Previous to the American Revolution Governor Hopkins had incurred the displeasure of the British ministry by licensing vessels from his province to trade with the French and Spanish Colonies. In this he did not violate the constitution or any law of England. He continued to grant the privilege regardless of the authority illegally assumed by Great Britain to direct 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 been often left to contend alone against a merciless foe. With such convictions on his mind, a republican to the core and valuing liberty above life--he was 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 pen were arrayed against it. He showed clearly that this and other Acts of parliament had no foundation in justice and were in violation of the British constitution. In 1772 the mountain waves of local party spirit having subsided in Rhode Island and its effervescence calmed by the absorbing question of British oppression Mr. Hopkins again took his seat in the Assembly and was continued for three years. In 1774 this patriarch statesman was elected to the Continental Congress and entered with a calm determined zeal upon the responsible duties of that august Convention. The same year he proposed and obtained the passage of a bill prohibiting the slave trade in his Colony which greatly incensed the crown officers. To show that he strongly felt what he earnestly advocated--he emancipated all his negroes--the descendants of whom still reside in Providence. He had incorporated their freedom in his will dated some time previous. In 1775 he was appointed Chief Justice of his Colony--was a member of her Assembly and member of Congress. The ensuing year he was one of the immortalized band of patriots by whose exertions a nation was born in a day and who signed and delivered the certificate of legitimacy to their grateful constituency. The same year he was President of the board of commissioners of the New England States who convened at Providence to devise plans for the promotion of the glorious cause of freedom. The next year he presided over a similar board at Springfield, Mass. In 1778 he was a member of Congress for the last time. The next year he closed his long, useful and arduous public career in the Assembly of his native state and retired crowned with the rich foliage of unfading honors--the growth of near half a century. The pure escutcheon of his public fame and private worth was without a spot to obscure its brilliant lustre. As a municipal officer, judge on the bench, legislator, Chief Magistrate of the Colony and member of the Continental Congress--he discharged his duties faithfully, honestly and ably--with an eye single to the glory of his country.