Simplify the following text for a Grade 12 native English-speaking person.
Original: He served as the Chief Justice and Governor of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and was a Delegate to the Colonial Congress in Albany in 1754 and to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776 .
Simplified: He served as the Chief Justice and Governor of colonial Rhode Island and was a Delegate to the Colonial Congress in Albany in 1754 and to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776 .