USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 1 > Part 32
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A proposition to divide the town of Glocester, which had been brew- ing for some years, was negatived by a vote of 39 to 19 at the March session of the general assembly in 1800. In answer to a resolution of the Vermont legislature in favor of the proposed constitutional amend- ment to designate separately candidates for President and Vice-Presi- dent, the assembly, at the June session, declined to concur with Ver- mont's action, and expressed the opinion that such a change would decrease the power and influence of the small states. Providence having again been visited by the yellow fever this year, the general assembly in October adopted a resolution requesting Rhode Island senators and representatives in Congress to use their best efforts to procure the establishment of a hospital within the borders of the state for the use of ships of war arriving in Rhode Island waters with cases of contagious diseases on board.
The presidential election of 1800 appears to have been the first time in which the two great parties were clearly arrayed against each other in Rhode Island. As the time approached for the choice of electors, the Federal newspapers of the state contained lengthy com- munications warning voters against the dangers which would result from a triumph of the "Jacobins"1 at the polls. Jefferson was de- nounced as a man who wished to subordinate the interests of his coun- try to those of France, and as an infidel. At the same time the electors were exhorted to vote for the Adams electors because of their high character and ability. At the election the declared totals were: Adams, 1,941; Jefferson, 1,642.2 Providence gave Adams 512, Jeffer- 1 The Federalists at this time called the Republicans "Jacobins ", or " Demo- crats."
2 From some towns only the majorities were reported. Some very interesting letters concerning Rhode Island's attitude on national politics at this time are printed in Mason, Reminiscences of Newport, p. 108.
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son 56. Jefferson, however, carried Newport, he receiving 217, and Adams 211 votes. At the congressional election in August, Thomas Tillinghast, Republican, was elected, while there was no choice for the other representative. At a special election in April, 1801, Joseph Stanton, jr., Republiean, was elected by a vote of 2,292 to 1,443 for Thomas Noyes, Federalist.
At the February session of the general assembly in 1801, the popu- lous village of Pawtucket, in the town of North Providence, was cre- ated a fire distriet with authority to tax its inhabitants for purposes of protection against fire, independent of the town. A eurious feature of the act was a provision, authorizing the taxation of houses and fur- niture at double or more than the rates levied upon land. In June certain portions of the free sehool law were suspended, and a eom- mittee was appointed to examine the aet and recommend such ehanges as they might think expedient. While Jefferson's inaugural message seemed to modify somewhat the opinion in which he was held in Fed- eral cireles, it was, evident from the phrasing of the toasts at the Fourth of July celebration in Providenee, in 1801, that he was still distrusted. At that time, and for many years afterwards, a toast was always drunk to the memory of Washington, and ex-President Adams was warmly toasted throughout Rhode Island for several years. On this oeeasion a toast was drunk to the President of the United States, but it was in the form of a desire that he might prove true to the constitution and the country. At the annual state election of this year six Republiean representatives to the general assembly were eleeted in place of Federalists in the town of Newport.
A resolution was adopted by the assembly in February, 1802, limit- ing the time for presenting vouchers of State indebtedness to January 1, 1803. At the congressional eleetion in August, Joseph Stanton and Nehemiah Knight, Republicans, were both eleeted by nearly a thousand majority over the "Federal Republiean" eandidates, Elisha R. Potter and Thomas Tillinghast. Providenee, however, gave the Federal can- didates 282 votes to 78 for the Republicans. An attempt was made this year on the part of the Federalists to defeat Governor Fenner, who had voted for Jefferson in 1800. They supported William Greene of Warwiek, who had been governor of the state from 1778 to 1786. Governor Fenner, however, won at the polls by a vote of 3,802 to 1,934 for Greene.
