The Dorr Rebellion (1841–1842) (also referred to as Dorr's Rebellion, Dorr's War or Dorr War) was an attempt by residents to force broader democracy in the state of Rhode Island. Led by Thomas Wilson Dorr, the movement mobilized his followers to demand changes to the state's electoral rules. Rhode Island was still using its 1663 colonial charter as a constitution, which required land ownership as a qualification to vote. The rebellion established a parallel government alongside the existing chartered government and wrote a new constitution for Rhode Island. Although the rebellion failed, it forced the rewriting of the state constitution to expand voter eligibility.
Background
Charter Unlike most states, which had created a new constitution during the American Revolution and revised them further by the 1840s in response to evolving political conditions, Rhode Island continued to operate under its original 1663 royal charter. While revolutionary for its time, the charter had grown obsolete, making it one of the minority of states that still had land requirements to vote. In 1664, the Rhode Island General Assembly enacted legislation restricting suffrage to "freemen", a class defined as white men over 21 (adults) who owned at least £10 worth of real estate, and their eldest sons. Prospective freemen were also required to formally apply for membership in the corporation, though such applications were rarely denied. The requirement was later raised to £200, and then some years later to £400, before dropping to £4 in 1762.
Freemen also reserved the right to serve on juries and bring lawsuits to court. A non-freeman could not initiate legal action unless sponsored by a freeman, a suit that would be heard in a jury of only freemen. The freeman system corresponded to a largely agrarian society, where land ownership was common, but became increasingly exclusionary as available land diminished and the Industrial Revolution, along with turning Rhode Island into an urban state, drew a growing, largely landless immigrant population, particularly Irish laborers. By the 1840s, an estimated 60% of the adult white male population in the state did not have the status of freemen. Some sources suggest the figure may have been even higher. Non-freemen were essentially second-class citizens.
The charter had also essentially created rotten boroughs. When the charter was written, Newport, then the colony's most populous city, was allocated six representatives in the General Assembly while Providence received only four. By the 1840s, Newport, never fully recovering from the British occupation during the Revolutionary War, had a population of approximately 8,000, yet retained its six representatives. Meanwhile, Providence had grown to over 23,000 residents but still had only four seats in the General Assembly.
Lastly, the charter lacked institutional checks and balances like those found in the federal constitution. The governor was merely a figurehead; he had no veto over the General Assembly and could only enforce their laws. Judicial appointments were controlled by the General Assembly and were often awarded on the basis of personal connections.
Reform attempts As a royal grant rather than a constitution, the charter had no mechanism for amendment. Open criticism of the charter began after 1800. At an 1824 constitutional convention, freemen rejected a new draft constitution two to one. Another convention in 1834 resulted in no change.
Many freemen resisted change and argued that expanding suffrage would invite voter fraud. State representative Benjamin Hazard, in Hazard's Report to the legislature (1829), found "nothing... either in facts or of reasoning, which requires the attention of the house.” Hazard expressed particular hostility toward Irish immigrants, declaring that they were "not among ours". He concluded:
Fraud was prevalent under the charter. For example the Sprague family, owners of a mill company employing thousands, manipulatively recruited proxy voters by temporarily granting male employees quitclaim deeds and directing them in how to vote. These deeds were returned to the family the day after the vote.
Opposition to reform was strongest among freemen aligned with the Whig Party, living mainly in the south of the state, while pro-reform freemen often were Democrats, who were mainly in the industrialized north of the state.
Prelude
Suffrage Association and Party
By the fall of 1840, growing agitation for constitutional reform and the expansion of suffrage led to the formation of the Rhode Island Suffrage Party (or people's party) and the Rhode Island Suffrage Association, drawing their support from working and middle class men, as well as sympathetic freemen, notably former Representative Thomas Wilson Dorr and Representative Samuel Y. Atwell. The Suffrage Association established branches throughout the state and, in November 1840, began publishing two newspapers, the New Age and the Daily Express, both of which did not profess a party loyalty.
In response to mounting public pressure, the assembly called for a new constitutional convention in January 1841. This convention, set for November, once again restricted participation to freemen and was mandated to address issues of legislative apportionment, with no mention of suffrage expansion.
Recognizing that they could not expect anything from the proposed convention, the Suffrage Association issued a declaration of principles in February 1841 and called for a mass meeting in Providence on April 12. Additional suffrage meetings were organized throughout the spring and summer of that year. Also, that year, Dorr joined the movement and would eventually become its leader.
