USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 1 > Part 40
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The State House at Providence, a building which had been in exist- ence nearly a hundred years, and which had always been used for the courts, as well as for legislation, had become ridiculously inadequate to the state's requirements. The necessity for enlarged quarters was now universally recognized. The rapid growth of Providence had made the need of a new city building equally urgent. A committee was appointed at the January session of the general assembly this year to confer with the city officials, with the view of the erection conjointly by the state and city of a suitable building for the use of both govern- ments. The committee made a report at an August session of the assem- bly, and presented a plan of and estimates for the proposed building. It was proposed to locate the structure upon filled land in the center of the "Cove." According to the plan a circular area four hundred feet in diameter was to be filled in. The structure, to be erected upon a foundation raised five feet above the remainder of the area, was to be
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200 by 68 feet in length and breadth. It was to be of Anglo-Italian architecture, with exterior walls of Portland freestone and interior walls of brick, with a wooden dome, covered with copper. The western half of the building was to be the "State House," and the eastern half the "City Hall." The cost of filling the central area, including that of four suitable bridges, connecting with surrounding streets, was estimated at $34,600, and that of the whole building, including the filling, at $176,995.1 An act was introduced in the house providing for the erection of a new State House in conjunction with the city of Provi- dence, but it was postponed until the next session, and was never again brought forward. At the October session a resolution was adopted to build an addition to the old State House at a cost not to exceed $7,500, and at the following January session, that sum proving inadequate, $2,300 more was appropriated for the purpose.
At the August session of 1850, George H. Browne of Glocester, the Democratic leader in the house, introduced a secret ballot law, direct- ing ballots to be cast in sealed envelopes. It was postponed. The charter granted by the assembly this year for the proposed Providence and Bristol railroad contained the old turnpike provision for the erec- tion of toll gates and the collection of tolls. A resolution introduced at this session to remove the political disabilities incurred by partici- pation in the insurrection of 1842, was defeated in the senate by an adverse vote of 17 to 14. An amendment to the election law repealing the section requiring voters to write their names upon the backs of their ballots, was laid on the table by a house vote of 35 to 22. As the two houses disagreed as to the day of adjournment at this session, Governor Anthony adjourned them on his own authority.
The Democrats did not contest the election of Governor Anthony in 1850. The latter's only opponent was Edward Harris, the Free Soil candidate, who received 753 votes in a total of 4,576. The great industrial development of the state between 1840 and 1850 was shown by the census figures of the latter ycar. The state had advanced in population during the decade from 108,830 to 147,545, and the city of Providence had gained about 80 per cent, or from 23,172 to 41,513. Smithfield now had 11,500 and Newport 9,563. North Providence and Cumberland, in which were portions of Pawtucket and Woonsocket, had gained handsomely, and Cranston's figures were beginning to show the overflow of Providence's population. The census showed that there were 10,275 persons of foreign birth in Providence, and 23,860 in the whole state. The immigration from Ireland had been large since 1848, in consequence of the famine on that island, and many of the people of Rhode Island viewed the advent of such a large non-
1 A quarter of a century later the city alone built a million-dollar edifice, which is now, after the lapse of another quarter of a century, too small for the city's use.
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Protestant element with aların. This large Irish infusion was also unwelcome to the Whigs from a political point of view. The Demo- crats, as the champions of free suffrage, had demanded that natural- ized citizens should be granted the franchise upon the same conditions that it was enjoyed by the native voters. The Whig newspapers of the state, led by the Providence Journal-which, under the editorial man- agement of Governor Anthony, had already attained to scriptural authority-now pointed to the statistics of the foreign born, and prophesied dire disaster if naturalized foreigners were admitted to the suffrage.
