USA > Rhode Island > The Dorr war; or, The constitutional struggle in Rhode Island > Part 5
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() Newport Mercury, Nov. 7, 1840. Eight towns only gave a majority for President Van Buren : Burrillville, Glocester, Scituate, Foster, Excter, Richmond, North Kingstown, and Tiverton.
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THE RHODE ISLAND SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
Such were the political conditions in the winter of IS40-1. Not only was the Whig party victorious in the nation, with a ma- jority in both branches of Congress; in the State of Rhode Island national political interests predominated over State interests in a way unusual in that community: the senators and representatives had been chosen with reference merely to their national political preferences, and there was every reason to believe that the Whigs would vote almost as a unit on most of the matters that would come before the State government.
On the other hand, the Democratic party was, apparently, in a forlorn condition, about to lose all control of the national government, and already driven out of power in State affairs. In the campaigns of 1840 the Democratic rank and file had shown very little en- thusiasm; they had never before known what an overwhelming defeat was; it seemed to them that their party was doomed, and they knew not in what direction to turn. In the spring of 1841 the Democrats failed to nomi- nate candidates either for JAMES F. SIMMONS. governor or for Representatives to Congress, and the Whig candi- dates were elected by default. (2)
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The first appearance of the question of suffrage and constitu- tions, after the final collapse of the previous agitation in IS38, was in an " Address to the citizens of Rhode Island, who are denied the right of suffrage," which appeared in January, 1840, in a brochure of eight pages, purporting to come from the "First Social Reform Society of New York." In this address we find a development of the propositions that had been made forty years earlier by Colonel Burrill; a definite scheme is set before the readers by which, in spite of the opposition of the government, a liberal constitution might be obtained.
An important part of the address was the " preliminary sugges- tions as to holding a State Convention." It advised the holding of primary meetings to call a convention, to name the time and place, and to apportion the number of delegates from each county and town. It advised that all male citizens over twenty-one years of age should be allowed to vote for delegates, and that lists of such voters should be kept, "duly certified by those appointed to receive the votes, and appended to the credentials of the delegates." The next step suggested was that the assembled delegates should count the votes cast, and if "the whole number of votes cast exceeds the whole vote of the previous general election for Representatives to Congress, then the convention will unquestionably represent the majority of the people, and will, therefore, as unquestionably have the sovereign right to frame a constitution for the State." Having framed a constitution, they should appoint time and manner of electing State and congressional officers. Then the members of Congress, thus elected, might claim their seats at Washington, "and the responsibility would then devolve upon Congress of de- ciding whether members from a majority of the people, elected under a Republican Constitution, framed by the people themselves,
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shall have seats in the councils of the nation, or members from an incorporated body of land Lords, and their eldest sons, who, by virtue of a royal charter, are stockholders of the elective franchise, and of the government."
It will be interesting to see how far this novel proposition was followed. At first there seemed to be an inherent promise of suc- cess : if the non-freemen were numerous enough, or if they could find sufficient freemen who sympathized with their movement, there seemed no reason why they could not induce Congress to acknowledge the legality of a new constitution. So far as the preliminary course of action went, the advice was gladly received ; but when the time came, the proposed appeal to Congress was not made.
This address was distributed broadcast throughout Rhode Island, and soon came to the notice of the newspapers. The Whigs iden- tified it with the Van Buren New York Democracy, and claimed that it indicated the desires of the Democrats of Rhode Island, even if, perhaps, it were not prepared by them.(3) This charge the Republican Herald-the Democratic organ -- denied "in the most solemn and unequivocal terms."(+). Instead, it claimed that the Democracy of Rhode Island was "firmly attached to the present laws regulating the elective franchise. . . . For our own part we view the proffered advice and interference of any body of men in New York with the political affairs of our State as an indecent and unwarrantable assumption ; and as the New York Evening Post has had the kindness to volunteer to republish the above- named pamphlet in its columns, we should esteem it quite as much an act of kindness should the Post give us light on the origin of it." However, the belief was very strong that the "Address " was prepared in Rhode Island, and that the so-called Social Reform 7
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Society was either a myth, or was used in the interest of Rhode Islanders who were about to inaugurate a suffrage movement. How much influence the address had in shaping the movement in the State cannot be determined; but the close connection be- tween the proposition and the movement itself is quite remarkable. Acting* in accordance with this advice, the Rhode Island Suffrage Association was organized in the autumn of 1840 by certain inhab- itants of Providence, for the purpose of inaugurating a new agita- tion for a constitution with freer suffrage. Many, if not most, of
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SUFFRAGE MEDAL. (COLLECTION OF CHARLES GORTON.)
the members were non-freemen. () This was soon followed by the establishment of the Woonsocket Suffrage Association, and by other similar suffrage societies throughout the State. (6) Before the spring of 1841 nearly every town in the State had an organization of this kind.
