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The Dorr Letters Project General Orders, enclosed in Thomas Wilson Dorr to Millard, Low & Miller: Electronic Transcription

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Introduction

This set of general orders was included as an enclosure in the June 25, 1842 letter from Thomas Wilson Dorr to Millard, Low & Miller.

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General Orders

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General Orders
Head Quarters, Glocester,
R. I. June 25th, 1842.

I hereby direct the military of this State,
who are in favor of the People’s Constitution, to repair forthwith to head-quarters, there to await
further orders;
and I request all volunteers, and volunteer companies,
so disposed, to do the same. It has become the duty
of all _‸^{our citizens} who believe that the People are sovereign, and
have a right to make and alter their forms of govern
ment, now to sustain; theby all necessary means, the
Constitution of theadopted and established by the People
of this State, and the Government elected under the same.
The only other alternative is an abject submission to a
a despotism, over the minds in its various practical effects
without a parallel in the history of the American States.
I call upon the People of Rhode Island to assert their
rights, and to vindicate the freedom which they are
qualified to enjoy in common with the other citizens of
the American Republic. I cannot doubt that ‸^{the descendants of the ancient}the
_‸^{People of this State} will cheerfully and promptly respond to this appeal
to their patriotism, _‸& to their to their sense of justice; & that
they will show themselves _‸^{in this experience} to be the worthy descendants of those
ancestors, who aided in achieving our national independence.

^{Glocester, R.I.}
By command of the Governor, Thomas W. Dorr, Governor and Commander
in Chief
William H. Potter, Adjutant General.

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