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The Dorr Letters ProjectAaron White Jr. Esq. to Thomas Wilson Dorr: |
Introduction
This letter, written by Aaron White, Jr., details the ongoing arrests of those loyal to Thomas Dorr's cause. White informs Dorr that his remaining supporters in Rhode Island were organizing in the northern portions of the state, particularly in the village of Chepachet. White recommends that Dorr reconvene the People's Legislature in Chepachet and not in Providence, which was thoroughly under the control of the Law and Order Party. White believes that President John Tyler's willingness to use federal troops in Rhode Island (though none were actually sent to the state) could be used as a precedent for a future antislavery President of the United States to "cram" an emancipation proclamation down the throats of southern slaveholders.
Letter
Woonsocket, June 3, 1842
Thomas W. Dorr Esq.
Dear, Sir
Your letters of May 27 & June 1 have both
been rec’d & Major Powers called on me this week at my house.
The poor Major has gone through the corporal part of his duties
manfully &
returned safe & sound to R.I. not much the worst for
wear. His financial operations however were somewhat confused.
He continued to spend all the money you gave him & about
$20
more on his return to R.I. whereof $10 were made up to him
by Robert Anthony & the rest by myself.
I am glad to find you erect & that you are so well rec’d
by our New York friends. In R.I. the forces of Govt. nailed
to our backs by the bayonets of Capt. Tyler, still stands firm.
The
Algerines are indulging the cruelty of their hearts by persecuting our
poor Suffrage friends wherever they dare to.
Mr. Haines & Mr. Gavitt both have been indicted for treason
in Washington County & will probably be sent to the state's
prison at the present Term of our S.J.C. in selecting
victims for
the sacrifice a decided preference is given
for old democrats. Whigs generally remain unmolested,
except your poor Secretary Smith, who I hear was
safely lodged in jail last evening;
our
friends bear these inflictions with great patience,
& in Providence I fear that many have been
fairly cowed down by the insolence & cruelty of their
insulting oppressors. In the country we
stand a
little firmer & hold up the doctrine of resistance
to arrest which probably prevents arrest & I think
this the true course for those arrested to make a deep
& discouraging impression.
I have not been in a situation to learn whether there were
any U.S. troops in the field on the 18th or not.
If they were they probably were disguised & our only
means of knowing the fact are inquiries
in Newport,
to which place you ought to write for information.
Your military friends are proposing to form a camp near
Chepachet where they intend to spend a few days for
improvement in military discipline, that is to say provided
they can obtain friends to pay the expense & for this purpose Major Allen has gone to Boston.
This project of an encampment has excited great alarm
among the Algerines.
To prevent the meeting of the Constitutional Assembly in
Providence on the fourth of July the Algerines are making
preparations for a grand military meeting in Providence
on the same day. Now you as Gov.
can by our
constitution call the Assembly together where you please.
Suppose you call them together in Chepachet & call
your military friends to the same place. I believe that
in that place you could be
protected & if compelled to
retreat Connecticut is near by. By so doing we could
hold on to forms, as you say, & pass some necessary laws
and provide for the election of Representatives to Congress
etc.
etc. All this however cannot be done without friends
& funds from without the state. The expenses of the Members
of the Assembly & of the military would have to be paid
& would cost some hundreds of
dollars at the lowest estimation
our funds are certainly exhausted & our credit also & you
must not conclude on such a step until the funds are
absolutely in the hands of some responsible disbursing
com
mittee, to hire rooms engage lodging & buy provisions.
After you had performed this tour of duty you might again withdraw yourself.
Among other things, you must get up a fourth of July
oration for the occasion (you have Gov. Everett for a
precedent) pointing out what must be done etc.
These points I throw out for your consideration,
as to the actual presence of U.S. troops on the 18th I think
it matters but little. All the world knows that the
U.S. troops at Newport were in reality the main body
of
the Algerine army. They were sent to R.I. to explain the
President’s letter. These modern teachers of Constitutional law
had rec’d their books for our use in the shape of ball
& cartridges. I saw Professor Bankhead the commander
of these troops at Newport with my own eyes, explaining
to ex-Gov. Fenner & Gibbs how he lectured in his school
by taking aim with his great cane. It is an undeniable
fact, strange as it may appear, that Rhode Island at this
moment is in reality under a Govt. which is a Govt.
not by the will of the People but by the
will of John Tyler and the force of his standing army.
This precedent bad as it is, may yet be of use. When President
Birney takes the throne we will cram Emancipating
Constitutions down the throats of the Southern Nabobs by
the same rule. For if President Tyler under pretense of
suppressing domestic violence can interfere in behalf of a
minority of a minority [sic] to guarantee an Aristocratic Constitution
a faction, may President Birney interfere to guarantee a
Republican constitution recognizing the equal rights of a woman.
I have written to Senator Allen & sent him documents & among
others some anti-slavery papers which completely do away with [the]
charge of Abolitionism that has been brought against us as
suffrage men. I do not expect that anything will be done
in June by the Algerine Assembly. The scoundrels, stupid as they
are, yet know their own destructive web too well to put a rod
into our hands which we & they know ought to be laid on their backs
most soundly.
Our friend Major Allen will be the bearer of this.
He will show you a letter from Boston. The language
of this letter may be just but it is heartless to be used
towards men who have suffered all that we
have
in the common benefit of all. Our friends abroad
must raise funds if they expect us to lift another finger,
we are not able to raise money even to defend our poor
prisoners now under persecution.
Very respectfully yours etc.,
A. White Jr.
Questions
Why does White want Dorr to seek additional funding for the reform movement? What precedent would federal military intervention set and how could it be used?