WPRO Newsroom and the Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Rhode Island is set to mark the anniversary of its break from the British crown.

A colonial law renouncing allegiance to King George III passed on May 4, 1776, making Rhode Island the first American colony to formally break away. The Declaration of Independence was adopted two months later.

The handwritten "Act of Renunciation" is housed at the state archives. It declared that Rhode Island had a duty to oppose the "detestable tyranny" of the British government.

The General Assembly voted in 1908 to make May 4 Rhode Island Independence Day.