Rhode Island: Presidents of the Colony: 1647-1663

President of the Colony
19/29 May 1647 - c. 25 Nov/5 Dec 1647	John Coggeshall [1]
c. 25 Nov/5 Dec 1647 - c. 20/30 May 1648	office vacant
President Regent of the Colony
c. 20/30 May 1648 - c. 20/30 Mar 1649	Jeremy Clarke [2]
Deputy President of the Colony
c. 20/30 Mar 1649 - 22 May/1 Jun 1649	Roger Williams [3]
President of the Colony
22 May/1 Jun 1649 - 23 May/2 Jun 1650	John Smith
23 May/2 Jun 1650 - Aug/Sep 1651	Nicholas Easton [4]

Presidents elected by the Assembly composed of representatives from Providence and Warwick
President of the Colony
23 Oct/2 Nov 1651 - 18/28 May 1652	Samuel Gorton [5]
18/28 May 1652 - 17/27 May 1653	John Smith [6]
17/27 May 1653 -16/26 May 1654	Gregory Dexter [7]
President elected by the Assembly composed of representatives from Newport and Portsmouth
President of the Colony
17/27 May 1653 - before 15/25 Nov 1653	John Sanford [8]

Presidents elected by the Assembly after the reunification of the colony
President of the Colony
16/26 May 1654 -12/22 Sep 1654	Nicholas Easton
12/22 Sep 1654 - 19/29 May 1657	Roger Williams
19/29 May 1657 - 22 May/1 Jun 1660	Benedict Arnold
22 May/1 Jun 1660 - 20/30 May 1662	William Brenton
20/30 May 1662 - 24 Nov/4 Dec 1663	Benedict Arnold [9]

The election of Coggeshall is presumed to have taken place on the first day of the session. The record of the General Court of Election does not specify the exact date, noting only the dates when the Court was held—19/29, 20/21 and 21/22 May 1647. Coggeshall is recorded to have died and been buried on 27 Nov/7 Dec 1647.
William Coddington was elected President of the Colony in absentia at the Court of Election held at Providence on 16/26 May 1648. Although the record of the Court does not specify the date of the election, it notes that Coddington was suspended due to certain charges and his continued absence. Assistant and Treasurer Jeremy Clarke was appointed to perform the functions of President and is referred to in the record as President Regent.
Two letters from Roger Williams to John Winthrop the Younger—one endorsed 23 Mar/2 Apr 1649, the other dated 26 May/5 Jun 1649—indicate that Williams was elected Deputy President at the General Court held in March 1649. He initially declined the office but later consented and assumed the office.
Easton ceased to exercise the functions of President following the arrival of William Coddington and the publication of his commission as Governor of Aquidneck (Rhode) and Conanicut Islands, sometime before 1/11 Sep 1651.
The freemen of Providence and Warwick convened assemblies on 23 Oct/2 Nov and 4/14 Nov 1651, asserting their right to govern the colony under the provisions of the 1644 Charter, despite the establishment of a separate government under Governor Coddington and his Council in Aquidneck (Rhode) Island.
The Assembly of commissioners from Providence and Warwick, meeting on 16/26 and 17/27 May 1653, recorded that John Smith had declined to continue in office earlier that year and proceeded to elect Gregory Dexter as President.
The record for the Assembly proceedings includes "16th and 17th of May, 1653" in the heading, but the actual election most probably took place on the first Tuesday after the 15th of May—17/27 May 1653—as required by an order approved in May 1647.
Acting on the understanding that Coddington's commission had been revoked in England, the Assembly of commissioners from Newport and Portsmouth elected John Sanford as President of the Colony and demanded that Coddington surrender the colony’s records—an order he refused to obey. Sanford held office only briefly and died later that year: his will was dated 22 Jun/2 Jul 1653, and an inventory of his estate was conducted on 15/25 Nov 1653. According to an order approved on 16/26 May 1648, Richard Burden, Assistant from Portsmouth—the same town as the deceased President—was entitled to succeed him, but there is no evidence that Burden actually served as President.
The actual heading of the manuscript record—"The Court of Election held at Warwicke May the 22: 1662, being the second Tusday after the fiftenth of May"—is obviously an error. An order of the General Court of 16/26 Sep 1654 confirmed that the annual election day was the first Tuesday after of the 15th of May which was 20/30 May 1662.