Although the Democrats had allowed the election of 1850 to go by default, they had not given up the struggle for political supremacy. The state, city and town committees toward the end of the year took an active interest in the registry of the voters, and early in January, 1851, the Providence Journal warned the Whigs that the Democrats were preparing to contest the spring election, and had beaten the Whigs in registering in the city of Providence. To add to the Whig alarm, they were outgeneraled and defeated in the election of a successor to Albert C. Greene in the United States senate. The election took place in grand committee on January 30, and although the Whigs had a majority of fully 25 on joint ballot, Charles T. James, who was supported by the Democrats and a dozen or more Whigs, was elected senator on the eighth ballot, by one majority, he receiving 50 of the 99 votes cast. The Whig vote was divided between John Whipple, ex-Senator Sim- mons, Alfred Bosworth and George A. Brayton, the first two receiving, respectively, 20 and 19 votes. Considerable discussion took place as to the senator-elect's politics, which was finally settled by Mr. James's announcement that he was a Democrat. It may be said, parenthetic- ally, that there were very few leading politicians of either party at this time who had not trained in different parties. Old men who had been rank Federalists of the Hartford convention stripe during the War of 1812, could now be found among the radical suffragists, and staid Whigs who had despised Jackson because of his democratic ideas, twenty years later could be seen marching in the mud, bearing "peo- ple's" banners, shoulder to shoulder with hard-handed workingmen ; while so-called Jacobins and radical levellers of earlier years now helped to swell the conservative Whig majority.
The Democrats selected Philip Allen, a wealthy Providence manu- facturer, as its candidate for Governor, and nominated the gifted William Beach Lawrence for Lieutenant-Governor. Judge Lawrence was the first wealthy New Yorker to come to Newport and seek prefer- ment in the Rhode Island political field. He bought Ochre Point in 1845, and resided there summers until 1850, when he made it his per- manent residence. Governor Anthony declined a third term, and the Whigs nominated Josiah Chapin of Providence for Governor, and
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Rowse Babcock of Westerly for Lieutenant-Governor. Edward Har- ris was again supported by the Free Soilers, but received only 183 votes. Allen was elected by 628 majority and the whole Democratie ticket triumphed. That party also carried the senate by two majority, while the Whigs had a bare majority in the house. The Democrats had a majority of the grand committee, and were able to make such changes as they pleased among the state officials. The Whigs elaimcd that the triumph of the Democrats was obtained by wholesale bribery, and they declared that votes sold in some towns as high as $80. At the time of the election of James to the United States senate, in the Jan- uary previous, adherents of both parties made charges of bribery against their opponents, and during one session of the grand commit- tec, Henry Y. Cranston, one of the Whig leaders of the house, in a moment of excitement charged Thomas Whipple, the Whig Lieutenant- Governor, with attempted bribery, although he afterward endeavorcd to explain away his words.
Among the important legislation effected at the session of January, 1851, were acts for the more effectual suppression of gaming; and an act prohibiting the infliction of corporal punishment and confinement in dark rooms and dungeons, in asylums and in houses for the poor. A new apportionment of representatives to conform to the changes in population, as shown by the eensus of 1850, was made. North Provi- dence, Cumberland, Tiverton and Burrillville each gained a member, while Scituate lost one. The chamber, which had previously been limited to 69 members, now consisted of 72, the full constitutional number to which it was entitled. A lively debate took place over the fugitive slave law, and a resolution, directing the attorney-general to appear for any slave arrested under that law in the state, was rejected in the house by a decided vote. In May, Thomas W. Dorr and others, imprisoned under the treason act of 1842, were restored to citizenship privileges by votes of 18 to 11 in the senate and 39 to 32 in the house. Three Whigs in the senate and four in the house voted for the resolu- tion.
