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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01145 9374
THE DORR WAR
OR
THE CONSTITUTIONAL STRUGGLE IN RHODE ISLAND
BY
ARTHUR MAY MOWRY, PH. D. (HARVARD)
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ALBERT BUSHNELL HART PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
PROVIDENCE, R. 1. PRESTON & ROUNDS CO. 1901
1.70083
THOMAS WILSON DORR.
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845 .595
Mowry, Arthur May, 1S62-
The Dorr war: or, The constitutional struggle in Rhode Island, by Arthur May Mowry ... with an introduction be Albert Bushnell Hart ... Providence. R. I., Preston & Rounds co., 1901.
xvi, 420 p. front. (port.) illus., pl., map. 26!em. Bibliography : p. 400-100.
SHELF GARD
1. Dorr rebellion. 1812. 2. Rhode Island. Constitution. 3. Rhode Island -- Charters.
344671
1-27501 4
Library of Congress
F'S3.3193 a27d11
Convright
F845.595
No. 165
COPYRIGHT, 1901 ~ BY HOWARD W. PRESTON
344671
PRESS OF E. L. FREEMAN AND SONS PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER.
I. Introductory, .
I
II. The Rhode Island Charter,
8
III. Early Movements for a Constitution,
25
IV. The Rhode Island Suffrage Association,
45
V. Two Conventions Called,
56
. VI. The Charter Criticised, .
73
VII. The Issue,
84
VIII. The Conventions, .
94
IX.
The People's Constitution,
X.
The Freemen's Constitution, .
107 119
XI. The Elections,
I28
XII. Appeal to the Nation,
139
XIII. Rival Governments,
151
XIV. Tammany Hall,
166
XV.
The Arsenal, .
ISI
XVI.
The Interim, .
198
XVII.
Acote's Hill, .
206
XVIII.
Martial Law, .
223
XIX.
Treason Against a State,
238
XX.
Thomas Wilson Dorr, .
255
XXI. Congressional Interference,
268
XXII. The Struggle Ended,
282
XXIII.
Conclusion,
296
APPENDIX .-
A. The Charter Granted by King Charles II, 307
B. The People's Constitution, 322
C. The Freemen's Constitution, . 347
D. The Constitution of the State of Rhode Island,
367
E. The Dorriad, .
· 390
F. Bibliography, .
400
INDEX, .
. 407
ILLUSTRATIONS.
I. Thomas Wilson Dorr, . .
Frontispiece. (Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
2. Francis Wayland, . 29 (From an Engraving.)
3. Thomas Wilson Dorr (aged about 35 years), 39
(This and also numbers 12. 15, 16, and 19 are from lithographs by F. W. Bonve of drawings by Thomas A. Hoppin, reputed to have been made for Hugh Brown for a publication on the Dorr War. Collection Brown University Library.)
4. Lemuel H. Arnold, 46
'Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
5. James F. Simmons, 47
( From a photograph. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society. )
6. Suffrage Medal, (Collection of Charles Gorton.) . 50
7. Suffrage Banner Carried in the Parade, 64
(Photographed from original. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
8. Samuel H. Wales,
(F'rom a photograph. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.) · '71
9. Thomas W. Dorr, . (From an engraving of a daguerreotype by A. L. Dick.) · 97
IO. Samuel Ward King, 136
( From a daguerreotype.)
II. Commission Signed by Governor Dorr, 159
(Collection of Charles Gorton.)
12. Dorr Flourishing the Sword, 177
(From a drawing by Thomas A. Iloppin. See No. 3. Collection Brown U'niversity Library.)
13. Map of Providence County, . 180 (From Providence Daily Journal, July 19, 1842. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
14. Wall Placard, " Take Arms!" . 183 . . (Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
vii.
15. The Attempt on the Arsenal, May 17, . . 185
(From drawing by Thomas A. Hoppin. See No. 3.)
16. The Upper Room of the Arsenal, May 17, . . 185 (From drawing by Thomas A. Hoppin. See No. 3 )
17. Map of the Ground on which the Events of May 17 and 18 Occurred, 187 (From Providence Daily Journal. May 26, 1842. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
18. Dorr's Headquarters-Burrington Anthony House, (From photograph by W. A. Dean.) . 188
19. First Section of Cadets in Pursuit of Dorr, . . 190 (From drawing by Thomas A. Hoppin. See No. 3. Collection Samuel W. Brown.)
