William Wheaton to Thomas Wilson Dorr an Electronic Transcription

Vertical Tabs

Reader 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?oxygen RNGSchema="schemas/dorr_schema.rnc" type="compact"?>
<?oxygen SCHSchema="schemas/exercise.isosch"?>
<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
    <teiHeader>
        <fileDesc>
            <titleStmt>
                <title type="main">
                    <persName ref="#william_wheaton">
                        <forename>William</forename>
                        <surname>Wheaton</surname>
                    </persName>
                    to
                    <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr">
                        <forename type="first">Thomas</forename>
                        <forename type="middle">Wilson</forename>
                        <surname>Dorr</surname></persName>: an Electronic Transcription</title>
                <title type="sub">
                    The 
                    <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr">
                        <forename type="first">Thomas</forename>
                        <forename type="middle">Wilson</forename>
                        <surname>Dorr</surname>
                    </persName>
                    Letters Project
                <title type="short">Wheaton to TWD</title>
                </title>
                
                <author>
                    <persName ref="#william_wheaton"><forename>William</forename> <surname>Wheaton</surname></persName>
                </author>
                <respStmt>
                    <resp>Encoded by</resp>
                    <persName ref="#rachel_golub">
                        <forename>Rachel</forename>
                        <surname>Golub</surname>
                    </persName>
                </respStmt>
            </titleStmt>
            
            <publicationStmt>
                <publisher><orgName ref="#dps">Providence College Digital Publishing Services</orgName>,
                    <orgName ref="#pml">Phillips Memorial Library</orgName></publisher>
                <address>
                <addrLine>Box 1841</addrLine>
                    <addrLine>Providence College, <orgName ref="#pml">Phillips Memorial Library</orgName></addrLine>
                    <addrLine>1 Cunningham Square</addrLine>
                    <addrLine>Providence, RI 02918</addrLine>
                    <addrLine>USA</addrLine>
                <addrLine>url:mailto:dps@providence.edu</addrLine>
                <addrLine>url:http://www.providence.edu/LIBRARY/dps/Pages/default.aspx</addrLine>
                <addrLine>401-865-1517</addrLine>
                </address>
                <pubPlace>Providence, Rhode Island</pubPlace>
                <date>2012</date>
                <availability>
                    <licence target="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"> This electronic transcription is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
                    </licence>
                </availability>
            </publicationStmt>
            
            <seriesStmt>
                <title level="s">The 
                    <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr">
                        <forename type="first">Thomas</forename>
                        <forename type="middle">Wilson</forename>
                        <surname>Dorr</surname>
                    </persName>
                    Letters Project
                </title>
                <editor>Letters selected, edited, and transcribed from the original manuscripts by
                    <persName ref="#erik_j_chaput">
                        <roleName>Dr.</roleName>
                        <forename>Erik J.</forename>
                        <surname>Chaput</surname>
                    </persName> 
                    and
                    <persName ref="#russell_desimone">
                        <forename>Russell</forename>
                        <surname>DeSimone</surname>
                    </persName> 
                    with the assistance of 
                    <persName ref="#edward_e_andrews">
                        <roleName>Dr.</roleName>
                        <forename>Edward E.</forename>
                        <surname>Andrews</surname>
                    </persName>
                </editor>
            </seriesStmt>
            
            <sourceDesc>
                <bibl> 
                    <persName ref="#william_wheaton">
                        <forename>William</forename>
                        <surname>Wheaton</surname>
                    </persName>
                    <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr">
                        <forename type="first">Thomas</forename>
                        <forename type="middle">Wilson</forename>
                        <surname>Dorr</surname></persName>
                    <date when="1834-05-01">May 1, 1834</date>. 
                    (Courtesy of The <orgName ref="#hay">John Hay Library</orgName>, <orgName ref="#brown">Brown University</orgName>.)
                </bibl>
                <msDesc>
                    <msIdentifier>
                        <repository>John Hay Library, Brown University</repository>
                        <collection>The Road to Rebellion</collection>
                    </msIdentifier>
                    <physDesc>
                        <objectDesc>
                            <p>A three-page manuscript letter.  Envelope.</p>
                        </objectDesc>
                    </physDesc>
                    <history>
                        <origin>
                            <origDate when="1834-05-01">May 1, 1834</origDate>
                        </origin>
                    </history>
                </msDesc>
            </sourceDesc>
            
