1842

Pitman, John, 1785-1864

Pamphlet

Title: To the members of the General Assembly of Rhode Island

Argues against those in favor of universal (white male) suffrage in Rhode Island, denouncing the supporters of the Dorr Rebellion. Pages are uncut.

GLC03115

March 1842

King, Samuel Ward, 1786-1851

Broadside

Title: [A proclamation by Samuel Ward King]

Contains a brief introduction by King as Governor, Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Includes a reprinted letter by President John Tyler stating that he cannot get involved (by raising a militia) with rising tensions in Rhode Island unless there is an actual insurrection. Also includes a reprinted letter from John Whipple discussing the People's Constitution (Dorr's constitution) and the "legal constitution" of Rhode Island.

GLC04161

1834

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Pamphlet signed

Title: [An address to the people of Rhode Island...]

Title continues: "from the Convention assembled at Providence, on the 22d day of February, and again on the 12th day of March, 1834, to promote the establishment of a State Constitution." First and only edition, printed by Cranston & Hammond, with manuscript corrections in Dorr's hand. Inscribed to by Dorr to Reverend C. W. Upham.

GLC04162

January 27, 1835

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Metcalf Marsh

Requests Marsh's attendance at a meeting of the Rhode Island State Committee of the Constitutional Party for the purpose of nominating a ticket for the upcoming election. Dorr, who would lead the Dorr Rebellion in 1842, was then a state legislator.

GLC04416

28 March 1835

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Metcalf Marsh

Discusses potential candidates for election (for Rhode Island's Constitutional Party). Dorr, who would lead the Dorr Rebellion in 1842, was then a state legislator. Year inferred from content related to another letter from Dorr to Metcalf (see GLC04416).

GLC04417

15 June 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Miller

Encloses his editorial entitled "The People's Constitution" (see GLC05757.01) and requests that they print it on Friday. Ends with patriotic fervor: "But every man must be true to the Constitution. There must be no compromise." A note at the bottom asks to be remembered to Low & Millard. Millard, Low, & Miller published the Daily Express. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island.

GLC05757.02

25 June 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Millard, Low, & Miller

Governor Dorr encloses a proclamation and general order (see GLC05757.04 and GLC05757.05) to be published "without delay" in the Daily Express, the Herald, or some other paper. Rejects the insinuation in an editorial in the Express that he might be persuaded to abandon the People's Constitution. Discusses suffrage, comments "I know of no way to abrogate it, except by a majority of the whole People," and asks: "Has the Express abandoned the cause of the People." Millard, Low, & Miller published the Daily Express. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over…

GLC05757.03

25 June 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph document signed

Title: State of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations. A Proclamation by the Governor of the Same.

Governor Dorr sent this proclamation with a letter (see GLC05757.03) to Millard, Low, & Miller, publishers of the Daily Express. Instructs the General Assembly to meet at Gloucester, Rhode Island, on 4 July 1842 instead of at Providence. Also requests that "the towns and districts, in which vacancies may have occurred, by the resignation of Representatives or Senators, to proceed forth with to supply this Same by new elections, according to the provisions of the [People's] Constitution." Several edits. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in…

GLC05757.04

25 June 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph document signed

Title: General Orders

Governor Dorr sent this order with a letter (see GLC05757.03) to Millard, Low, & Miller, publishers of the Daily Express. Orders the mobilization of volunteer forces. "It has become the duty of all our citizenship who believe that the People are sovereign, and have a right to make and alter their forms of government, now to sustain by all necessary means, the Constitution adopted by the People of this State, and the Government elected under the same." Several edits. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island.

GLC05757.05

27 August 1842

Simons, William, 1785-1845

Broadside

Title: Republican Herald--Extra. Governor Morton's Letter.

An extra from a Rhode Island newspaper, published by Simons, that prints a letter from the former governor of Massachusetts, Marcus Morton. Morton declares that the circumstances in Rhode Island (relating to the Dorr Rebellion) are of national concern. States the Whig Government almost unanimously supports the old Charter government and the Democratic newspapers support the new Constitution. Although he asserts his neutrality, the letter clearly sides with Dorr and his supporters.

GLC05757.06

1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph document signed

Title: [Thomas Dorr's response to Whig accusations during the Dorr Rebellion]

Written in the third person and signed "Gov. Dorr" at the top of the page. Responds to accusations in Whig newspapers that he is "one of the most pusillanimous cowards in existence" and is "about to descend upon Rhode Island with a military force." Compares Dorr to Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island. Pencilled note on the verso indicates the document is written in Dorr's hand.

GLC05757.07

6 December 1842

New Hampshire legislators

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas W. Dorr

The 141 undersigned Democratic Republican members of the New Hampshire legislature (including Franklin Pierce) and other citizens convey their support for Rhode Island's illegitimate Governor Dorr: "We think that the principles for which you have contended though as yet unsuccessful, are the fundamental principles of Republican Government." They ask him to speak at the Old North Church in Concord on 14 December 1842. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island. See GLC05757.09 for his response.

