Rhode Island is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly less than 1.1 million residents as of 2020; but Rhode Island has grown at every decennial count since 1790 and is the second-most densely populated state, after New Jersey. The state takes its name from the eponymous island, though nearly all of its land area is on the mainland. Rhode Island borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound; and shares a small maritime border with New York, east of Long Island. Providence is its capital and most populous city.
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly translated to English as sherif.
A ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high officials in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the original mace used as a weapon. Processions often feature maces, as on parliamentary or formal academic occasions.
The bailiff is the chief justice in each of the Channel Island bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, also serving as president of the legislature and having ceremonial and executive functions. Each bailiwick has possessed its own bailiff since the islands were divided into two jurisdictions in the 13th century. The bailiffs and deputy bailiffs are appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Secretary of State for Justice and may hold office until retirement age.
A serjeant-at-arms, or sergeant-at-arms, is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin serviens, which means "servant". Historically, serjeants-at-arms were armed men retained by English lords and monarchs, and the ceremonial maces which they are associated with were originally a type of weapon.
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento.
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until 1707, and then a colony of Great Britain until the American Revolution in 1776, when it became the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
Colour sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer found in several armies and marine corps.
Theodore Foster was an American lawyer and politician from Rhode Island. He was a member of the Federalist Party and later the National Republican Party. He served as one of the first two United States senators from Rhode Island and, following John Langdon, served as dean of the Senate.
Lincoln Carter Almond was an American attorney and politician who served as the 72nd Governor of Rhode Island from 1995 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he was previously the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island from 1969 to 1978 and again from 1981 until 1993.
Theodore Francis Green was an American politician from Rhode Island. A Democrat, Green served as the 57th Governor of Rhode Island (1933–1937) and in the United States Senate (1937–1961). He was a wealthy aristocratic Yankee from an old family who was a strong supporter of Wilsonian internationalism during the Democratic administrations of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman (1933–53). He served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1957 to 1959. At the time of his retirement in 1961, he set the record at age 93 of the oldest person to serve in the Senate; the record was subsequently broken by Strom Thurmond.
A high sheriff is a ceremonial officer for each shrieval county of England and Wales and Northern Ireland or the chief sheriff of a number of paid sheriffs in U.S. states who outranks and commands the others in their court-related functions. In Canada, the High Sheriff provides administrative services to the supreme and provincial courts.
William Hunter Jr. was an American politician and diplomat and owner of the Hunter House, now a museum.
The sergeant at arms of the United States House of Representatives is an officer of the House with law enforcement, protocol, and administrative responsibilities. The sergeant at arms is elected at the beginning of each Congress by the membership of the House.
The history of Rhode Island is an overview of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and the state of Rhode Island from pre-colonial times to the present.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to the U.S. State of Rhode Island:
Henry Bull (1610–1694) was an early colonial Governor of Rhode Island, serving for two separate terms, one before and one after the tenure of Edmund Andros under the Dominion of New England. Sailing from England as a young man, Bull first settled in Roxbury in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but soon became a follower of the dissident ministers John Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson, and was excommunicated from the Roxbury church. With many other followers of Hutchinson, he signed the Portsmouth Compact, and settled on Aquidneck Island in the Narragansett Bay. Within a year of arriving there, he and others followed William Coddington to the south end of the island where they established the town of Newport.
Robert E. Craven, Sr. is an American politician and a Democrat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives representing District 32 since January 1, 2013. He serves as Chairman of the House Municipal Government Committee and a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Craven also serves on the R.I. Governor's Justice Reinvestment Working Group.
Peter Franz Neronha is an American lawyer and politician from Jamestown, Rhode Island who currently serves as the Attorney General of Rhode Island. He previously served as the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island under President Barack Obama from September 16, 2009 until March 10, 2017, after which he ran successfully as a Democrat for the office of Attorney General of Rhode Island in the 2018 elections.
