Biography

Thomas Dorr was born in Providence, Rhode Island and was a politician and reformer. He led the Dorr Rebellion from 1841-1842, which was an attempt by the urban middle-class to gain more political say and broaden democracy. In 1841, Rhode Island still did not have universal suffrage for white men, and it was a requirement that white men owned a certain amount of land in order to vote, which favored the rural class and not the growing urban middle-class and rising population of immigrants. Dorr worked with the Rhode Island Suffrage Association to try and fight against the voter oppression, but the Charter government, controlled by rural elites would not budge. Dorr created his own government, the Dorrites, with himself as governor. In May of 1842, the Dorrites attempted to attack the arsenal in Providence, but when Dorr's cannon failed to fire, the army retreated and Dorr fled to New York. He returned in June of 1842 with armed supporters, but the Charter government enlisted the state militia and Dorr realized his imminent defeat and once again fled the state. The Charter government issued a warrant for Dorr's arrest and he was arrested in 1843, was found guilty of treason, and sentenced to a life of solitary confinement and hard labor. However, in September 1842, the Charter government eventually compromised and dropped the property requirement for men born in the US, but not for immigrants.