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The Dorr Letters ProjectMoses B. Ives to John Brown Francis: |
Introduction
Keep up their daily correspondence, Moses Brown Ives, Thomas Dorr’s brother-in-law wrote to John Brown Francis with updates about Rhode Island’s constitutional crisis. Moses informs Francis that Dorr’s name was at the head of a prox under the People’s Constitution. Ives was confident that the Algerine law had deterred a large number of Dorr’s followers from participating in the scheduled election under the People’s Constitution. Ives was fearful that John Brown, the president of the Rhode Island Suffrage Association, had managed to solicit support for the People’s Constitution in the hall of powers in Washington.
Letter
Providence April 11 1842
DS
Robert received your letter of the 7 by yesterday
mornings mail & by the same mail a letter from
Mr. Sprague to Judge Pitman come to hand.
We think that the indications are similar from
both of the above letters. I shall look with most
interest for the opening of the mail tomorrow morning.
You will have seen the prox with Mr. Dorr’s
name at its head – it is regularly published in
the Express. The law of the Gen. Assembly has
had the effect of disturbing several of those before with
the revolutionary party from going any further with
them. Others have become desperate & are deserting
on by those unreliable? beings that have been deluded
by false representatives.
It is currently reported that Doctor Brown has
written from Washington that all the members of
Congress that he has seen & he says he has seen
many) are entirely favorable to the People’s Constitution
– this however is known to be false & whether any
thing of the kind has been written by Brown is to
be somewhat doubtful.
It is not supposed that Dr. Brown has ever been
an Abolitionist. Mr Dorr’s adhesion to that
party is well known to you. this man seems
determined to make a martyr of himself.
The report concerning Gov. Kings [unclear] is
without foundation – the report is stated anew every
day or two but I suppose that it is done with a view to injure his standing.
The attempts of Mr. P Allen to divert the free suffrage
party from their purpose, seems to have utterly failed.
They have paid no attention to his advice but on
the contrary - on the very evening of the Conference with
some of the leaders, after the conference was
broken up, they went on to fill up their prox
(as far as possible). I suppose that the party is now
under the control of Mr. Dorr & he never gives
up.
I wrote to Mr. Potter on Friday ev.
Yrs most truly
M B I
Questions
Why do you think that Ives reminded Francis of Thomas Dorr’s past connection to the northern abolitionist movement?