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THE

LIFE AND TIMES

OF

THOMAS WILSON DORR.

CHAPTER I.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.

SEVENTEEN years have sped their hasty round since the crisis of the great political controversy in Rhode Island, and we have reason to hope that the stormy passions which that occasion generated have in a great measure subsided. Many of the principal actors in those trying scenes have since passed away; the boy who then lay in his cradle has now become a man, and almost an entire new generation has come upon the stage. We have no desire unnecessarily to stir up again the smouldering fires, or to rekindle that angry spirit which raged with so much fury in that eventful period; but it is hoped now, when time has so far quieted the passions and mellowed the feelings, when a

sufficient period has been allowed for the exercise of that sober second thought which finally approves of the right and condemns the wrong, we may safely "submit the facts to a candid world.” But if we are

mistaken — if it is yet too soon there is still one consolation left, and that is, that the time will some day come, when all the prejudice, and interest, and passion that were developed on that occasion shall have wholly passed away, and nothing but stubborn facts, in all their nakedness, shall imprint their undying images on the page of history. Time will eventually sweep away every minor interest, and every sinister motive, cool every passion, and hush in perpetual silence every angry feeling. Let the present time be thought too soon or too late, the day of assize will assuredly come, and posterity will pass its stern decrees upon all acts that history shall bring before that tribunal.

The history of THOMAS WILSON DORR and his times involves some of the most important principles of civil government. The question is not simply whether Mr. Dorr acted wisely or unwisely, nor whether he and his associates were patriots or felons, but whether the motives by which they were actuated were in accordance with the great principles of American democracy. In order to have a correct and thorough understanding of the subject, we must go back and make ourselves acquainted with the early history of Rhode Island, and the doctrines held by its founders. We must take into consideration the inherent, inalienable natural rights of man, and the purposes for which governments are

instituted. We must notice the circumstances under which the government of Rhode Island came into existence, and trace its history down to the period in question.

Let it not be supposed that the great problem that we are to solve has respect only to those few individuals who were actively engaged in the controversy, or that it is confined to the territory of Rhode Island, or to any number of states, or even the United States. It involves the principles of popular sovereignty- the right of the people themselves, in their own time, and in their own way, to set up a new government or change an old one. This is the most grave of all political questions, and deserves to be well considered by every American citizen; its importance cannot be confined to any age or country, but it must concern all men throughout all time. The first settlers of the American colonies repudiated the aristocratic doctrines of the mother country, and held that the people should be considered as the true source of all civil power. This principle is fully developed in the early history of Rhode Island. Perhaps no man ever entertained more liberal views of civil and religious freedom than Roger Williams; and for the sole purpose of enjoying that freedom, he and his associates planted their infant colony upon the borders of Narragansett Bay. Here they sought to establish and perpetuate the true principles of rational liberty. The settlement was commenced in 1636, and the following is one of their earliest records :

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We, whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to

subject ourselves, in active or passive obedience, to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public good of the body in an orderly way, by the major assent of the present inhabitants, masters of families, incorporated together into a town-fellowship, and such others whom they shall admit unto them, only in civil things.

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This compact plainly indicates their civil and religious sentiments. They declared that in all civil things the majority should govern, but left every one at liberty to follow the dictates of his own conscience in all matters of religion. About the year 1637, another settlement was commenced on the Island of Rhode Island by a Mr. Coddington and his associates. Among their early records it appears that, "At a General Court of Elections, it was ordered and unanimously agreed, that this government was a democracy, or popular government, and that the power to make laws and depute magistrates to execute them, was in the body of freemen, orderly assembled, or a major part of them.”

Smarting with the rigor of Puritan intolerance, they became extremely anxious to guard their own colony against any encroachments upon their religious freedom; therefore, in 1638, it was ordered by the General Court, "None shall be received as inhabitants or freemen, to build or plant upon the island, but such as shall be received in, by consent of the body, and do submit to the government that is or shall be established according to the word of God."

It is obvious that the sole purpose for which this order was made was to exclude from that community

all who were not supporters of their own doctrine of religious liberty. Freedom of opinion in all matters of conscience was made the test; no other qualification was required.

In 1644, the towns of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport, which had thus far been separate settlements or townships, were united under one government, by a charter which Roger Williams, through the aid of Sir Henry Vane, obtained from the Parliament under the Commonwealth of England. This charter conferred upon the inhabitants "full power and authority to govern and rule themselves, by such a form of civil government as, by voluntary consent of all or the greatest part of them, shall be found most serviceable in their estates and condition provided such form of civil government" be conformable to the laws of England, so far as the nature and constitution of the place will admit."

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This charter, which will be found in the Appendix, No. 1, left the colonists free to maintain their principles of religious liberty, and by an early act of their General Court, it was ordered that "all men may walk as their consciences persuade them, every one in the name of his God." Bancroft, describing the condition of Rhode Island under the first charter, says, "All men were equal; all might meet in the public assemblies; all might aspire to office; the people for a season constituted its own tribune, and every public law required confirmation in the primary assemblies. The government of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations continued under this charter until 1663, when the inhab

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