rateable Property be removed without the limits of the state of not." The committee as before were empowered, if they thought best, to deduct debts from personal estate. No report was made until July, 1780. The committee had visited each town "and with great care, and as much precision as possible, have endeavored to obtain an exact account of the real value of this state." The report was accepted and the estimate declared to be the legal basis of apportionment. The total valuation was £2,778,145-10-0. In September several towns complained that the estimate was erroneous, and a committee was appointed to revise it. This committee reported in November having increased the total valuation about £10,000, and made considerable alterations in the relative portions of the towns. This report was submitted to still another revision, the final report however being presented at the same session. The total remained unchanged and the changes made in proportions assigned to the towns were, for the most part, not important. This last report gives merely the total valuations of the towns, but the earlier report of the November session comprises the following headings: Number of acres 518,112-3/4 Price per acre £2-5s. to £70-10s-6d. Value of real estate 2,788,145-10s. In none of these estimates were the island towns included. A valuation of these towns, in accordance with the act of 1778, was ordered in June, 1783, and completed in October of the same year. It showed a total of £502,227-5-0 which, added to the valuation of the mainland towns in 1780, gave a total valuation for the state of £3,290,372-15-0. This was the last general estimate made before the adoption of the constitution of the United States.