Portsmouth

Portsmouth, town (township), Newport county, southeastern Rhode Island, U.S. Portsmouth lies on the northern end of Rhode (Aquidneck) Island and along the Sakonnet River. It was founded in 1638 by William Coddington, John Clarke, Anne Hutchinson, and associates from the Massachusetts Bay colony and was first called Pocasset, an Algonquian word referring to the width of the river. The Portsmouth Compact, by which the settlers established a democratic government, is inscribed on a bronze and...