20. Henry Y. Cranston, (From an engraving.) . 203
21. Trouble in the Spartan Ranks, . · 207
(Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
22. Map of Chepachet, Showing Dorr's Camp, . 209
(From Providence Daily Journal, June 29th, 1842. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
23. Governor King's Residence, . .
212
(From photograph by W. A. Dean.)
24. Colonel William W. Brown, . 214
(From a photograph.)
25. Map Drawn by Order of General McNeil, . 215
(Photographed from original. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
26. The Capture of Acote's Hill, · . 217 (From lithograph of drawing by Henry Lord. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
27. Map of Chepachet, Showing State Forces, 218
(From Providence Daily Journal, July 19th, 1842. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
28. Wall Placard, " Martial Law," 225
(Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
29. Order for Pay for Military Services, (Collection Charles Gorton.)
230
30. Proclamation Offering Reward for Dorr, 238
(Brown University Library.)
1
. 256
32. Charles Jackson, . . 257 · · (Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
31. James Fenner, (Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
viii.
THE DORR WAR.
33. Certificate, Dorr Liberation Stock, 258
(Collection Charles Gorton )
34. The Four Traitors, 258
(From a broadside. Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.)
35. The Dorr House, . . ( From a photograph by W. A. Dean.)
· 264
36. Thomas F. Carpenter, 273
(Collection Rhode Island Historical Society.).
37. Tyrants Prostrate; Liberty Triumphant,
.
276
(From lithograph loaned by Charles H. Greene.)
1
·
PREFACE.
T' HIS book is designed to set forth with fullness and accuracy the long protracted struggle for an extended suffrage in Rhode Island. The author has examined with care all available material, in order to frame from original sources a con- sistent account of this peculiar controversy from the early days of the charter to the present time. Valuable aid has been received from old documents and records in the Rhode Island State Library, in the archives of the City Hall, Providence, and in the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society; also from the reports of the Supreme Court of the State of Rhode Island and of the United States; and from the journals of Congress and various State legis- latures. The newspapers have proved to be a fruitful source for information, and scores of files of papers published not only in Rhode Island but also in other portions of New England, in New York, and in more distant States, have been turned over in an exhaustive search for the truth.
Thanks are due to the late Amos Perry, Secretary of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and to the librarians and attendants of the public libraries of Providence and Boston; the Harvard Library, at Cambridge; the Library of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester; the Astor and Lenox libraries, of New York City; and many other public and private libraries, for their interest and
B
-
x.
THE DORR WAR.
courteous attention. Particular acknowledgments are credited to Professor Albert Bushnell Hart, Ph.D., who has kindly written the Introduction; to Professor Edward Channing, Ph.D., and to Pro- fessor James B. Thayer, LL.D., of Harvard University, for valuable assistance rendered ; to Professor James B. Scott, D. C. L., Dean of the Law School of Illinois State University, and Professor James A. Hoose, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California, for read- ing the manuscript and for important suggestions ; and to Clarence S. Brigham, Librarian of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and the many friends who have assisted in the search for illustrations.
The work is submitted to the people of Rhode Island and to the students of history throughout the country in the hope that it will bring to them much information, in readable form, upon this very important and hitherto neglected history.
-
1
INTRODUCTION.
BY PROFESSOR ALBERT BUSHNELL HART.
"Certainly, the great multiplication of Vertues upon Humane Nature, resteth upon Socicties well Ordained, and Disciplined. For Commonwealths, and Good Governments, doe nourish Vertue Growne, but doe not much mend the Seeds."
So wrote great Bacon three centuries ago. The observation applies to no Commonwealth and to no Good Government more than to the colony and State of Rhode Island, where for nearly two centuries one instrument of government sufficed for the inter- ests of a thriving and advancing community; yet where from the beginning there were seeds of dissension, from which sprang event- ually a dangerous civil war.