Considerable exeitement was created in Newport in the autumn of 1802 by certain developments, growing out of two forged letters which had been sent to President Jefferson in 1801, and to which the name of Nicholas Geffroy, a Newport watchmaker of foreign birth, had been affixed. A Newport newspaper, the Rhode Island Republiean, of September 18, 1802, published these letters-which urged the Presi- dent to turn out all Federal officeholders, to order work on the forti-
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THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FENNERS, 1790-1811.
fications discontinued, etc .- and charged John Rutlege, a Federalist congressman from South Carolina, who resided summers at Newport, with being the author of the letters. It appeared that Christopher Ellery of Newport, who had been elected to the United States senate in May, 1801, and Postmaster Richardson and his son, the assistant postmaster at Newport, all Republicans, were Mr. Rutlege's accusers. Mr. Farnsworth, the editor of the Republican, invited the public. to call at his office and compare the letters with other specimens of Mr. Rutlege's handwriting. Certain of the accused congressmen's politi- cal and personal friends who examined the letters, made affidavits in his favor, while the Republicans who inspected them were sure of his guilt. The Newport Mercury came to his defense, as did the Provi- dence Gazette. Senator Ellery was charged by the Federalists with being the real author of the letters, and on October 25, as Mr. Rutlege was about to depart to his home in Charleston, he was given a letter of confidence, signed by over a hundred of the citizens of the town, who were presumably Federalists. Mr. Rutlege, who had served three terms in Congress, failed of re-election, his term expiring on March 4, 1803. During the winter session of 1802-3, Rutlege sent a challenge to Senator Ellery, who declined to meet him. Thereupon Rutlege threatened to obtain satisfaction in some other manner. During the Christmas holidays, both gentlemen happened to meet at an inn in the country, and Rutlege attacked Ellery with a cane. In the scuffle which ensued the Rhode Islander proved himself the stronger man, but instead of punishing his assailant, he appealed to the innkeeper for protection. The fact that the South Carolinian was surrounded by personal friends, while he was alone, may have caused him to stay his hand, but the Federalist papers published articles reflecting upon his courage.
Pamphlets were published on both sides regarding this affair. That of Duane, the well-known publisher of the "Aurora", gave an ex- haustive analysis of the whole matter, and was remarkably free from personalities, at a time when vituperation was considered the strongest argument. It alleged that anonymous letters in the same disguised handwriting of the forged letters had been sent to the "Aurora" during or immediately after the congressional sessions at Philadelphia in the winters of 1797, 1798 and 1799, which from the secrets divulged by them must have been written by a member of Congress; that these letters, and the forged ones contained certain peculiarities of punctua- tion, phraseology and construction that were common to Rutlege's acknowledged handwriting; that the forged letters were written on an imported paper, not then known in Rhode Island, but which had been delivered out to members of Congress in December, 1800; that Senator Ellery had never been out of New England when the letters were writ-
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ten, and could not have had any of the congressional paper in his possession ; that certain expressions used in the letters proved the writer to be a southerner; that Postmaster Richardson was previously knowing to Rutlege's having sent an anonymous letter to Elbridge Gerry, in the same disguised hand, and that he had good evidence of his sending a communication under an assumed name in the same hand to Callender, the publisher of the Richmond Recorder, which paper soon after receiving it, savagely attacked President Jefferson ; that the postmaster and his son had informed Senator Ellery of the facts at the time of their occurrence, and that the three had not made the matter public until a ycar afterward, and only then because they believed public interests demanded the exposure. Rutlege, on his part, issued a pamphlet, in which he only met the most damaging charges by a general denial, by affidavits of a negative character, and by personal attacks upon Senator Ellery, the Richardsons and Farns- worth, the publisher of the Republican. A private letter addressed to Congressman Champlin, and now in possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society, which was written by Rutlege just before he issued his pamphlet, shows him in an unfavorable light. In it, he asks Champlin to obtain, if possible, facts regarding the private life of the Richardsons and Ellery, and he was particularly anx- ious to have a copy of the "epitaph" which Ellery "had inserted on his father's tomb", and anything in Mr. Champlin's knowledge which would prove his "atheism".1 The direct and circumstantial evidence against Rutlege was weighty, and his cause does not seem to have been strengthened by his personal attacks upon the private character of his accusers.
