Stephen Hopkins
Stephen Hopkins brought decades of Rhode Island legislative and judicial service into the Stamp Act Congress and the Declaration, linking colonial self-government to Revolutionary resistance.
Born January 1, 1580 / Died January 1, 1644
On March 7, 1707, in Providence, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Stephen Hopkins was born into a family active in local farming and trade. He educated himself broadly, served as a surveyor and merchant, and rose through the Rhode Island Assembly into the offices of chief justice and governor. Long experience in charter government made him one of the colonies' most seasoned defenders of local autonomy.
Hopkins represented Rhode Island at the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, where he argued against parliamentary taxation without colonial consent. He later joined the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, even as age and illness limited his hand. His earlier writings on rights and empire helped place Rhode Island's resistance within a wider constitutional argument.
Hopkins's career linked the old Rhode Island charter tradition to the revolutionary language of independence and rights. The principles he defended remained visible in later Rhode Island resistance politics, including the memory of the Gaspee Affair and the state's long attachment to local self-government.
Key Contributions
- He directed Predator 2, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dr.eam Child, Blown Away, The Ghost and the Darkness, Lost in Space, Under Suspicion and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
- On July 4, 1776, Stephen Hopkins signed the Declaration of Independence as part of the political leadership tied to Rhode Island.
- Stephen Hopkins's public record is closely tied to Declaration of Independence adopted, a named event that defined the period in which Stephen Hopkins served.
Related Events
Declaration of Independence adopted
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and ordered the document printed as the public case for separation.
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