Yesterday, I reminded you that politics is the damnedest in Kentucky. But today, I want to draw our attention outside of Kentucky (yes, a first for this blog). You’ve probably figured out by now that history is important to us. Particularly preserving history.
And that is what the people of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations did yesterday. You see, they had a ballot measure which would effectively do this: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to their state’s name. Remember, America was founded as a number of small colonies (Jamestown, Plymouth, etc). In Rhode Island, these included (i) Rhode Island and (ii) Providence Plantations.
Opponents of the state’s name thought the word “plantation” was a reminder of slavery and were offended by it. These opponents are clearly not historically savvy – plantation simply meant “a newly established colony.” Plus, in all of the state’s early slavery debates it was Rhode Island (not the anti-slavery and anti-slave trade Providence Plantations) which favored the position of slave traders.
History won (with 99% of precincts reporting), 78%-22%. We still have a State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.