Rhode Island has had the fortune to illustrate several different phases of that abounding American life which found expression in a dozen other colonial governments: Rhode Island was one of the earliest American homes of religious toleration ; Rhode Island was an example of a loose kind of federation; Rhode Island was one of the few American commonwealths which had a thoroughly dem- ocratic government, choosing its own governor as well as its own assembly. In the federal history of America, also, Rhode Island has gone through several interesting crises: Rhode Island was one
-
xii.
THE DORR WAR.
of the earliest commonwealths to purge itself of the crime of human slavery; Rhode Island was one of the most vigorous defenders of State rights, against what it thought the aggressions of the national government in 1814; Rhode Island was the only State in the Union to pass through a revolution of its own after the great uprising of the Revolution and before the overthrowings of the Civil War period.
Rhode Island has also been, if not singular, at least fortunate, in the loyalty of its own sons. When some years ago Mr. Arthur May Mowry, at much personal sacrifice, sought the opportunity of enlarging his training in historical work, it was my fortune to be acquainted with his purpose and frequently to discuss with him the subject which he had chosen for investigation. It seemed to him that in the history of his State the Dorr Rebellion was the most important episode, and that at the same time it was the least studied and perhaps the most misconstrued. He therefore set himself steadily and pertinaciously to become acquainted with the prime materials on that subject; and he soon learned where to find the pamphlet, periodical, and fugitive material upon which a skillful writer might draw. He left no stone unturned : he searched libraries far and near: he unearthed forgotten newspapers and rare broadsides: he went through the neglected records of courts and legislatures : no collection of sources which was open to the inves- tigator was neglected in his search.
After many months of labor, extending through several years' time, he began to arrange his materials, to come to conclusions, and carefully to prepare this history. His method was always in- ductive : he came to estimate men and measures because those judgments seemed to him inevitable, borne in upon him by wide evidence: he was a careful, painstaking, and reflective writer. About the time that his manuscript was completed, disease came upon
xiii.
INTRODUCTION.
him. When he began to see that his days were numbered, he took the pains to revise his manuscript again and yet again, prun- ing and completing and coming to a final judgment. The results of what amounts in the aggregate to several years of well - directed labor, appear in this volume, which is at the same time the author's monument and a tribute to his beloved State.
The first significance of the work is its study of the development of an unwritten constitutional law, side by side with the written charter of Rhode Island. In his early chapters, therefore, Mr. Mowry presents a view of the political and constitutional history of one of the States in the Union, interesting not only to Rhode Island, but to the increasing number of persons who are seeking to under- stand the development of popular government in America.
In chapters iv to vii Mr. Mowry begins a careful study of the great constitutional struggle in Rhode Island which led up to the rival conventions of 1841, a struggle important in the as yet unwritten history of American constitutions; and he brings out clearly how far the whole question was affected by the rise of manufacturing communities and the inflow of foreigners. In one sense, therefore, the issue in the Dorr Rebellion was commercial- the recognition of the industrial class; but, on the other hand, the broad belief in a widely -distributed suffrage as a right principle of human government comes out as the ruling motive of those who were to direct the new movement.
Rhode Island is not the only State in the Union in which there have been rival constitutions and rival governments. In New Orleans, after the Civil War, two legislatures sat for a time simul- taneously; in Ohio, in 1849, a House of Representatives organized in one corner of the official hall, and another House in another corner, and they remained for some weeks in hostility to each
xiv.
THE DORR WAR.
other; in Kentucky there have been two governors at the same moment, each threatening the other. Nevertheless the danger of duality, the impossibility of two trains passing on a single track, has never been so clearly brought out as in the rivalries of Rhode Island from 1841 to 1842; and it is to the credit of the good order and peaceful instincts of the Rhode Island people that the collision was so long postponed.
The preliminaries of the Dorr Rebellion are really an account of the power of public sentiment working upon an unwilling legis- lature and constitutional convention. The most significant and the fundamental difference between the Freeman's and People's con- stitutions was simply that the official Freeman's convention did not yield the vexed question of a property requirement for the suffrage, while the People's Constitution, which was shortly to become revolutionary. followed the system of neighboring States in a gradually enlarging suffrage. In chapters ix, x, and xi the story grows more interesting as we come to the parallel votes upon the two constitutions, and the important statute declaring the proceedings under the People's Constitution to be criminal.