The free school act was repealed by the general assembly in 1803. At the October session of this year, upon the petition of one Jacob Burke, who had been convicted of the crime of rape and sentenced to death, a resolution was passed commuting his sentence to perpetual banish- ment. By the terms of the resolution he must find security in $10,000 that he would leave the state and sail for Germany at his own expense within a specificd time, and if he ever returned, the original sentence was to be enforced. At the May session in 1804, another petition from Burke asked to be relieved from the obligation to furnish surety. This was granted, and the time for his departure was extended to November 1, 1804, by which time he was supposed to have managed to get out of the country. It was customary a century ago to release prisoners for various offenses upon their promising to leave the country, a favorite method of getting rid of undesirable characters being to require them to ship on a whaling vessel.
The presidential campaign in 1804 was hotly contested. The Re-
1 From the "Mason Papers " in the R. I. Hist. Soc. Lib'y.
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publicans now had newspaper organs in both Providence and Newport, and personalities and abuse, which constituted the greater portion of the political arguments of the time, were freely exchanged between them and the Federalist newspapers. Jefferson carried the state, almost by default, in November. There is no record of the total vote, but the Providence Gazette stated that its town had endorsed the Democratic electors, but that only 120 votes were given out of a total of between 700 and 800. In the August previous, Messrs. Stanton and Knight, the Republican candidates, were elected to Congress without opposition.
Both Governor Fenner and Lieutenant-Governor Mumford died during the year 1805. Governor Fenner had been in feeble health for some time, and the assembly passed a special act in June, 1804, authorizing Lieutenant-Governor Mumford to perform the duties of chief executive temporarily. Although neither was physically fit for his duties, both were re-elected in April, 1805, and after their deaths Henry Smith, the first senator, officiated as Governor. The Federalists made some gains in the general assembly this year. At the April election, Newport, which had sent solid Republican delegations to the house for several sessions, returned three Republicans and three Fed- eralists, but in August a full Federalist delegation was elected. Rhode Island being largely interested in ocean commerce, was a constant sufferer from the depredations of the rival belligerents, and because of the impressment of her sailor-citizens on British vessels, British sailors were constantly deserting from their war vessels, and shipping upon American merchantmen. Britain's naval commanders would stop American vessels upon the high seas, and take out any seaman they believed to be a British subject, and if they were short of men, often impressed sailors who were unable, on the spot, to prove their Amer- ican citizenship. When these high-handed proceedings were brought to the attention of the British government, and the American citizen- ship of the impressed sailors was clearly proven they were discharged ; but this was a slow and difficult process, and the "sea power" of Britain, which bore so potential a part in the overthrow of the great conqueror who aimed at universal dominion, was sustained in no small degree by the enforced aid of American tars. In the autumn of 1805, Rhode Island newspapers contained the names of seventeen Rhode Island seamen who were detained on British naval vessels because of the want of documents to prove their citizenship. The loss of prop- erty from the seizure of vessels and cargoes was also acutely felt in the state. At a meeting of the merchants of Providence, on December 11, 1805, a committee of six leading citizens was selected to collect and transmit to Secretary of State Madison a list of vessels belonging to or insured in Providence, which had been captured, detained, condemned
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or plundcred, by the national ships, privateers, or any of the armed vessels of the belligerent powers.
The Republican party divided its forces in the April election in 1806 and there was no choice for governor. The totals, as reported, and which probably represented majoritics in some cases, gave Richard Jackson, jr., the Federalist candidate, 1,662; Henry Smith, 1,097; and Peleg Arnold, 1,094. Providence, as usual, gave the Federalist candi- dates large majorities. The Federalists controlled the house and elected Elisha R. Potter speaker. George R. Burrill of Providence moved in the house that Richard Jackson, jr., be declared Governor, since he had received a large plurality of the votes cast, since the charter required a choice to be made, and since in 1780 the assembly had elected a delegate to Congress by a plurality vote. James De Wolfe of Bristol spoke in opposition, and the motion failed, the vote standing 16 to 52.
Isaac Wilbour of Little Compton, a Republican, who had been elected Lieutenant-Governor, performed the duties of Governor during that political year. A number of the towns had instructed their rep- resentatives to endeavor to secure the passage of a resolution ordering a convention to form a state constitution, but although the question was brought up at the June session, nothing was done regarding it. At the congressional election in August, 1806, Nehemiah Knight, Republican, received a majority of all the votes cast. A special elec- tion was held in December for the other representative, and Isaac Wilbour was chosen by 1,720 votes to 1,220 for William Hunter, Fed- eralist. The latter carried Providence by 200 majority. In this same year, 1806, the town of Burrillville was formed from the northerly portion of the town of Glocester.
