 The issue of the Pawtuxet settlers remaining under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts was a constant irritant to Roger Williams , Gorton , and the other Providence and Warwick settlers . At a meeting of the General Court of Rhode Island held at Warwick on 22 May 1649 it was ordered that letters be sent to Arnold and the other Pawtuxet settlers in reference to their subjecting themselves to the Rhode Island colony . This did not happen , and the Pawtuxet settlers continued under Massachusetts for another nine years . Arnold and his father , while not laying claim to the Shawomet lands , nevertheless had extensive land holdings , and in 1650 Arnold paid a tax of five pounds , the highest in the colony , and his father paid three and a half pounds , the second highest amount . 