The second half of Mr. Mowry's book. from chapter xii, is the history-hitherto never adequately written-of the actual revo- lution, or attempt at revolution, in Rhode Island. Everybody knows that appeal was made by both sides to President Tyler before hostilities began; not everybody knows the details of the two rival governments in May, 1842; and still fewer people are acquainted with the singular history of Mr. Dorr's visit to New York and appeal to Tammany Hall for sympathy and assistance.
The drama now grows more intense as military preparations are made on both sides. Mr. Mowry gives us a clear and faithful picture of the conditions and failure of the People's government,
1
XV.
INTRODUCTION.
and the final military collision, ending with the fiasco at Acote's Hill, in June, 1842. The remaining chapters of the book deal with the punitive action of Rhode Island against Dorr, and his trial and conviction for treason. We have here a valuable study of the great constitutional question of the relation of the United States to the government of Rhode Island, involving important issues of State rights.
From this brief summary it will be seen that the book is not only well prepared, but that it includes a careful discussion of the disputed questions which arose throughout the whole controversy. Mr. Mowry's judgment is that the People's party were ill advised in attempting to fight the regular State government; and that their ends might have been substantially reached without violence; but he does not lack sympathy with the patriotic and in some ways heroic elements in the whole controversy. Mr. Mowry is convinced that in this, as in most similar difficulties, violence defeats its own ends, and leads to counter violence. Perhaps the main lesson of the whole controversy, and the lesson to which Mr. Mowry espe- cially addresses himself, is the power of strong, moderately phrased, and continuous public protest, and its superiority to forcible revo- lution.
One part of the book remains to be noticed: the illustrations are what pictures ought to be in such a work ; not a modern artist's conception of what an artist on the spot might have sketched, but reproductions of the rough wood cuts and maps of the time, and excellent portraits of the principal characters.
The merits of Mr. Mowry's book I have had many opportunities to judge: he has chosen a very dramatic and a very suggestive episode : he has treated it with thoroughness, with candor, and with good judgment : he has well told the story of a movement which
xvi.
THE DORR WAR.
had roots deeper than Narragansett bay and broader than the ter- ritory of Rhode Island; for the Dorr Rebellion is one of the most distinct and striking incidents of the long American struggle for manhood suffrage. To the Rhode Islander, to the student of con- stitutional development, to the believer in the righteousness and the success of popular government, Mr. Mowry has rendered a great service.
1
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
A LITTLE more than fifty years ago the State of Rhode Island passed through a struggle which not only led to civil war within the State itself but also aroused great interest in other parts of the country. The contest was unique : in its causes it finds no parallel in the annals of any State of the Union ; history records few civil wars in which the antagonism of . parties was so intense, few which collapsed so completely and so suddenly, and yet few which accomplished a more definite result. It would be worthy of study, even were the causes less signifi- cant ; but the causes illustrate, as almost no other episode of this century, the development of democratic government. The Dorr War, as the struggle has commonly been designated, has not been "famed in song and story;" and yet the dual government in Rhode Island in May, 1842, and the short military contest which followed, were among the most noticeable features of the quiet administration of President Tyler, and attracted the attention of the members of both political parties and of all classes of people throughout the country.
1
2
THE DORR WAR.
The popular interest in the "Rhode Island Question " was pri- marily due to the sympathy which the people of the other States felt for the " non-freemen " of that little State. Though this sym- pathy was doubtless to a considerable extent spontaneous, it was carefully fostered by the politicians of the day. The opinion was current that these "oppressed " persons, though greatly preponder- ating in numbers, had been unjustly deprived of certain "rights;" that these non -freemen had long struggled for these rights, and that no course was now left open to them but an appeal to arms. This widespread interest did not diminish even when the struggle was over; for the victorious government, though secure in its strength, showed little clemency to the vanquished, and singled out the leader for condign punishment. The story was spread broadcast, and everywhere sympathy was publicly expressed for the "fallen hero," the "martyr to popular liberty." Thus the war be- came widely known, and deserves permanent place in the annals of the country.