The plan of these societies was from the beginning in accord with the propositions of the address before described. The Rhode Island Suffrage Association issued a Declaration of Principles, which was generally adopted by the societies." In this declaration, the propositions were laid down that :
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(1) All men are created free and equal ;
(2) Possession of property should not create political advantages for its holder ;
(3) That every body politic should have for its foundation a bill of rights and a written constitution ;
(4) That Rhode Island had neither ;
(5) That the charter lost its authority when the United States became independent ;
(6) That every State is entitled to a republican form of gov- ernment ;
(7) That any State is anti-republican which keeps a majority of of the people from participating in its affairs ;
(8) That by every right, human and divine, the majority should govern ; and
(9) That the time had gone by for submission to most unjust outrages upon social and political rights.
These propositions led to the resolutions : 1
(1) "That the power of the State should be vested in the hands of the people, and that the people have a right, from time to time, to assemble together, either by themselves or their representatives, for the establishment of a republican form of government ;
(2) " That whenever a majority of the citizens of this State, who are recognized as citizens of the United States, shall, by their delegates in convention assembled, draught a Constitution, and the same shall be accepted by their constituents, it will be, to all intents and purposes, the law of the State."
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It will be seen that, from the outset, the leaders of the suffrage movement proposed to ignore the legally constituted government of the State. They did not intend merely to agitate the question, to "educate " the people, to furnish means by which an expression of the desires of the people could be obtained. Rather, it was their plan to prepare the people for a peaceful revolution. They would make use of what they called the "original sovereign right of the people " to ignore all previous forms of government, to lay aside all allegiance to the existing order, and to evolve, at their own pleasure and in their own method, a new government which should suit their convenience. The germ of this doctrine was destined to grow until it led to the complications of the next year.
It cannot be too strongly urged that the suffrage agitation in Rhode Island in the early forties was not begun by either party. (d) The Whig newspapers kept entirely aloof from the movement; they were absorbed in the presidential campaign and had no thoughts for any such outside matters. The Democratic papers also ignored the matter until the November election was over. The leaders, both Democratic and Whig, as a rule, refused to have anything to do with the agitation, even during the year 1841. Nevertheless, the organizers of this new movement would seem to have wisely chosen the time for their agitation : the Democratic party through- out the country had been the "party of reform," so far as the franchise was concerned : as soon as the Rhode Island Democrats should have recovered from the stunning blow which they had re- ceived in the elections, the suffrage leaders hoped that they would grasp the opportunity to make a strong bid for support, however
(d) As an illustration of the non-partisan character of the movement, it may be noted that the president of the Woonsocket Suffrage Association was an ardent Democrat, while the secretary was a thorough Whig. Burke's Report, 247. (Testimony of Welcome B. Sayles.)
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indifferent they had been, when in power, to the wrongs of the non -freemen. These hopes were doomed to disappointment, for the Democratic party did not officially ally itself with the move- ment.
The effect of the election of 1840 was, nevertheless, soon ap- parent. The Republican Herald, in spite of its strong statement in the previous winter against any change, began gradually to feel its way toward an expression of sympathy with the suffragists, and, two days after the election, editorially remarked : ($) " There are at least 14,000 men in Rhode Island who had not the privilege of voting for President of the United States, on Monday last-men who in all respects are equal to those who enjoyed that privilege - and who, had they lived in any other State of the Union, could have exercised the inestimable right of freemen. They are de- prived of the right, because they are not land-owners." The angry feeling of the defeated party was still further shown ten days later, in another editorial, in which the thought was brought forward that the election might have been different if the 14,000 had voted; and that even if defeat had still been encountered, it would have been much pleasanter to realize that it had come in a vote of " the whole people and not a select few merely."(9) The editor then offered to throw open his columns to a discussion upon the subject of a freer suffrage.
The suffrage associations wisely determined to keep free from entangling alliances with either of the great parties, and decided to establish an official organ for themselves. November 20, 1840, the first number of the New Age appeared in Providence, and devoted its leading editorial to a word of advice "to the Non - Freeholders of Rhode Island." It considered that the time -immediately after the great political excitement of the national election -was particu-
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larly appropriate for a consideration of the unrepresented thousands who were deprived of the privilege of voting, by the discrimination of the charter and subsequent legislation. In brief, it claimed that " the present system of franchise in Rhode Island is unjust, inas- much as it concedes privileges to a certain wealthy class, thereby tending to build up among us an aristocratic class, with special privileges and immunities."
