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The Law and Order Party of Rhode Island was a short-lived political party in the U.S. state of Rhode Island in the 1840s, brought into existence as a consequence of the Dorr Rebellion.
In 1840, Rhode Island still used as its constitution the King's Charter of 1663, which held that only landowners with $134 in property could vote. This effectively disenfranchised 60% of the state's free white men.
In 1841 and 1842, Rhode Island Governor Samuel Ward King faced opposition by Thomas Wilson Dorr and his followers, the Rhode Island Suffrage Party, who wanted to extend suffrage to a wider group of citizens.
Governor King put together a Law and Order coalition of Whigs and conservative Democrats to put down the opposition. King and his coalition declared martial law on May 4, 1842. The state militia ended the rebellion by the end of the summer of 1842. [1]
Although they were initially opposed to extending suffrage, the Law and Order Party realized that the 1663 charter was archaic. After the rebellion, it became clear that they needed to compromise. In November 1842, they drafted a "Law And Order Constitution" which extended the right to vote to all native-born adult males, including black men. [1] Effective May 1843, this new Constitution replaced the old King's Charter of 1663.
The 1840s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1840, and ended on December 31, 1849.
The Dorr Rebellion (1841–1842) was an attempt by middle-class residents to force broader democracy in the U.S. state of Rhode Island, where a small rural elite was in control of government. It was led by Thomas Wilson Dorr, who mobilized the disenfranchised to demand changes to the state's electoral rules. The state was still using its 1663 colonial charter as a constitution; it required that voters own land as qualification to vote. A later legislative rule required that a man had to be white and own $134 in property in order to vote.
Samuel Ward King was the 15th Governor of Rhode Island from 1839 to 1843.
The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Senate with 38 senators. Members are elected in the general election immediately preceding the beginning of the term or in special elections called to fill vacancies. There are no term limits for either chamber. The last General Assembly election took place November 6, 2018. The next General Assembly election will take place on November 3, 2020.
Elisha Reynolds Potter was a politician and jurist from Kingston, Rhode Island. He was a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and served one term in the United States House of Representatives.
Thomas Wilson Dorr, was an American politician and reformer in Rhode Island, best known for leading the Dorr Rebellion.
Marcus Morton was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Taunton, Massachusetts. He served two terms as Governor of Massachusetts and several months as Acting Governor following the death in 1825 of William Eustis. He served for 15 years as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, all the while running unsuccessfully as a Democrat for governor. He finally won the 1839 election, acquiring exactly the number of votes required for a majority win over Edward Everett. After losing the 1840 and 1841 elections, he was elected in a narrow victory in 1842.
Lemuel Hastings Arnold was an American politician from the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A Whig, he served as the 12th Governor of the State of Rhode Island and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 28th Congress were held during President John Tyler's term at various dates in different states between August 1842 and February 1844.
The history of Rhode Island is an overview of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and the state of Rhode Island from pre-colonial times to the present.
George Huntington Browne was a U.S. Representative from Rhode Island.
Nathan Fellows Dixon was an attorney and bank president from Westerly, Rhode Island. The son of Nathan F. Dixon and father of Nathan F. Dixon III, he was best known for his service as a United States Representative from Rhode Island from 1849 to 1851, and again from 1863 to 1871.
The Constitution of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is a document describing the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Rhode Island.
The presidency of John Tyler began on April 4, 1841, when John Tyler became President of the United States upon the death of President William Henry Harrison, and ended on March 4, 1845. He had been Vice President of the United States for only 31 days when he assumed the presidency. The tenth United States president, he was the first to succeed to the office intra-term without being elected to it. To forestall constitutional uncertainty, Tyler took the presidential oath of office on April 6, moved into the White House, and assumed full presidential powers, a precedent that would govern future extraordinary successions and eventually become codified in the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
Charles Jackson was the 18th Governor of Rhode Island from 1845 to 1846.
The following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of Rhode Island:
Since the Great Depression, Rhode Island politics have been dominated by the Rhode Island Democratic Party. However, the Rhode Island Republican Party, although virtually non-existent in the Rhode Island General Assembly, occasionally puts forward statewide reform candidates. Former Governor Donald Carcieri of East Greenwich, and former Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci of Providence ran successfully as Republican reform candidates.
The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to the U.S. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, commonly known as Rhode Island:
Seth Luther was an American antebellum workers' and suffrage organizer based in Providence, Rhode Island. A carpenter by trade, Luther was renowned in his time for his oratory skills and early work to organize workers into trade unions in the New England area. He was a key player in Rhode Island's Dorr Rebellion of 1842, where the working people of Rhode Island took up arms in an ill-fated crusade to expand voting to non-property holding men. Later in life, he was arrested and institutionalized after trying to rob a bank in the name of American President James K. Polk. He died in the Brattleboro Asylum on April 29, 1863. In 2001, the Rhode Island Heritage Society inducted Luther into its Hall of Fame in recognition of his pioneering work on behalf of union organizing in Rhode Island.
Catharine R. Williams was a Rhode Island writer and poet and a leading figure in the Dorr Rebellion in support of universal suffrage. In 2002, she was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
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