People's constitution
In July, the Suffrage Party called for adult men to elect delegates the following month to a constitutional convention to be held in Providence. In theory, black men – whose voting rights had been revoked in 1822 – could vote in this election, but in practice they often were excluded.
What became known as the People's Convention convened on 4 October, attracting little attention. The constitution the suffragists drafted introduced a bill of rights, separation of powers, the secret ballot, and new apportionment. While certain public offices were restricted to taxpayers, and only those who owned at least $150 in real estate could vote on issues related to municipal finance, it granted voting rights to all white adult males regardless of property ownership.
Dorr, who headed the committee concerning elections, sought universal male suffrage, reading to the convention a petition given to him on behalf of the black community. The attempt to remove the word "white" was rejected 18 to 46. In response, the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society withdrew its support for the Suffrage Association, prompting suffrage advocates to disrupt the Society's meetings. Women, who had actively participated in the suffrage movement, were also denied the vote on a justification based "upon a just consideration of the best good of society including that of the sex itself."
The people's constitution received widespread publicity, making front-page news throughout the state. By the time the landholder's convention (or freemen's convention) was held on November 1, 1841, most freemen were already familiar with the competing document. The constitution this convention drafted was very similar to the other one, introducing a bill of rights, separation of powers, removal of the freeman status, and even a fairer representative system than the other. However, it retained the same property qualifications for voting.
Referendum
A three-day referendum on the people's constitution was held starting on December 27. In total, as opposing freemen refused to take part in what they considered an illegal referendum, it received 13,944 votes in favor, with only 52 votes against. The Dorr Rebellion Project lists 13,947 votes in favor. This was out of an estimated 23,142 adult white males, including 9,950 freemen, of whom 4,960 voted on the referendum. With a clear majority of citizens supporting the new constitution, leaders of the Suffrage Party believed that the existing government would eventually step down as it was passed by the will of the people, and so was law.
Governor Samuel Ward King appealed to the judiciary, who argued that political authority resided not in the general population, but within the body politic and its corporate people (freemen), comparing the suffragists to the mobs of the French Revolution. Dorr and his colleagues argued that, following independence, government authority was derived from the people, not the reverse. The freemen used nativist sentiments to sway public opinion against the movement, involving many Irish, whom the old Yankee establishment saw on the same level as blacks.
The freemen constitution, also called the Tory constitution by opponents, was submitted to a formal three-day vote beginning on 21 March 1842. As Dorr had advised suffragist freemen to vote against it, the constitution was rejected 8,689 to 8,013.
Algerine Law In 1842, the assembly passed an act deeming all meetings and elections conducted under the people's constitution to be illegal and void. Individuals who permitted their names to be used in these elections could be fined $2,000 and imprisoned for a year; attempting to assume office under the unauthorized government was declared to be treason, punished by life imprisonment. The Dorrites (as they became known) called it "the Algerine Law", alluding to the despotic Dey of Algiers, whose realm had harbored Barbary pirates and slave traders.
King and his followers formed the Law and Order Party of Rhode Island, a coalition of Whigs and conservative Democrats. They reached out for support from President John Tyler and even African Americans, offering the prospect of black suffrage in exchange for loyalty in the brewing conflict. According to one observer at the time, the Law and Order Party held out the possibility "not because it was [the blacks'] right, but because [the Party] needed their help". In response, the Dorrites branded the Law and Order Party the "nigger party".
The severity of the Algerine Law caused many supporters of the People's Convention and constitution to distance themselves from the Suffrage Party, causing significant difficulties in nominating candidates for their upcoming elections. Meanwhile, Tyler refused to get involved in the dispute.
Course
Rival government formed The Suffrage Party eventually organized a slate of candidates for their elections, with Dorr as their gubernatorial candidate after three other men had refused the nomination. In the election on April 18, Dorr ran unopposed, receiving all 6,359 votes cast for the race. Two days later, King won reelection 2 to 1 against his Democratic opponent, pulling 4,864 votes. There were now two rival governments, one in Providence and the other in Newport.
On May 3, Inauguration Day, Dorr, protected by at least two militia companies in full uniform armed with loaded rifles, processed the streets of Providence with a crowd of around 2,000 people towards the old statehouse on Benefit Street. When he got there, the door was found to be locked, and it began to rain down on them. According to some historians of the Dorr War, taking possession of the state house at that moment could have provided Dorr's government with a critical show of legitimacy and possibly shifted public opinion in their favor, changing the tide of the rebellion. The new government was forced to relocate to a foundry under construction, where it convened its first legislative session with 66/80 representatives and 9/12 senators present. Welcome B. Sayles was elected speaker of the house.