NEWPORT — A ceremony featuring bagpipers and an artillery group will be held today to pay tribute to the King Charles II Charter of 1663, which established Rhode Island and Providence Plantations as a single colony and endowed it with unprecedented liberties, including religious freedom.

Unfortunately, educators and historians have long overlooked Rhode Island’s contribution to the very principles upon which the United States was founded, according to local experts. Today’s ceremony is intended as a first step in a campaign to raise awareness of the charter and the man who helped create it, Newport’s John Clarke.

“This is the first time there has even been a celebration of the charter itself aside from celebrating November 1663 when it arrived in the port of Newport,” said James Wermuth, executive director of the locally-based John Clarke Society, which organized today’s event.

The event will bring together area historians, educators and state legislators to commemorate the charter. It’s free to the public.

“They will learn the value of history, the value of Rhode Island to the nation. This has been left out of Rhode Island history books,” said Wermuth. “We’re really trying to straighten history out a little bit.”

The hour-long celebration begins at 10:45 a.m. at the Redwood Library & Athenaeum, 50 Bellevue Ave. Numerous speakers are slated to give remarks, including the keynote address by Ronald Machtley, president of Bryant University. Others expected to speak are Senators Teresa Paiva Weed and June Gibbs.

rsalit@projo.com