The Democrats, having, with the aid of a few Whigs, a fair working majority in both chambers, succeeded in seeuring some of the legisla- tion for which they had been contending. A secret ballot law, which George H. Browne of Gloeester, the Democratic leader of the house, had brought forward in January, was again introduced by him, and after a long debate, in which he, Fenner Brown of Cumberland, and Thomas Davis of North Providence, the Demoeratie champions of the bill, encountered Henry Y. Cranston of Newport, and Messrs. Curry and Potter of Providence in opposition, it passed the house by a vote of 38 to 28, and afterwards passed the senate. The act required voters to cast their ballots in sealed envelopes, which were to be furnished to the several municipalities by the secretary of state. Another aet which
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the Democrats succeeded in getting through was the extension of the time for paying registry taxes up to within three days of an election. The much-needed revision of the school law was effected at the June session, the two houses succeeding in agreeing upon the division of the support for the schools between the state and the individual municipal- ities, the state contributing the larger amount. A resolution was passed at the June session for the investigation of child labor in manu- facturing establishments by a special committee. President Fillmore visited Newport in September, 1851, and was received with appropri- ate honors. He was entertained at the Bellevue House. The cotton manufacturers of the state were complaining of hard times early in the year. In January, according to the Providence Journal, over one- third of the cotton spindles in Rhode Island were idle.
In January, 1852, after a long discussion, a bill originated by Thomas R. Hazard of South Kingstown, for the abolition of capital punishment, and forbidding the pardon of long term convicts, except by vote of three-fourths of all the members of both houses and the approval of the Governor, passed the senate by a vote of 17 to 13, and the house by 41 to 20. A resolution, inviting Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, to visit the state was adopted by both houses.
The cause of temperance had been making steady progress for some time. Other states were adopting prohibitory legislation, and that of Rhode Island had been steadily leading up to it for some years. At the January session a prohibitory act was lost in the house by a vote of 31 to 37. It passed both houses in May, however, with the proviso that the question of its repeal should be submitted to the people at the next state election. A majority of the Whig members of the assembly favored the measure, and a majority of the Democrats opposed it, while most of the Whigs opposed referring the question to the people, and most of the Democratic members favored such reference. The law, which was to go into effect on the third Monday in July, provided for the appointment of one or two persons in each municipality to sell spirituous liquors for medicinal and mechanical purposes only.
The gubernatorial campaign of 1852 was a lively one. Both parties had registered heavily. The Democrats renominated the successful ticket of 1851, and the Whigs put ex-Governor Elisha Harris and Samuel G. Arnold of Providence at the head of their ticket. Early in the campaign Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence, in the course of a cam- paign speech, strongly opposed the proposed prohibitory law. In consequence of this speech a split ticket containing the name of Schuy- ler Fisher of Exeter for Lieutenant-Governor was circulated on election day, and received 813 votes, or sufficient to prevent any choice for Lieutenant-Governor by the people. Allen and the other Demo- cratic candidates, aside from the Lieutenant-Governor, were elected,
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but by reduced majorities. The Whigs had a majority of both houses, and Arnold was elected Lieutenant-Governor by a vote of 57 to 40 for Lawrence. The two parties were almost evenly divided in Providence, and the Democrats succeeded in electing one of the city's twelve repre- sentatives-Americus V. Potter-the first Democrat ever clected from that town in a straight contest between the two parties.
This election was the first one under the envelope law, and the Dem- ocrats, claiming that the provisions of the act had been grievously violated in the city of Providence, where the election officials were nearly or quite all Whigs, presented a lengthy memorial, contesting the scats of the Whig senator and representatives from the city. A com- mittee of investigation was appointed, but the sitting members were not disturbed. The Democrats carried the state for Pierce in Novem- ber, the vote being, Pierce, 8,735; Scott, 7,626; Hale, Free Soil, 644. The vote of Providence was Pierce, 2,172; Scott, 2,267; Hale, 229.
An act was passed at the January session in 1853 limiting the hours of labor in manufacturing establishments to ten hours unless otherwise agreed upon ; forbidding the employment of children under twelve years of age in such establishments, and limiting the hours of labor for children under eighteen years of age. Senator Clarke's term in the United States senate was to expire on March 4, 1853, and on February 1, the house invited the senate to mect it in grand committee for the purpose of electing his successor. The Democrats were then in tempo- rary control of the senate, and it refused the invitation. This pre- vented the election of a Whig to the senate, as Governor Allen was elected senator at the May session following.
