Antiques.(art trade )

 
[Rhode Islanders] are not, however, so scrupulous in keeping up to the 
terms of their charter, often dispensing with it in some pretty 
essential points, and taking liberties not only detrimental to the other 
provinces, but even to the nation, especially in times of war, by 
carrying on an illicit trade with the enemy, and supplying them with the 
most material articles. 
Major Robert Rogers, "The Colony of Rhode Island," 
A Concise Account of North America, Dublin, 1769 

Having no staple crops of interest to England or the Continent, the major resource of the Colony of Rhode Island was the ingenuity and boldness of its people. Their experience in seamanship, in trade, and privateering produced a large number of skilled mariners willing to circumvent the navigation acts and other trade regulations.

Newport's harbor provided the key to energetic expansion, and the city's early affluence contributed to distinguished public architecture. Richard Munday, a carpenter turned designer, worked at the tag end of the English baroque style of Sir Christopher Wren. He was followed by Peter Harrison, who used his fine architectural library to bring the Palladian style to Newport. Consequently, today the smallest state has a rich concentration of fine colonial architecture.

The colony's primary sources of wealth were the sugar trade, the slave trade, and whaling. The bulk of its maritime commerce was with the West Indies to which its ships took lumber, grain, flour, and salt fish and returned with molasses, which was turned into rum at the thirty-three distilleries operating by 1750. The rum was traded in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia for British manufactures and food, ...