Samuel Adams Dorr to Thomas Wilson Dorr: an Electronic Transcription

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                        <surname>Dorr</surname></persName>: an Electronic Transcription</title>
                <title type="sub">
                    The 
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                        <forename type="middle">Wilson</forename>
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                    Letters Project
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                    Samuel Adams Dorr to TWD
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                    Letters Project
                </title>
                <editor>Letters selected, edited, and transcribed from the original manuscripts by
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                            <roleName>Dr.</roleName>
                            <forename>Erik J.</forename>
                            <surname>Chaput</surname>
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                        and
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                            <surname>DeSimone</surname>
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                        with the assistance of 
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                            <roleName>Dr.</roleName>
                            <forename>Edward E.</forename>
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                    to 
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                    Letters Project includes digital transcriptions of thirty letters from the Dorr
                    Correspondence files in the 
                    <persName ref="#sidney_s_smith">
                        <forename>Sidney S.</forename>
                        <forename> Rider </forename>
                    </persName> 
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                        <forename type="first">James</forename>
                        <forename type="middle">Fowler</forename>
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                    </persName>                        
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                    <persName ref="#richard_slaney">Richard Slaney</persName>. 
                    The goal of the project is to further the digital exploration of 
                    <placeName ref="#ri">Rhode Island</placeName> 
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                    technologies. These letters illustrate aspects of race, reform, antislavery and
                    proslavery politics, and, of course, the <name>Dorr Rebellion</name>. The
                    selection of letters was governed by the notion of what would work best in the
                    high school and college classroom, especially in terms of length and
                    readability. 
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                    and 
                    <persName ref="#erik_j_chaput">
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                        <forename type="first">Thomas</forename>
                        <forename type="middle">Wilson</forename>
                        <surname>Dorr</surname>
                    </persName>.
                    In order to keep the number of letters selected for this project to a manageable
                    number the editors focused on 
                    <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr">
                        <surname>Dorr</surname>’s
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        <front> 
            <titlePage>
                <titlePart type="main">The Dorr Letters Project</titlePart>
                <titlePart type="subtitle">Samuel Adams Dorr to Thomas Wilson Dorr:<lb />Electronic Transcription</titlePart>
            </titlePage>
            
            <div type="introduction" xml:id="intro" org="uniform" part="N" sample="complete"><head><title>Introduction</title></head>
                <p>
                    This is the oldest letter in the <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><forename type="first">Thomas</forename> <forename type="middle">Wilson</forename> <surname>Dorr</surname></persName> correspondence files 
                    at the John Hay Library at Brown University. 
                    In <date when="1820-03">March 1820</date>, <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><forename>Thomas</forename> <surname>Dorr</surname></persName> was a 14-year-old 
                    freshman at <orgName ref="#harvard">Harvard College</orgName>. <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><surname>Dorr</surname></persName> enrolled at <orgName ref="#harvard">Harvard</orgName> after completing 
                    three years at <orgName ref="#phillips_exeter">Phillips Exeter Academy</orgName> in <placeName ref="#nh">New Hampshire</placeName>. 
                    <persName ref="#samuel_a_dorr"><forename type="first">Samuel</forename> <forename type="middle">Adams</forename> <surname>Dorr</surname></persName> 
                    <date from="1775" to="1855">(1775-1855)</date>, an older brother of <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><forename>Thomas</forename></persName>' father, <persName ref="#sullivan_dorr"><forename>Sullivan</forename> <surname>Dorr</surname></persName>, 
                    was stationed in <placeName ref="#canton_china">Canton, China</placeName>, representing the merchant firm of <orgName type="partnerNames"><forename>J.</forename> 
                    &amp; <forename>J.</forename> <surname>Dorr</surname></orgName>. 
                </p>
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            <div type="letter" xml:id="letter" org="uniform" part="N" sample="complete"><head><title>Letter</title></head>
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                        <lb/><placeName ref="#canton_china">Canton</placeName>
                        <date when="1820-03-17">17th March 1820</date>
                    </dateline>
                    