The Whig candidates for Governor and Lieutenant-Governor in 1853 were William W. Hoppin of Providence and Samuel Rodman of South Kingstown. The Democrats renominated the old ticket, with the exception of Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence, who declined, and for whom Francis M. Dimond of Bristol was substituted. The Free Soil candidates were Edward Harris and Stephen Wilcox of Westerly. The Democratic candidates were elected by an average of over 1,500 majority, and that party secured a majority of both houses of the general assembly, all of the Providence assemblymen being Democrats. The popular vote on the question of repealing the prohibitory liquor law was, for repeal, 8,228, against repeal, 9,280. Providence voted against repeal by 377 majority. Thomas Davis and Benjamin .B. Thurston, the Democratic candidates, were elected to Congress in the eastern and western districts, respectively, the latter practically with- out opposition. Davis's majority over Congressman King and John H. Willard, Free Soil, was only 175 in a total vote of 10,873.
The Democrats had now carried the state at three successive elec- tions, and had finally obtained unquestioned control of both houses. They believed that the time had arrived for the adoption of measures
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for which they had been long contending. At the May session acts were passed giving registry voters in Providence the privilege of voting for mayor. At the mayoralty election of that month, Walter R. Danforth, the Democratic candidate, was elected mayor. This was the first time the old Federal-Whig city had been lost to the opposition. On May 5 a resolution advocated by Senators Charles S. Bradley of North Providence and Nathan Porter of Cranston, requesting the freemen of the several municipalities on June 28 to vote for or against a constitutional convention, and at the same time to elect delegates to such convention, passed both houses without opposition. The proposi- tion was defeated by the people, 4,570 voting for and 6,282 against a convention. At a special session of the assembly in September a reso- lution, introduced by Thomas Steere of Smithfield, calling together the delegates elected in June to consider three propositions-the abolition of the registry tax, the districting of cities and large towns for the election of members of the house of representatives, and the extension of time for the registration of voters-passed both houses by nearly strict party votes. It was submitted to the people November 21, 1853, and was rejected by more than two to one. At each of the two trials all of the Whig towns voted nay, while the Democratic towns were about evenly divided.
Newport voted in May, for the third time since 1847, on the propo- sition of adopting a city form of government, and accepted the charter by a vote of 460 to 328. At the September term of the assembly the house voted-43 to 22-to declare the seats of the Supreme Court justices vacant. In the senate a Democratic secret caucus revealed so much opposition to the measure, that it was concluded not to bring it to vote.
At the January session in 1854, nine proposed amendments to the constitution were adopted by both houses, and one-abolishing impris- onment for debt, was rejected. The new assembly-which had Whig majorities in both houses-at the May session adopted five of the propositions and rejected four. The proposed amendments were sub- mitted to popular vote on November 7, 1854, and three of them were adopted, as follows: (1) Relieving town and ward clerks from the necessity of forwarding to the general assembly lists of persons voting at elections, adopted by a vote of 3,216 to 2,115; (2) granting the Governor the pardoning power, with the advice and consent of the senate, adopted, 3,928 to 1,405; (3) providing for one session of the general assembly in May at Newport, with an adjourned session at Providence in January, adopted, 3,701 to 1,729. A proposition to abolish the registry tax, and one allowing registration to within twelve days of elections were defeated, as they failed to receive three-fifths of the votes polled, although both received majorities.
The third amendment adopted at this time abolished the five-capital
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system, which had been so long in vogue. The immediate effeet of the change was the lengthening of the May session at Newport, but after a year or two the previous custom of adjourning at the end of election week was resumed. The January session had been for a long time the chief one of the year. The amendment made it more so than ever. The multiplieation of railroads had made it easy for assemblymen to go to Providenee and return to their homes the same day after attending the sessions of the legislature, and they had come to realize the folly of traveling around to cach county at a needless expense to the state, and at considerable discomfort to themselves.
The Democratie majority in January, 1854, passed an act dividing the sixth ward of Providence and providing for the election of alder- men in that eity by wards, instead of on a general tieket, and also a resolution repealing, reversing and annulling the judgment of the Supreme Court whereby Thomas Wilson Dorr of Providenee, on the 25th day of June, 1844, was senteneed to imprisonment for life at hard labor in separate confinement. This resolution passed the house by a vote of 44 to 17.