About the first of December the association held a meeting, which voted that the association would "support the paper entitled the New Age for the term of three months." A committee of two from each ward in the city of Providence was appointed to "collect subscriptions and act as agents for the paper." The New Age ap- peared weekly, and each number was carefully prepared for the pur- pose of leading its readers on step by step. The issue of December 4, 1840, contained an editorial entitled " What We Want," which was a disquisition on the use made by the paper of the term "uni- versal suffrage." While claiming that the personal opinion of the editor was that no one should be excluded from the right to vote, it suggested that the qualifications then existing in Massachusetts - payment of a poll tax and residence within the town -made a close approach to universal suffrage. It concluded the editorial with the advice that a convention of the whole people be called " to put, in a clear and decisive form, an exposition of the wants of the non-freeholders." The next issue of the paper restates the belief of the editor in the right of universal suffrage, but acknowl- edged that this opinion had received a severe condemnation from the suffrage associations, and that the explanation of the willing- ness of the editor to abide by the decision of the convention had not proved satisfactory to his " keepers." This was a sufficient hint that the committee on printing of the Rhode Island Suffrage
1
1
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Association claimed the right of control over the principles which the paper should set forth. (c)
The agitation was now fairly under way, and preparations were made for a vigorous "campaign of education," to be carried on early in the year 1841. Communications now began to appear in the other newspapers of the State, most of them anonymous, and few presenting any new or important material. One writer did sug- gest a feasible plan of operations, and showed the position which the leaders were ready to assume when the right moment arrived : (10) " I would first propose to call a general convention of all the 'free- holders and non-freeholders' in favor of adopting a constitution for this State, and then appoint a committee in every town to call on every freeman, and take the names of all those who will pledge themselves to support such a measure ; and if there is a minority of them (which no doubt there will be), then to make up the de- ficiency from among the non-freeholders, who will qualify them- selves expressly for this purpose by a purchase of $134 of real estate. Could this be done everything would go smoothly without a civil revolution between our present Lordly Freemen and their vassals, and save a deal of time and political acrimony. I am for trying all peaceable means first, by the ballot box, to effect this object; and should that fail, I would then say, 'We the people' will have a constitution for this State, and rise in the majesty of our strength, form a constitution and establish a government."
(e) This committee consisted of Asa W. Davis, James Stone, Jesse Calder, Augustus Arnold, W. C. Thayer, W. C. Spencer, James Manchester, J. M. Wheeler, Benjamin Arnold, James A. Smith, Edwin Field, and Colonial Ilopkins.
AUTHORITIES .- 1 Newport Mercury, Apr. 18, 1840; Rhode Island Manual, 1896-7, 102. 2 Rhode Island Manual, 1896-7, 102. 3 Providence Journal, Jan. 29, Feb. 5, 1840. 4 Repub- lican Herald, Feb. 1, 1840. 5 Burke's Report, 16, 108, 247, 724. 6 Burke's Report, 247. 7 Burke's Retort, 108-109, 403-404 ; New Age, Feb. 19, 1841. S Republican Herald, Nov. 4.
1840. 9 Idem, Nov. 14, 1840. 10 New Age, Dec. 25, 1840
CHAPTER V.
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TWO CONVENTIONS CALLED.
I T is evident that the suffrage associations had no confidence that any help would come from the legislature; when the right time came it was their intention to ignore the government and act independently of it. Nevertheless, there were some ardent agita- tors who deemed it best to make one more trial, and the follow- ing petition was prepared and published in the official organ : (1)
" To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island: The-undersigned, inhabitants and citizens of the State of Rhode Island, would respectfully represent to your honorable body, that they conceive, that the dignity of the State would be advanced, and that the liberties of the citizens better secured, by the abroga- tion of the Charter granted unto this State by King Charles the Second of England, and by the establishment of a constitution which should more efficiently define the authority of the Executive and Legislative branches, and more strongly recognize the rights of the citizens.
" Your petitioners would not take the liberty of suggesting to your honorable body, any course which should be pursued, but would leave the whole affair in your hands, trusting to the good sense and discretion of the General Assembly.
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" Your petitioners would further represent to the General As- sembly, that they conceive that an extension of the suffrage to a greater portion of the white male residents of the State, would be more in accordance with the spirit of our institutions, than the present system of the State and for such an extension they ask. Your petitioners would not suggest any system of suffrage, but would leave the matter to the wisdom of the General Assembly.
" Upon both the prayers of your petitioners, they would ask the immediate and efficient action of the General Assembly, and as in duty bound will ever pray."
The New Age, in commenting editorially upon this petition, made the important concession that there could be no doubt of the right of the legislature to amend the laws of the State, among them that establishing the suffrage qualifications, which had already been "from time to time altered and amended at pleasure." () At the same time the editorial took occasion to reaffirm a belief in the "right of the people to assemble in convention, and raise their voice in the work of reform." "We wish to regain our rights and, as the easiest way of so doing, we, in respectful terms, ask of the freeholders, through their representatives, that they be restored. If our request is refused, there is no reason why other steps should not be taken to regain that which has been taken from us. If a thief steals my property, there is no impropriety in my first asking him to return it, and if he refuses, I shall have to take other meas- ures to obtain my own." The petition was respectfully worded, but this explanatory editorial was not calculated to win votes in favor of acceding to the request of the petitioners.
