A serious issue rising during Easton's first term as president concerned disputed titles to land at Pawtuxet (later Cranston, Rhode Island) and Warwick. The Pawtuxet settlers put themselves under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1642 because their leader, William Arnold, felt great contempt towards the settlements and leaders of both Providence and Warwick. When Providence assessed a tax of 12 pounds and 10 shillings on Pawtuxet, the latter refused to pay, and complained to Boston. Massachusetts then told Roger Williams that if the tax were collected, they would take action against the Rhode Island colony. Warwick, on the other hand, was claimed by the Plymouth Colony, then by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and then by Plymouth again. Roger Williams was urged to go to England to intercede with the Royal Committee on Plantations. To make matters worse, Coddington was already in England, for reasons not known to the Rhode Island settlers, but he would eventually return to New England with a commission pulling Portsmouth and Newport out of the union with Providence and Warwick, creating a separate government for the two settlements on the island.