At the February session in 1807, the assembly, after considerable opposition on the part of the Federalist members of the house, adopted an address to President Jefferson, inviting him to accept a nomination for President for the third time. James Fenner, a son of the late Governor, had been elected to the United States senate in 1804, in place of Christopher Ellery. The Republicans persuaded him to accept the nomination for Governor in 1807, and he was elected by a vote of 2,564 to 1,268 for Seth Wheaton, Federalist. The Federalists, who in the years immediately following endorsed his candidacy for re-election, terming him a Federal Republican, do not seem to have opposed him in the first instance, and he actually carried Providence by a vote of 177 to 122 for Wheaton. There scemed to be a little fric- tion in the Republican ranks about this time, Fenner and ex-Senator Ellery apparently representing the two extremes. Ellery was a resi- dent of Newport, and that town gave Wheaton 16 majority over Fen- ner for Governor. In June of this year, Attorney-General James Burrill, jr., and his brother, George R. Burrill, were appointed a
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committee, by vote of the general assembly, to prepare a law for the relief of insolvent debtors and for the trial and decision of the peti- tions of such debtors.
The two parties ran a joint ticket for state officers in April, 1808, with Fenner for Governor, and Simeon Martin, a Federalist, for Lieu- tenant-Governor. In August the Federalists carried the general as- sembly, and as a consequence Francis Malbone was clected United States senator in November by six majority. At the congressional election in August, Elisha R. Potter and Richard Jackson, jr., the Federalist candidates, were elected by more than 300 majority over Jonathan Russell and Isaac Wilbour, the Republican nominees, and in November the state chose Pinckney electors by a vote of 3,072 to 2,692 for the Madison ticket. Providence gave the former 540 votes and the latter 131. Newport cast 215 Madison and 264 Pinckney votes. At a town meeting held in Providence on August 9 of this year, a committee of leading citizens was selected to draft a petition to President Jefferson to suspend the embargo so far as it related to Spain and Portugal and their dependencies. At the June session the assembly requested Governor Fenner to notify the secretary of war of the defenseless condition of the state, and ask for the erection of suitable buildings to preserve the cannon from injury.
Town meetings were held in Providence and several other towns of the state early in 1809 to secure protection against the embargo.1 The petitions, memorials and resolves adopted at these meetings were pre- sented to the general assembly, a joint committee of which was ap- pointed to draft a memorial to Congress. In consequence of the devel- opments regarding the Farmers' Exchange Bank of Glocester, a law was enacted requiring banks and insurance companies thereafter to make annual reports to the assembly. There was no opposition to Governor Fenner's re-election this year, but the Republicans nomi- nated Isaac Wilbour in opposition to Lieutenant-Governor Simeon Martin. The latter, however, was re-elected by 644 majority, Provi- dence contributing 352 and Newport 126 of that total. The Federal- ists obtained control of the assembly at this election, having 47 of the 72 members of the house. In the fall of 1809 the Republicans started a Tammany society in Providence, and early the next year societies, or rather "tribes", as they called themselves, were started in Newport and Warwick, and rapidly increased in membership.2 This organiza- tion was believed to have had great influence in bringing the Fenner and Ellery factions of the Republican party together in the spring of 1810. The Federalists, or "Federal Republicans", as they called
1 For the address from the town of Providence, presented by William Jones, see Narr. Hist. Reg. vii, 385.
2 See Jernegan, " The Tammany Societies of Rhode Island " in Brown Univ. Hist. Sem. Papers, No. 8.
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themselves, nominated Fenner and Martin for re-election. Their tieket was known as the "American Union Prox", while they called that of their opponents the "Tammany Prox". Governor Fenner, who headed both tickets, came out in a card a few days before election, denying a rumor that he was a Federalist, and affirming that he was then and always had been a Republican. It was too late for the Fed- eralists to change their ticket, and Fenner was elected without opposi- tion, but they erossed his name off from their party books. The Rc- publiean Prox, with Isaac Wilbour as candidate for Lieutenant-Gover- nor, won at the polls by an average majority of 206. The Republican vote in Providenee advanced from 97 of the year previous to 152, and the Federalist vote from 449 to 489. The sentiments of a community can often be judged by those expressed on convivial occasions. At the celebration of Washington's birthday in Providence this year, an occasion which was participated in by a large concourse of citizens, "accompanied by the reverend clergy", Madison was toasted in these terms: "The President, may the condemning shade of Washington admonish and reclaim him."