The petition was received by the General Assembly and at once laid on the table, from which it was never taken.(3) This action has been condemned by many writers : for instance, the " Boston Law-
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yer" stated that " the petitions were insultingly passed by without any notice, or action, on the part of the Assembly."(+) The temper of the legislature cannot be fully understood(a) without some discus- sion of the reception of a memorial from the town of Smithfield, at the same January session, which was presented and referred to a select committee, of which Asher Robbins was chairman.(5) The memorial prayed the General Assembly to "take the subject of the extreme inequality of the present representation from the several towns under consideration, and, in such manner as seems most practicable and just, to correct the evil complained of."(6)
The committee reported that the regular and rightful way of obtaining the object prayed for was by a convention of the free- men, and presented the resolution "that it be recommended to the freemen of the State, at the several town meetings in April, to in- struct their representatives as to their wishes for a State Convention to frame a new Constitution for this State, in whole or in part, with full power for that purpose."(7) After much discussion and a recom- mittal of the resolution, it was voted to call a convention without the preliminary process of asking the freemen to make known their desires in the matter. On February 6, 1841, the General Assembly passed the act calling a convention to frame a new constitution, in whole or in part ; "and, if only for a Constitution in part, that said Convention have under their special consideration the expediency of equalizing the representation of the towns in the House of Repre- sentatives." (S) The freemen were requested to choose. delegates at the August election, and the convention was appointed for Novem- ber, at Providence. The call directed that the result of the work
(a) Elisha R. Potter, Representative in Congress from Rhode Island, declared, in a speech in the House, that the name which headed this list of 581 petitioners, Elisha Dillingham, was that of a man who had been in the Massachusetts state prison for eighteen years. Potter, Considerations, 7.
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of the convention should be submitted to the freemen at whatever time it should deem best. It was also provided that the votes of the people should be counted by the General Assembly, and that the constitution, or amendments, should go into effect if approved by a majority of the freemen voting.
The vote of the representatives calling this convention is signif- icant : 37 in favor, 16 against; and IS absent or not voting, (?) of whom 12 were probably in favor of the measure; while 3, at least, of the negative votes were due to objection to particular features of the bill. (10) The actual majority in favor of granting the request and calling a convention was, therefore, something like three to one; and among the members of each party a majority was in favor of the bill. (b)
It will be seen that the legislature, in giving this direct reply to the Smithfield memorial, indirectly answered the Dillingham petition. The memorial asked for a reapportionment: a conven- tion was summoned, and it was especially directed, whatever it chose to do or refrain from doing, to rectify the apportionment. The petition asked for a new constitution: the call for a conven- tion was a step in the direction of obtaining such a result. The petitioners also desired an extension of the franchise: a new con- stitution would be likely to define the suffrage qualifications, and the General Assembly tacitly left the question of the franchise to the convention. Apparently the General Assembly had fully an- swered both memorial and petition.
The position taken by the suffragists, immediately after the pas- sage of this call, is shown by an editorial as follows : (11) " Though we have but little confidence in the results of the deliberations of
(b) Of the 49 Whig members in the House, 23 voted "yes," 9 "no," and 12 were absent ; of the Democrats, 9 voted "yes," 7 "no," and 6 were absent - 22 in all.
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the Convention ordered by the General Assembly, yet the very fact that such a Convention has been ordered proves conclusively that there is a growing disposition on the part of the freeholders of the State to consider and remedy the abuses of its government. There has been a time when a petition like the one of Smithfield would have been quietly laid upon the table. But the General Assembly know that it would not do at this late day to pass over in contempt a document of such character. As for this Convention for the fram- ing of a Constitution, which they have called, we do not suppose it will do anything for the advancement of freedom in our State. It will be seen that the representation in the Convention will be nothing more than a representation of freemen, and taking this into view, it will be only the General Assembly elected over again, and therefore we have no more to hope from such a body than we have from the General Assembly. Of course the over-represented towns will send their quota of representatives, and the under-rep- resented towns will be voted down in precisely the same manner as if the General Assembly had themselves taken up the question of a Constitution. We are of the opinion that the whole affair will result precisely as did the last attempt of the kind. These contradictions only show the necessity of the people's taking the matter into their own hands. They are the persons most inter- ested in the result; it is no partial body of freemen who take an interest in the result. If then the General Assembly will not meet the wants of the people, nor in all probability will a Convention acting under them, it is high time they took the matter into their own hands, resolved if they cannot obtain redress of their griev- ances in the ordinary way, they will take extraordinary measures to obtain it."
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