Excerpt from The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Vol. 2 First was the recognition of the absolute right of the Indian tribes to the soil and the guarantee of the Indian titles to estates in fee simple to the original planters of the colony. This was a remarkable concession, in that it annulled all prior claims to Indian lands by right of discovery or conquest as vested in the crown, and established the contracts as made between the settlers and the Narragansetts, as valid and binding on all concerned. The words of the charter are, and are seized and possessed, by purchase and consent of the said natives, to their full content, of such lands, islands, rivers harbors, and roads, as are very convenient, etc. By these words all Indian land titles were confirmed and established by royal consent and authority throughout Rhode Island. In other colonies the lands were bestowed by the crown and confirmed by the natives, but here Indian sales were confirmed by the King and as a further grant, the settlers were permitted to direct, rule, order and dispose of all other matters and things, and particularly that which relates to the making of purchases of the native Indians. These concessions were in answer to the claims of Clarke and so long maintained, that the Indians were the rightful owners of the soil they occupied. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.