        </fileDesc>
        
        <encodingDesc>
            <projectDesc>
                
                <p>The <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><forename type="first">Thomas</forename> <forename type="middle">Wilson</forename> 
                    <surname>Dorr</surname></persName> 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>Collection at the <orgName ref="#hay">John Hay Library</orgName> (<orgName ref="#brown">Brown University</orgName>), 
                    the <persName ref="#james_f_simmons"><forename type="first">James</forename> <forename type="middle">Fowler</forename> 
                        <surname>Simmons</surname> </persName> Papers at the <orgName ref="#loc">Library of Congress</orgName>, the 
                    <orgName ref="#gli">Gilder Lehrman Institute</orgName>, and one letter from the private collection of <persName ref="#richard_slaney">
                        <forename type="first">Richard</forename> <surname>Slaney</surname></persName>.  The goal of the project is to further the digital 
                    exploration of <placeName ref="#ri">Rhode Island</placeName> 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 <ref target="#dorr_rebellion">Dorr Rebellion</ref>. 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 
                    (<persName ref="#russell_desimone"><surname>DeSimone</surname> </persName> and <persName ref="#erik_j_chaput">
                        <surname>Chaput</surname></persName>) also selected letters that had previously not been cited by historians of the 
                    <ref target="#dorr_rebellion">Dorr Rebellion</ref>.  The project was funded in part by a grant from the <orgName ref="#rich">Rhode 
                        Island Council for the Humanities</orgName>. </p>
            </projectDesc>
            
            <samplingDecl>
                <p>There are more than 2500 hundred letters that are known to exist that either pertain to the <ref target="#dorr_rebellion">Dorr 
                    Rebellion</ref> and its aftermath or the early life of the rebellion’s leader <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><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_w_dorr"><surname>Dorr</surname>’s 
                    </persName> early life (<orgName ref="#phillips_exeter">Philips Exeter Academy</orgName> and <orgName ref="#harvard">Harvard University</orgName>),
                    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
                    <placeName ref="#ri">Rhode Island</placeName>'s archaic governing structure.</p>
            </samplingDecl>
            
            <editorialDecl>                
                <normalization>
                    <p>Original spelling is retained.</p>
                </normalization>                
            </editorialDecl>
        </encodingDesc>
        
    </teiHeader>
    <facsimile>
        <graphic xml:id="letter5" url="/xtf/data/tei/bookreader/letter5/" />
    </facsimile>
    
    <text>
        <front>
            <titlePage>
                <titlePart type="main">The Dorr Letters Project</titlePart>
                <titlePart type="subtitle">William Wheaton 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><persName><forename>William</forename> <surname>Wheaton</surname></persName> was a member of <placeName ref="#ri">Rhode Island’s</placeName> <orgName>Constitutional Party</orgName>,
                    a political party comprised mainly of <orgName>Whigs</orgName>. The party was formed in
                    <date>March</date> of <date when="1834">1834</date> in <placeName ref="#providence_ri">Providence</placeName>
                    and used the <name ref="#northern_star_and_constitutionalist">Northern Star and Constitutionalist</name> newspaper to promote
                    its cause. From the outset of his political career, <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><forename>Thomas</forename> <surname>Dorr</surname></persName> became
                    connected with this party and helped to push for the organization of a
                    constitutional convention. In <date when="1837">1837</date>, <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><surname>Dorr</surname></persName> ran unsuccessfully as a candidate
                    for <name ref="#congress">Congress</name> as a <name ref="#constitutionalist">Constitutionalist</name>.</p>
            </div>
        </front>
        <body>
            <div type="letter" xml:id="letter" org="uniform" part="N" sample="complete">
                <head><title>Letter</title></head>
                <pb n="1" facs="/xtf/data/tei/bookreader/letter5/#page/1" />
                <opener>
                    <dateline>
                        <lb/><placeName ref="#providence_ri">Providence</placeName>
                        <date when="1834-05-01">1st May 1834</date>
                    </dateline>
                    
                    
                    <lb/><salute>Dear Sir,</salute>
                </opener>
                <p>I highly approve of your plan
                <lb/>calling a meeting of the friends of
                <lb/>Reform, in your city, at the present
                <lb/>juncture. It will have the effect of
                <lb/>convincing the enemies of the cause throu
                <lb/>-ghout the state, that its advocates are
                <lb/>“<emph rend="underline">wide awake</emph>” and determined to main
                <lb/>-tain the position assumed for the pur
                <lb/>-pose of securing to the rightful owners
                <lb/>those political rights and privileges which
                <lb/>are now withheld from the great mass of
                <lb/>people in our state.
                </p>
                
