Important early broadside related to the Dorr Rebellion, an attempt by residents to force broader democracy in the state of Rhode Island, one page, 7.5 x 12.5, March 4, 1842, headed “Circular” and announcing that a “Convention of the Delegates of the People, legally assembled,” has framed a “Constitution for the government of Rhode Island” and is to be submitted “to the People for ratification or rejection.” Thomas Wilson Dorr, who later gave his name to the Rebellion of 1841-43, was at the time serving a life term in prison. The Dorr Rebellion is considered the most significant constitutional and political event in Rhode Island's history.
The broadside reads, in part: “Permit us, your friends and fellow citizens having with you, a common interest in prosperity, honor and peace of our State, to acquaint you, frankly, with our views in relation to the present crisis…That Constitution, we repeat, was framed in a spirit of Compromise. While it makes provision for a most liberal extension of the right of suffrage, and secures a substantial equality, in the distribution of power, in the House of Representatives, it protects, by the organization of the Senate, the minority from oppression, and it endows the Agricultural interest with the means of saving itself from utter prostration…The proposed Constitution is in your hands…The proposed Constitution, we are convinced, ought to be adopted, and adopted too by overwhelming majority…The most strenuous efforts are making, and will be made, to defeat the Constitution. In order to counteract these efforts, every citizen, who values the welfare of the state and desires to maintain the supremacy of the laws, is bound to devote himself…Let not an illegal vote find its way into the ballot box! Let not a legal vote in its favor be lost!” In fine condition, with horizontal folds.
