Here he held a variety of civic positions until 1648 when Coddington's election as President of the colony was disputed, and Clarke was chosen to serve in that office instead.

[2] In April 1639, while living in Portsmouth he was one of nine men who signed a compact, agreeing to establish a government just prior to settling in Newport.

[2][3] Coddington did not particularly care for the patent that Roger Williams had obtained from the crown in 1644; he much preferred autonomy for the two Rhode Island towns of Portsmouth and Newport, or even their union with the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

[3] For these, and probably other reasons not made clear in the court records of the day, Coddington was suspended from the office of President to which he had been elected, and Jeremy Clarke became the governor in his place.

[4] This charter of civil incorporation gave the free inhabitants of the town full power and authority to govern and rule themselves.