                    
                <lb/><salute>My Dear Nephew,</salute>
                </opener>
                <p>Your kind letter under date <date when="1819-09-26">26th Sept.</date> last, by 
                <lb/>the <name>Washington</name> affords me great pleasure. You have long since com-
                <lb/>menced your Collegiate life with <sic>with</sic> the most flattering prospects as 
                <lb/>I’m informed, the foundation, laid in part at <orgName ref="#phillips_exeter">Exeter</orgName>, you will find 
                <lb/>great advantage <sic>from</sic> during the two first years particularly, if not 
                <lb/>for the remainder of life. I need not recommend diligence to one 
                <lb/>who has afforded already so prominent an example of Industry – 
                <lb/>I need not say that I hope you will in all cases conform unequi-
                <lb/>vocally to rules of College as well as the wishes of the Lecturers &amp; instruct-
                <lb/>ors because I presume you made that resolution before you entered 
                <lb/>college. Amongst the young men who compose the number of stu-
                <lb/>dents, frequently there are restless spirits wont to give difficulty to 
                <lb/>the Governors of the Institution, who upon slight disgusts, are apt to raise 
                <lb/>tumults &amp; effect combinations in direct hostility to their teachers &amp; en-
                <lb/>tirely subversive of the views with which they entered the Seminary. These 
                <lb/>my dear boy are to be avoided by all young men who value their honour,
                <lb/>peace or happiness. You have commenced a life of study &amp; will of course 
                <lb/>pursue it with your accustomed endeavor, the reward you will certainly 
                <lb/>obtain in due time in the respectability &amp; influence attached to a man
                <lb/>of Literature &amp; in the internal satisfaction derived from a cultivated &amp; well 
                <lb/>stored mind, affording an inexhaustible treasure for contentment and 
                <lb/>happiness. Please bear in mind the sons of <orgName ref="#harvard">Harvard</orgName> must in some 
                <lb/>fact be considered as public property, &amp; those selfish views of individual

                <pb n="2" facs="/xtf/data/tei/bookreader/letter1/#page/2" />
                    
                <lb/>aggrandizement must give place to more elevated notions of public 
                <lb/>utility. Where shall we look for prominent men in Church &amp; State <del rend="overstrike">but</del>
                <lb/>if we do not find them issuing from the first literary institution of <placeName>America</placeName> 
                <lb/>numbers to fill the ranks of eminent men gone &amp; falling into the
                <lb/>shades of death. Could I again commence my career at college, how 
                <lb/>delightful, the prospect, by patient &amp; unremitting exertions, to acquire 
                <lb/>a fund of knowledge, an extensive acquaintance, well confirmed hab-
                <lb/>its &amp; a fair prospect of future usefulness, if not excellence in the 
                <lb/>profession which I might select. I sometimes wish I could resume 
                <lb/>my youth &amp; join you in your delightful pursuits, but that is 
                <lb/>forbidden, &amp; time is not to be recalled. I could say many things my 
                <lb/>dear boy, but you will by your own ingeniousness obviate the necess-
                <lb/>ity of any cautions or instructions touching your future views &amp; conduct. 
                <lb/>And <persName ref="#ann_allen_dorr">Miss <forename>Ann</forename></persName> then has resolved upon becoming Roman, as young la-
                <lb/>dies generally make rapid progress in literary acquisitiveness I shall expect a 
                <lb/>Latin Epistle from <persName ref="#ann_allen_dorr"><forename>Ann</forename></persName> at least 6 mo. before <persName ref="#allen_dorr"><forename>Allen</forename></persName>, who I’m confident 
                <lb/>when he gets roused will take great strides in his learning &amp; become a 
                <lb/>most enterprising fellow. <persName ref="#mary_throop_dorr">Miss <forename type="first">Mary</forename> <forename type="middle">Throop</forename></persName> will <sic>will</sic> progress 
                <lb/>quietly &amp; surely &amp; our <persName ref="#sullivan_dorr"><forename>Sullivan</forename></persName> must do well in everything to <choice><orig>justi</orig><reg>justify</reg></choice> 
                <lb/>the expectations which all are led to place upon him ... 
                <lb/>I must now close not being quite well &amp; request you to say to your Mamma 
                <lb/>that as I have not yet rec’d the preserves &amp; I shall not give her the whole of 
                <lb/>my gratitude for her kindness but impose some future opportunity 
                    