GLC05757.08

7 December 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Moses Norris, Jr., Thomas Chandler, Reuben Davis, Franklin Pierce, Nathan Felton, and Samuel Swasey, & others

Responds to a letter from 141 Democratic Republican members of the New Hampshire legislature and citizenry (see GLC05757.08). Thanks them for their support and accepts their invitation to speak about Rhode Island's citizen's thwarted attempt to enact a new Constitution, Equal rights and suffrage. Dorr, then an illegitimate governor, led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island.

GLC05757.09

14 April 1843

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to H. H. Carroll

Discusses New Hampshire politics. Provides a long analysis of political events in Rhode Island, including a recent setback to the "People's cause," the possibility of registering voters, and holding a democratic convention to nominate Martin Van Buren for President. Discusses at some length the situation of the people of Rhode Island and compares their plight to that of Russian serfs. Dorr led the Dorr Rebellion over suffrage rights in Rhode Island. The address identifies Carroll as the editor of the New Hampshire Patriot.

GLC05757.10

1844

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Book

Title: Report of the Trial of Thomas Wilson Dorr for treason...

Printed by B. F. Moore. With errata. Bound in original marbled boards

GLC07041

circa 1845

Whipple, John, fl. 1845

Broadside

Title: Great political car ride and last load of patriots.

Full title, "Great political car ride and last load of patriots. Dorr, Jackson, Simmons, and Arnold! 'We stoop to Conquer' 'Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven'. Anti-Dorr broadside issued by John Whipple. "Law and Order" presentation against Dorr and his followers. Illustration depicts devil driving the "Wagon of Office" drawn by Dorr.

GLC07257

1845

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Print

Title: Governor Thomas Dorr

Mezzotint engraving taken from daguerreotype. Engraved by W. Warner, from a December 1841 image.

GLC07258

1842-1843

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Header Record

Title: Thomas Dorr papers, relating to Dorr's rebellion [decimalized]

GLC05757

circa 16 June 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph manuscript

Title: The People's Constitution

Editorial by Governor Dorr maintaining the importance of supporting the People's Constitution in Rhode Island, even though they failed to take the arsenal on 18 May 1842. Argues that any state would defend itself and its constitution if they were attacked by those who wished to overthrow the government. "So if the People's Constitution in Rhode Island have been rightfully adopted, and put in operation by the election & action of its Legislative, or other departments, is still a valid subsisting instrument, and has not been disposed of by the fate of arms, by the respiration of officers…

GLC05757.01

8 October 1846

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Metcalf Marsh

Discusses complaints against a physician for neglect. Asks Marsh to obtain a position in a post office for a friend of the "constitutional cause." Marked "Private." Dorr had been released from prison the previous year; he had been convicted of treason to the state of Rhode Island after the Dorr Rebellion.

GLC05240

May 20, 1842

Tyler, John, 1790-1862

Letter signed

Title: to Elisha R. Potter

Written at the height of the Dorr controversy, when Thomas W. Dorr's followers who wanted to put a new Rhode Island state constitution in place to expand suffrage, illegally elected Dorr the governor. Tyler explains his response to the affair, his desire for amnesty, peace, and to undercut public sympathy for the Dorrites who invoked the right of rebellion. Concedes that "Dorr's recent proceedings have been so extravagant a character as allmost to extinguish the las hope of a peaceable result." Notes that the developments make it difficult for Rhode Island Governor Samuel Ward King to yield…

GLC01131

May 1842

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Robert P. Letcher

Sends the governor of Kentucky resolutions from the Rhode Island Assembly. The resolutions, printed on the verso and signed by Rhode Island Secretary of State William H. Smith, ordered Dorr to tell the president, congress, and state governors and governments that the Rhode Island General Assembly was in session. Dorr signed as governor. Dorr supporters, desiring more liberal suffrage laws in Rhode Island, had organized and elected their own convention, wrote a new state constitution, and elected Dorr governor. The move was rejected by the legitimate governor, Samuel H. King, and the…

GLC02505.16

February 26, 1844

Fish, Hamilton, 1808-1893

Autograph letter signed

Title: to R.R. Ward, Esq.

On residual actions of the R.I. Dorr Rebellion. "That some rascality is to be attempted toward R. I. can scarce be doubted, but in what shape, we have no means of judging save for Burke's Resolution or Petition presented last week..."

GLC09094

1844/06/25

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Broadside

Title: Speech of governor Dorr, in answer to the question by the court, why sentence should not be pronounced against him

Published by the Republican Herald Office. Appeals to the citizens of Rhode Island, arguing that the sentence given to him goes against the principles of a democratic Republic. Dorr was charged for treason and sentenced to life imprisonment and hard labor for his role in the Dorr Rebellion.

GLC02211

1842/05/05

Dorr, Thomas Wilson, 1805-1854

Printed document signed

Title: [Commission of Daniel N. Paine as Lieutenant Colonel, 6th Regiment of 2nd brigade of the Rhode Island militia]

Partially printed document also signed by Dorr as governor and William H. Smith as secretary. Each use of "his Excellency" were struck and replaced by "Thomas W. Dorr" or "the Governor." The word "Company" was also struck to identify the armed force as a militia. Issued while Dorr was acting illegally as governor at the time of the Dorr rebellion.

GLC04227