The current notions of the Rhode Island struggle are almost entirely derived from the general histories of the United States, in which the story is necessarily briefly told, and in no case ap- pears to have been based on a first-hand study of the subject. Very few investigations have been made into the constitutional troubles in Rhode Island since the time when the bitterness of the struggle passed away ; hence the conventional view really rep- resents only the loose ideas that prevailed in the Union at large during the struggle among those, not personally acquainted with . the facts of the case. Careful investigation makes it certain that in 1842 and the subsequent years public opinion greatly erred in its estimate of the real questions at issue in Rhode Island. The political animosities in the contest were exceedingly strong, and
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i
1 :
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3
INTRODUCTORY.
neither side sent out impartial accounts to the general public. The domestic character of the war was marked; families were di- vided, sons were ranged against fathers, and brothers were found on opposing sides. The seat of the war was limited in extent, and even in the most densely settled portions of the State the population was comparatively small. It was impossible, under such circumstances, for even disinterested persons to obtain fair state- ments and unprejudiced reports.
The troublesome Rhode Island question was discussed in Con- gress and in the newspapers of the day, and popular enthusiasm was marked in the leading cities of the country. The universal assumption was that two questions were involved in the contest, and but two: a struggle for freer suffrage, and the purpose of might to be the oppressor of right. No other possible causes for the war were seen, and an almost universal popular sympathy was shown by the suffrage advocates in the various States for the " rightful demands" of the non-freemen of Rhode Island who were seeking the suffrage. The era was one of advancing democracy, and in all directions restrictions on the suffrage were being re- moved, or at least lessened. The cry arose that Rhode Island must be brought into line. As attentive observers watched the struggle for the franchise, it was only natural that the position of the legal voters should be generally condemned. They appeared to be relying upon their inherited power and once again to be refusing to grant equal political rights to the less favored. That the general public should see only these two issues was natural, especially as their knowledge of the conflict was limited to the crisis itself. The early movements in the State, especially during the eighteen months preceding the outbreak, the steps taken by each party, and the legal and constitutional issues involved were
4
THE DORR WAR.
almost entirely unknown. The newspapers, outside of the State, did not begin to give prominence to the news from Rhode Island until well into the month of April, 1842; the two months of armed controversy which followed were extremely dramatic, and the trans- actions during this period alone made much impression upon the public mind.
The true struggle was, in fact, something more than a mere quarrel over the extent of the suffrage restrictions, and the length of the controversy may be measured by years rather than by weeks. The main issue was constitutional, and therefore the contest de- serves the attention of publicists as well as of historians. That it was a constitutional issue does not imply merely that questions arose as to the validity of certain laws or actions during the three years in which the contest was raging; the main point at issue was the making of a constitution for the State. Inasmuch as no method of procedure had been provided by the existing " funda- mental law," the Charter of 1663, there was great diversity of opinion. The demand for a constitution primarily came from the non - voters, and they, with some show of reason, claimed a share in the process. The questions soon came up: "Who are the people?" "Have not the people a right to make constitutions for their government ? " Thus, though the contest was local and con- fined within a limited area, the questions presented were national in importance. If the inhabitants of Rhode Island had the legal right to rise in. their might, to throw off all existing control, and to make a new fundamental law at pleasure, no State in the Union could consider itself safe from a similar proceeding. If, in Rhode · Island, such a movement should be prevented, and thereby pro- claimed revolutionary, a valuable precedent would be furnished for the protection of other State governments.
.
5
INTRODUCTORY.
When the peaceful legal contest was beginning to develop into an armed controversy, new political and constitutional issues were brought to the front. As each party realized its own weakness, it appealed to the national government for aid. Here was presented the then novel issue of rival State governments calling upon the President of the United States to decide which of them had legal authority. What were his powers in such a case? Did the Con- stitution of the United States, notwithstanding the doctrine of State sovereignty, make him an arbiter in such crises in the common- wealths ?
Another method of settlement suggested during the struggle was to refer the matter at issue to one of the Houses of Congress. Although the House of Representatives found no opportunity to act directly as arbitrator, it nevertheless forced itself into the con- troversy by an attempt to investigate the action of the President toward the establishment -or, perhaps, rather the overthrow -of a government in Rhode Island.
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