The Republicans elected a majority of both houses in April, 1810, and Nathaniel Hazard of Newport was elected to the speakership of the house over William Jones of Providence, the Federalist candidate, who had held the office two terms. But at the semi-annual eleetion for representatives in August, the Federalists obtained a small major- ity, and William Jones was reinstated as presiding officer in October. The term of Elisha Mathewson as United States senator expired March 4, 1811, and the two houses of the general assembly, on Novem- ber 2, 1810, met in grand committee, with Governor Fenner in the ehair, to eleet his successor. The contest was between Jeremiah B. Howell, the first senator, and James Burrill, jr., the attorney-general of the state, the Federalist candidate. The two parties appear to have been evenly balaneed, each having 41 votes, without taking the gov- ernor into account. But Governor Fenner, without waiting for the announcement of the vote, and then casting his vote to break the tie, voted as a member of the grand committee for Howell. His eleetion was thus assured, the ballot resulting in 42 votes for Howell and 41 for Burrill. The Federalists were quite indignant at the Governor's aetion, and also blamed Howell for voting for himself, and the house by a majority of five passed a resolution eensuring Governor Fenner for his unusual course.
In February, 1811, a bill granting to all male citizens who were rated for either a poll or a property tax, or who served in the militia, a right to vote for general offieers and town representatives, passed the senate with only two dissenting votes. When it reached the house, according to a Republican newspaper,1 the leading Federalists, several
1 The Providence Phoenix.
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of whom were lawyers, held an informal caucus, and decided to insist that the advocates of the bill, most of whom were farmers and unaccus- tomed to speechmaking, should give their reasons for favoring it. This was done, but the farmers were reinforced by James De Wolfe of Bristol.1 The weight of eloquence, however, if not of argument, was with the Federalists. After William Hunter, the Federalist leader in the house, and Messrs. Bridgham and Mason of Providence and Totten of Richmond had spoken against it, it was postponed by a vote of 39 to 19. The "yea" vote represented the full Federalist strength, and, as the Republicans had 33 members in the house, they do not seem to havebeen unanimously in favor of the bill. During the con- sideration of this bill a petition, presented by Mr. De Wolfe of Bristol, asked for a better enforcement of the law regarding freeholders. It called attention to the fact that 122 new voters had been "propound- ed" at Providence during a short time, an increase which the petition- ers evidently believed to have been been largely due to fraud. Provi- dence was a growing town. It was now considerably larger than Newport, and was the third town in New England, and the ninth in the country. Its valuation, according to the state estimate, was more than double that of Newport, and the latter and the country towns were already watching it with jealous eyes, lest it gain more than its due from legislation. The Republican papers claimed that the politi- cal overturn which took place this year (1811) was entirely owing to the increased Federalist vote in Providence, and they charged the Federalists with fraudulent practices in creating new voters. The Federalists were through with Governor Fenner. They nominated Speaker William Jones of Providence for Governor. After support- ing Fenner for four years they had discovered that he was unfit for office. William Jones, they said, was a worthy citizen; he was a veteran of the Revolution, and a regular attendant upon divine ser- vice, while the candidate of the "Jacobins" (Fenner) only attended on Thanksgiving day. The arguments of the Republicans were equally shallow. They denounced the opposing candidate as "a haberdasher of British hardware", probably in allusion to the fact that he kept imported goods in his Providence store. Jones was elected by only 172 majority in the largest vote (7,508) ever polled up to that time. The Federalists increased their vote in Providence from 489 to 679, while that of the Republicans had fallen from 152 to 147. The Federalists also secured control in the legislature, their majority in the house being eight.2
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