1842 · [Providence?
by Dorr Rebellion
[Providence?, 1842. Broadside, 11-1/2" x 20". Printed in three columns. Woodcut illustration of Rhode Island seal, with the word 'Hope' printed at head of title. Old light folds, several fox spots. Good+.
Governor King's folio broadside publishes President Tyler's Letter of April 11, 1842, promising that American troops would support Rhode Island's regular government against insurgent Dorrites; and John Whipple's Letter warning that, if the Dorrites succeed, "the same sure law of force will inevitably prostrate every State Government in the Union." Whipple led the anti-Dorr Party.
"The Dorr Rebellion focused national attention on the question whether or not a majority of the people may rightfully frame a new government regardless of the provisions of the constituted government. Leaders of the disfranchised populace in Rhode Island had met and framed a 'People's Constitution' and proceeded to elect a government independent of the incumbent regime" [Peterson, The Great Triumvirate 338]. Acting under his constitutional duty to "guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of government", Tyler asserted that the United States would continue to recognize "the existing Government of the State" as the lawful government of Rhode Island "until I shall be advised in regular manner, that it has been altered and abolished, and another substituted in its place, by legal and peaceable proceedings..."
DeSimone & Schofield, Broadsides of the Dorr Rebellion 27. AI 42-4273 [1- Yale]. (Inventory #: 35811)
Governor King's folio broadside publishes President Tyler's Letter of April 11, 1842, promising that American troops would support Rhode Island's regular government against insurgent Dorrites; and John Whipple's Letter warning that, if the Dorrites succeed, "the same sure law of force will inevitably prostrate every State Government in the Union." Whipple led the anti-Dorr Party.
"The Dorr Rebellion focused national attention on the question whether or not a majority of the people may rightfully frame a new government regardless of the provisions of the constituted government. Leaders of the disfranchised populace in Rhode Island had met and framed a 'People's Constitution' and proceeded to elect a government independent of the incumbent regime" [Peterson, The Great Triumvirate 338]. Acting under his constitutional duty to "guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of government", Tyler asserted that the United States would continue to recognize "the existing Government of the State" as the lawful government of Rhode Island "until I shall be advised in regular manner, that it has been altered and abolished, and another substituted in its place, by legal and peaceable proceedings..."
DeSimone & Schofield, Broadsides of the Dorr Rebellion 27. AI 42-4273 [1- Yale]. (Inventory #: 35811)