                <pb n="3" facs="/xtf/data/tei/bookreader/letter1/#page/3" />
                    
                <lb/>for that purpose. Make my <damage agent="tear"><gap/></damage> remembrance to your good 
                <lb/>mother, your father &amp; all the <damage agent="tear"><gap/></damage> folks &amp; believe me as ever 
                <lb/>your sincere friend &amp; uncle.
                </p>
                <closer>
                    <lb/><signed><persName ref="#samuel_a_dorr"><forename type="first">Samuel</forename> <forename type="middle" full="abb">A.</forename> <surname>Dorr</surname></persName></signed>
                    <lb/>Master <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><forename type="first" full="abb">Tho’s</forename> <forename type="middle" full="abb">W.</forename> <surname>Dorr</surname></persName>
                </closer>
                </div>
        </body>
        <back>
            <div type="questions" xml:id="questions" org="uniform" part="N" sample="complete"><head><title>Questions</title></head>
                <p>What advice does <persName ref="#samuel_a_dorr"><forename>Samuel</forename> <surname>Dorr</surname></persName> give his young and impressionable nephew and why was this advice important?</p>        
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Samuel Adams Dorr to Thomas Wilson Dorr : an Electronic Transcription The Thomas Wilson Dorr Letters Project Samuel Adams Dorr to TWD Samuel Adams Dorr Encoded by Christiane Marie Landry Providence College Digital Publishing Services Phillips Memorial Library
Box 1841 Providence College, Phillips Memorial Library 1 Cunningham Square Providence, RI 02918 USA url:mailto:dps@providence.edu url:http://www.providence.edu/LIBRARY/dps/Pages/default.aspx 401-865-1517
Providence, Rhode Island 2012 This electronic transcription is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
The Thomas Wilson Dorr Letters Project Letters selected, edited, and transcribed from the original manuscripts by Dr. Erik J. Chaput and Russell DeSimone with the assistance of Dr. Edward E. Andrews Samuel Adams Dorr to Thomas Wilson Dorr , 17 Mar 1820. Sidney Smith Rider Collection, John Hay Library Brown University John Hay Library, Brown University The Road to Rebellion

A three-page manuscript letter. Envelope on recto of page three. Writing on recto and verso.

March 17, 1820

The Thomas Wilson Dorr Letters Project includes digital transcriptions of thirty letters from the Dorr Correspondence files in the Sidney S. Rider Collection at the John Hay Library (Brown University), the James Fowler Simmons Papers at the Library of Congress, the Gilder Lehman Institute, and one letter from the private collection of Richard Slaney. The goal of the project is to further the digital exploration of Rhode Island History through the combination of traditional scholarly editing with cutting edge digital technologies. These letters illustrate aspects of race, reform, antislavery and proslavery politics, and, of course, the Dorr Rebellion. The selection of letters was governed by the notion of what would work best in the high school and college classroom, especially in terms of length and readability. The head editors ( DeSimone and Chaput ) also selected letters that had previously not been cited by historians of the Dorr Rebellion. The project was funded in part by a grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.

There are more than 2500 hundred letters that are known to exist that either pertain to the Dorr Rebellion and its aftermath or the early life of the rebellion’s leader Thomas Wilson Dorr . In order to keep the number of letters selected for this project to a manageable number the editors focused on Dorr’s early life (Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University), his early law career, his political career in the mid-1830s, and his emergence as the leader of the reform movement that sought to revise Rhode Island's archaic governing structure.

The Dorr Letters Project Samuel Adams Dorr to Thomas Wilson Dorr:Electronic Transcription
Introduction

This is the oldest letter in the Thomas Wilson Dorr correspondence files at the John Hay Library at Brown University. In March 1820, Thomas Dorr was a 14-year-old freshman at Harvard College. Dorr enrolled at Harvard after completing three years at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Samuel Adams Dorr (1775-1855), an older brother of Thomas ' father, Sullivan Dorr , was stationed in Canton, China, representing the merchant firm of J. & J. Dorr .

