DORR
DORSET
DORR, Thomas Wilson, political leader, was
born in Providence. R.I., Nov. 3, 1805; son of
Sullivan and Lydia (Allen) Dorr; grandson of
Ebenezer Dorr, and a descendant in the seventh
generation from Joseph Dorr, who joined the
Massachusetts Bay colony about 1670. His grand-
father, Ebenezer,
warned the people of
Roxliurj' of the de-
signs of the British
soldiers to attack the
military stores of the
patriots, and after-
ward met Paul Re-
vere at the Rev. Jonas
Clark's house with a
message from General
Warren to Revere,
and with him was
captured, but after-
ward released by the
British on the gener-
al alarm sounded by
the church bells in the distance. Thomas Wilson
was prepared for college at Phillips academy,
Exeter, and was graduated at Harvard in 1823
with second honors. He studied law in New York
city under Chancellors Kent and McCoun and
was admitted to the bar in 1827. He represented
his native citj- in the general assembly of the state
1834-37. At this time the right of sulfrage in
Rhode Island was limited by a property qualifi-
cation and extended only to the eldest son of
freeholders, and Dorr with others sought to extend
the suffrage and secure more equal i;epresentation.
The question at issue divided the state into the
Law and Order party, contending that only legal
voters had a right to meet in convention and
change the constitution, and the Suffrage party,
led by Dorr, who upheld the right of the people
in their sovereign capacity to convene and decide
on a proper change in the constitution. After
several meetings and adjournments a People's
convention, composed of representatives from
every town in the state, met at Providence the
first Monday in October, 1841, framed a constitu-
tion, and asked every male citizen over twenty-
one years old, who had resided in the state one
year, to vote. The voters were 13,944 votes for
the People's constitution and fifty-two against it.
About 5000 freeholders voted for it and Dorr and
his friends claimed this to be a majority of legal
voters under the constitution then in force, and
that under tlie new constitution Thomas W. Dorr
was elected governor. The new legislature met in
Providence and Governor Dorr delivered his in-
augural address to both houses in joint session.
On the same day the Charter general assembly
was in session in Newport and declared the new
administration illegal and that only state officers
and members of the general assembly elected
under the charter restrictions had authority to
control the affairs of the commonwealth. In this
emergency Governor Dorr ordered the forcible
possession of the state house and other public
property. In the meantime the Law and Order
party invoked the aid of the United States govern-
ment. On May 18, 1843, Governor Dorr with less
than three hundred men marched to the state
arsenal and demanded its surrender, which was
refused. Dorr then withdrew his force and retired
outside the boundaries of the state. Governor
King offered a reward of §1000 for his arrest. A
few weeks later Dorr returned and took up his
headquarters at Gloucester, from whicli place lie
issued a proclamation, June 25, convening the
General assembly at Chepachet, R.I., on July 4.
On the same day the Law and Order general as-
sembly passed an act placing the state under
martial law, troops were sent to Chepachet, Dorr
the second time fled from the state, and Governor
King increased the reward for his arrest to $5000.
After remaining out of the state about eighteen
months he returned to Providence, was arrested
for treason and lodged in jail. On Feb. 29, 1844,
he was transferred to Newport, and on April 26,
1844, his trial before the supreme court was called,
and continued for about four weeks, resulting in
his conviction and sentence to imprisonment in
state's prison for the rest of his life and to be kept
at hard labor in separate confinement. He was
committed, June 27, 1844, and one year later he
was released under a general act of the assembh-
discharging from prison all persons convicted of
treason. As time passed the people became con-
vinced that Dorr had been wrongfull}' convicted
and across the face of the judgment under which
he was imprisoned as recorded in the supi-eme
court, is written " Reversed and annulled bj' order
of the General assembly at their January session,
A.D., 1854." His brother, Henry C. Dorr, born
in Providence, R.I., in 1820, defended him and
effected his release, afterward residing in New
York city, where he practised law, was a member
of Trinity church, of the Century association and
of the New York historical society, and died Nov.
13, 1897. Thomas W. Dorr died in Providence,
R.I., Dec. 27, 1854.
DORSE Y, Anna Hanson, author, was born in Georgetown, D.C., Dec. 12, 1815; daughter of
the Rev. William and (Lingan) McKen-
ney. She was married in 1837 to Lorenzo Dorsey of Baltimore, son of Judge Owen Dorsey, and soon afterward became a convert to the Roman Catho- lic faith. She wrote numerous poems, dramas and short sketches and stories for periodical litera- ture, and published among other books: The Stu- dent of Blenheim Forest (1847) ; Flowers of Love
