predecessor successor death_date death_place children office order term_start spouse article_title term_end name occupation
jeremy clarke samuel gorton nicholas easton gregory dexter july 1663 warwick , rhode island none president plantations president of providence and warwick of the colony of rhode island and providence 3rd 6th 1649 1652 ann , widow of mr. collins john smith -lrb- president of rhode island -rrb-
 1650 1653 john smith stonemason , merchant , assistant , president , commissioner
john smith -lrb- president of rhode island -rrb-

john smith -lrb- died 1663 -rrb- was an early colonial settler and president of the colony of rhode island and providence plantations .
he lived in boston , but was later an inhabitant of warwick in the rhode island colony where he was a merchant , stonemason , and served as assistant .
in 1649 he was selected to be president of the colony , then consisting of four towns .
in 1652 he was once again chosen president , but the two towns on rhode island -lrb- newport and portsmouth -rrb- had been pulled out of the joint colony , so he only presided over the towns of providence and warwick .
an important piece of legislation enacted during this second term in 1652 abolished the slavery of african americans , the first such law in north america .