Although the Demoeratie vietory the preceding year had been a erushing one to the old Whig party, the course of events had greatly weakened the vietors. They had lost strength by favoring a constitu- tional convention, and the enfranehisement of naturalized eitizens who did not own real estate ; and the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill- a Democratic measure-by Congress, added to their unpopularity. The Democratic state convention made choice of Francis M. Dimond of Bristol and Americus V. Potter for its leading candidates. The Whigs renominated Hoppin for Governor, and chose John J. Reynolds of North Kingstown as their candidate for Lieutenant-Governor. The Temperanee party endorsed Hoppin's nomination, but made independ- ent nominations for the other places on the tieket, including that of Sehuyler Fisher of Exeter as its candidate for Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. Hoppin was elected Governor by a vote of 9,216 to 6,523 for Dimond, but there was no choice for the other offiees, the Whig vote ranging from 6,445 to 6,882, that of the Democrats from 6,425 to 6,596, and the Temperance total from 2,574 to 2,871. Both houses contained Whig majorities, and the Whig candidates were elected to the vaeant offiees.
Having obtained power onee more the Whigs, at the May session of 1854, proceeded to undo some of the legislation enaeted by the Demo- erats. The secret ballot law was amended so as to make the use of the envelopes optional with the voters; the registry men of Providence were deprived of the right to vote for mayor; and the Supreme Court was requested to pass upon the constitutionality of the vote in January annulling the action of the Supreme Court in the case of T. W. Dorr. The decision of the court, received at the June session, was to the effect
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that the annulling resolutions were unconstitutional. A resolution was passed at this session forbidding state officials from aiding in the capture of fugitive slaves.
Thomas Wilson Dorr died on December 27, 1854. The Democratic masses looked upon him as a martyr, but many of his strongest oppo- nents in 1842, by the fortune of politics, had become Democratic leaders ten or a dozen years later, and never allowed liim to assume the leadership of the party after his restoration to citizenship privi- leges. He was still prominent in the counsels of the party, however, and was Lieutenant-Governor Dimond's chief competitor, as the party leader, at the Democratic state convention early in the year.
A score of years previous to this time Rhode Island had been exten- sively infected with the Anti-Masonic craze, which had proved to be a most disturbing element in politics. Now, as the Whig organization was going out of existence and the Republican party was forming, the Know Nothing movement came to the front, and for a brief time took political control of the state. The anti-foreign craze had been helped by the course of the Providence Journal and other Whig papers, which, in order to defeat Democratic schemes for a constitutional convention, had given great prominence to the dangers likely to result from the extensive enfranchisement of naturalized citizens. The Know Noth- ings worked secretly, but there were signs of their presence in the state in the fall of 1854.1 At an election in Cumberland, a Democratic town, early in November, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of one of the representatives in the general assembly, Rev. Jolin Boyden, the Know Nothing candidate, defeated Fenner Brown, one of the ablest and most popular Democrats in Rhode Island.
The Whigs, in March, 1855, renominated Governor Hoppin and the rest of their successful ticket of the previous year, and Hoppin was endorsed by the Temperance party and the Know Nothings. The latter party, however, nominated Anderson C. Rose of New Shoreham for Lieutenant-Governor, and made independent nominations for the other three state offices whose incumbents were chosen by popular vote.2 The Democrats chose as their standard bearers Americus V. Potter of Providence and William Littlefield of Newport. The Know Nothings united with the Whigs in nominating Nathaniel B. Durfee for Congress in the eastern district, and endorsed the candidacy of Benjamin B. Thurston, who was renominated by the Democrats in the western district. The latter was elected almost without opposition.
1 The sudden rise of the Know-Nothing party to power has been traced by Charles Stickney in an excellent monograph on Know-Nothingism in Rhode Island (R. I. Hist Soc. Publ., i, 243, and also in Brown Univ. Hist. Sem. Papers, no. 3).
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