Letter view page image(s) Canton 17th March 1820 My Dear Nephew,

Your kind letter under date 26th Sept. last, by the Washington affords me great pleasure. You have long since com- menced your Collegiate life with with the most flattering prospects as I’m informed, the foundation, laid in part at Exeter, you will find great advantage from during the two first years particularly, if not for the remainder of life. I need not recommend diligence to one who has afforded already so prominent an example of Industry – I need not say that I hope you will in all cases conform unequi- vocally to rules of College as well as the wishes of the Lecturers & instruct- ors because I presume you made that resolution before you entered college. Amongst the young men who compose the number of stu- dents, frequently there are restless spirits wont to give difficulty to the Governors of the Institution, who upon slight disgusts, are apt to raise tumults & effect combinations in direct hostility to their teachers & en- tirely subversive of the views with which they entered the Seminary. These my dear boy are to be avoided by all young men who value their honour, peace or happiness. You have commenced a life of study & will of course pursue it with your accustomed endeavor, the reward you will certainly obtain in due time in the respectability & influence attached to a man of Literature & in the internal satisfaction derived from a cultivated & well stored mind, affording an inexhaustible treasure for contentment and happiness. Please bear in mind the sons of Harvard must in some fact be considered as public property, & those selfish views of individual view page image(s) aggrandizement must give place to more elevated notions of public utility. Where shall we look for prominent men in Church & State but if we do not find them issuing from the first literary institution of America numbers to fill the ranks of eminent men gone & falling into the shades of death. Could I again commence my career at college, how delightful, the prospect, by patient & unremitting exertions, to acquire a fund of knowledge, an extensive acquaintance, well confirmed hab- its & a fair prospect of future usefulness, if not excellence in the profession which I might select. I sometimes wish I could resume my youth & join you in your delightful pursuits, but that is forbidden, & time is not to be recalled. I could say many things my dear boy, but you will by your own ingeniousness obviate the necess- ity of any cautions or instructions touching your future views & conduct. And Miss Ann then has resolved upon becoming Roman, as young la- dies generally make rapid progress in literary acquisitiveness I shall expect a Latin Epistle from Ann at least 6 mo. before Allen , who I’m confident when he gets roused will take great strides in his learning & become a most enterprising fellow. Miss Mary Throop will will progress quietly & surely & our Sullivan must do well in everything to justi justify the expectations which all are led to place upon him ... I must now close not being quite well & request you to say to your Mamma that as I have not yet rec’d the preserves & I shall not give her the whole of my gratitude for her kindness but impose some future opportunity view page image(s) for that purpose. Make my remembrance to your good mother, your father & all the folks & believe me as ever your sincere friend & uncle.

Samuel A. Dorr Master Tho’s W. Dorr
Questions

What advice does Samuel Dorr give his young and impressionable nephew and why was this advice important?

Toolbox

Themes:

Samuel Adams Dorr to Thomas Wilson Dorr : an Electronic Transcription The Thomas Wilson Dorr Letters Project Samuel Adams Dorr to TWD Samuel Adams Dorr Encoded by Christiane Marie Landry Providence College Digital Publishing Services Phillips Memorial Library
Box 1841 Providence College, Phillips Memorial Library 1 Cunningham Square Providence, RI 02918 USA url:mailto:dps@providence.edu url:http://www.providence.edu/LIBRARY/dps/Pages/default.aspx 401-865-1517
Providence, Rhode Island 2012 This electronic transcription is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
The Thomas Wilson Dorr Letters Project Letters selected, edited, and transcribed from the original manuscripts by Dr. Erik J. Chaput and Russell DeSimone with the assistance of Dr. Edward E. Andrews Samuel Adams Dorr to Thomas Wilson Dorr , 17 Mar 1820. Sidney Smith Rider Collection, John Hay Library Brown University John Hay Library, Brown University The Road to Rebellion

A three-page manuscript letter. Envelope on recto of page three. Writing on recto and verso.

