DORR, THOMAS WILSON
Known for his central role in Rhode Island’s 1842 Dorr’s Rebellion, Thomas Wilson Dorr
fought for changes in the voting laws of his native state. Until the tumultuous 1842 election
of Dorr as governor, long-standing laws, based on the state’s initial charter from England, had limited VOTING RIGHTS to men who owned at least $134 in land. Dorr helped to initiate a new state constitution that granted more liberal voting rights to white males. Once he was governor,
some of Rhode Island’s other authorities treated
him as a traitor to the aristocracy. However,
Dorr’s extension of voting rights to a larger sec-
tion of the populace stands as a cornerstone in
the democratization of the United States.
The changes in voting rights that Dorr pro-
posed flew in the face of Rhode Island’s staunch
political conservatism. Although the example of
newer, noncolonial states had changed the way
in which some older, seaboard states practiced
government, Rhode Island adhered to the char-
ter it had received from the English monarchy in
1663. This document’s property requirement for
voting excluded more than half of the white
males in the state. By 1840 even though only one
other state retained a possession-of-property
requirement, Rhode Island’s leaders claimed
that their constitution served as a standard of
law and order. The Rhode Island charter, they
said, had spared the state from one unwelcome
effect of industrialization: political turmoil.
Changes in government, however, were inevitable,
even in Rhode Island. An increase in industry
led to an increase in crime, unemployment, and
poverty. Such changes brought a demand for a
populist voice in the workings of government.
During this time of change,Dorr emerged as
a legal spokesman. Born November 5, 1805, the
son of a wealthy Providence merchant, Dorr
graduated from Harvard in 1823. He then pur-
sued legal studies, and was admitted to the
Rhode Island bar in 1827. In 1834 he partici-
pated in the Rhode Island legislature, where he
led a campaign to secure extended voting rights.
When the movement gained momentum, the
Rhode Island Suffrage Association was founded,
which Dorr headed in 1840. As support for Dorr
grew, he formed the People’s party. In 1841 the