March 17, 1820

The Thomas Wilson Dorr Letters Project includes digital transcriptions of thirty letters from the Dorr Correspondence files in the Sidney S. Rider Collection at the John Hay Library (Brown University), the James Fowler Simmons Papers at the Library of Congress, the Gilder Lehman Institute, and one letter from the private collection of Richard Slaney. The goal of the project is to further the digital exploration of Rhode Island History through the combination of traditional scholarly editing with cutting edge digital technologies. These letters illustrate aspects of race, reform, antislavery and proslavery politics, and, of course, the Dorr Rebellion. The selection of letters was governed by the notion of what would work best in the high school and college classroom, especially in terms of length and readability. The head editors ( DeSimone and Chaput ) also selected letters that had previously not been cited by historians of the Dorr Rebellion. The project was funded in part by a grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.

There are more than 2500 hundred letters that are known to exist that either pertain to the Dorr Rebellion and its aftermath or the early life of the rebellion’s leader Thomas Wilson Dorr . In order to keep the number of letters selected for this project to a manageable number the editors focused on Dorr’s early life (Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University), his early law career, his political career in the mid-1830s, and his emergence as the leader of the reform movement that sought to revise Rhode Island's archaic governing structure.

The Dorr Letters Project Samuel Adams Dorr to Thomas Wilson Dorr:Electronic Transcription
Introduction

This is the oldest letter in the Thomas Wilson Dorr correspondence files at the John Hay Library at Brown University. In March 1820, Thomas Dorr was a 14-year-old freshman at Harvard College. Dorr enrolled at Harvard after completing three years at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Samuel Adams Dorr (1775-1855), an older brother of Thomas ' father, Sullivan Dorr , was stationed in Canton, China, representing the merchant firm of J. & J. Dorr .

Letter Canton 17th March 1820 My Dear Nephew,

Your kind letter under date 26th Sept. last, by the Washington affords me great pleasure. You have long since com- menced your Collegiate life with with the most flattering prospects as I’m informed, the foundation, laid in part at Exeter, you will find great advantage from during the two first years particularly, if not for the remainder of life. I need not recommend diligence to one who has afforded already so prominent an example of Industry – I need not say that I hope you will in all cases conform unequi- vocally to rules of College as well as the wishes of the Lecturers & instruct- ors because I presume you made that resolution before you entered college. Amongst the young men who compose the number of stu- dents, frequently there are restless spirits wont to give difficulty to the Governors of the Institution, who upon slight disgusts, are apt to raise tumults & effect combinations in direct hostility to their teachers & en- tirely subversive of the views with which they entered the Seminary. These my dear boy are to be avoided by all young men who value their honour, peace or happiness. You have commenced a life of study & will of course pursue it with your accustomed endeavor, the reward you will certainly obtain in due time in the respectability & influence attached to a man of Literature & in the internal satisfaction derived from a cultivated & well stored mind, affording an inexhaustible treasure for contentment and happiness. Please bear in mind the sons of Harvard must in some fact be considered as public property, & those selfish views of individual aggrandizement must give place to more elevated notions of public utility. Where shall we look for prominent men in Church & State but if we do not find them issuing from the first literary institution of America numbers to fill the ranks of eminent men gone & falling into the shades of death. Could I again commence my career at college, how delightful, the prospect, by patient & unremitting exertions, to acquire a fund of knowledge, an extensive acquaintance, well confirmed hab- its & a fair prospect of future usefulness, if not excellence in the profession which I might select. I sometimes wish I could resume my youth & join you in your delightful pursuits, but that is forbidden, & time is not to be recalled. I could say many things my dear boy, but you will by your own ingeniousness obviate the necess- ity of any cautions or instructions touching your future views & conduct. And Miss Ann then has resolved upon becoming Roman, as young la- dies generally make rapid progress in literary acquisitiveness I shall expect a Latin Epistle from Ann at least 6 mo. before Allen , who I’m confident when he gets roused will take great strides in his learning & become a most enterprising fellow. Miss Mary Throop will will progress quietly & surely & our Sullivan must do well in everything to justi justify the expectations which all are led to place upon him ... I must now close not being quite well & request you to say to your Mamma that as I have not yet rec’d the preserves & I shall not give her the whole of my gratitude for her kindness but impose some future opportunity for that purpose. Make my remembrance to your good mother, your father & all the folks & believe me as ever your sincere friend & uncle.

Samuel A. Dorr Master Tho’s W. Dorr
Questions

What advice does Samuel Dorr give his young and impressionable nephew and why was this advice important?