                <p>
                <lb/>I consider it all important that the
                <lb/>public mind should be occasionally
                <lb/>agitated, so as to keep the attention
                <lb/>of the people constantly directed towards
                <lb/>the object for which we are contending
                <lb/>Every exertion should be made to prepare
                <lb/>the minds of the people for the <emph rend="underline">willing</emph>
                <lb/>reception of a mandate from the
                <lb/><orgName>General Assembly</orgName> calling a convention
                       
                <pb n="2" facs="/xtf/data/tei/bookreader/letter5/#page/2" />
                <lb/>to frame a <name>Constitution</name> on the plan
                <lb/>proposed by the <orgName>Constitutional party</orgName>
                <lb/>I do not know whether we shall send
                <lb/>any representatives to your meeting
                <lb/>At any rate, you may depend on our
                <lb/>cordial sympathy in whatever may be
                <lb/>proposed for the general good.
                </p>
                
                <p>You seem to think that the <name>Constitu
                <lb/>-tionalist Paper</name> cannot be published
                <lb/>in consequence of the deficiency of sub
                <lb/>-scribers. Would it not be well to
                <lb/>take some action upon the matter at the
                <lb/>meeting of your citizens? Surely some
                <lb/>-thing very favorable might be
                <lb/>anticipated from having a true state
                <lb/>of the case laid before the patriotic
                <lb/>young men of <placeName ref="#providence_ri">Providence</placeName>.
                </p>
                        
                <p>
                <lb/>You ask, are <abbr>Messrs.</abbr> <persName>Haile</persName> &amp; <persName>Sisson</persName>
                <lb/>thorough Constitutionalist? I ans
                <lb/>-wer we have their <emph rend="underline">pledge</emph> that
                <lb/>they will use every endeavor to carry
                <lb/>into effect the 13th Resolution passed
                        
                <pb n="3" facs="/xtf/data/tei/bookreader/letter5/#page/3" />
                <lb/>by the <name>Constitutional Convention</name>, and
                <lb/>generally to act with the party.
                </p>
                
                <closer>
                <lb/><salute>Yours very respectfully,</salute> 
                <lb/><signed><persName>Wm. Wheaton</persName></signed>
                </closer>
            </div>
        </body>
        
        <pb n="4" facs="/xtf/data/tei/bookreader/letter5/#page/4" />
        
        <back>
            
            <div type="questions" xml:id="questions" org="uniform" part="N" sample="complete">
                <head><title>Questions</title></head>
            
                <p>What role does <persName ref="#thomas_wilson_dorr"><surname>Dorr</surname></persName> see the 
                <orgName>Constitutional party</orgName> playing in
                <placeName ref="#ri">Rhode Island's</placeName> political culture in 1834?</p>        
            
            </div>
            
        </back>
        
    </text>
    
</TEI>
William Wheaton to Thomas Wilson Dorr : an Electronic Transcription The Thomas Wilson Dorr Letters Project Wheaton to TWD William Wheaton Encoded by Rachel Golub 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 William Wheaton Thomas Wilson Dorr May 1, 1834. (Courtesy of The John Hay Library, Brown University.) John Hay Library, Brown University The Road to Rebellion

A three-page manuscript letter. Envelope.

 May 1, 1834

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 Lehrman 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 (Philips 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.

Original spelling is retained.

 The Dorr Letters Project William Wheaton to Thomas Wilson Dorr:Electronic Transcription
Introduction

William Wheaton was a member of Rhode Island’s Constitutional Party, a political party comprised mainly of Whigs. The party was formed in March of 1834 in Providence and used the Northern Star and Constitutionalist newspaper to promote its cause. From the outset of his political career, Thomas Dorr became connected with this party and helped to push for the organization of a constitutional convention. In 1837, Dorr ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for Congress as a Constitutionalist.
Letter view page image(s) Providence 1st May 1834 Dear Sir,

I highly approve of your plan calling a meeting of the friends of Reform, in your city, at the present juncture. It will have the effect of convincing the enemies of the cause throu -ghout the state, that its advocates are “wide awake” and determined to main -tain the position assumed for the pur -pose of securing to the rightful owners those political rights and privileges which are now withheld from the great mass of people in our state.

I consider it all important that the public mind should be occasionally agitated, so as to keep the attention of the people constantly directed towards the object for which we are contending Every exertion should be made to prepare the minds of the people for the willing reception of a mandate from the General Assembly calling a convention view page image(s) to frame a Constitution on the plan proposed by the Constitutional party I do not know whether we shall send any representatives to your meeting At any rate, you may depend on our cordial sympathy in whatever may be proposed for the general good.

You seem to think that the Constitu -tionalist Paper cannot be published in consequence of the deficiency of sub -scribers. Would it not be well to take some action upon the matter at the meeting of your citizens? Surely some -thing very favorable might be anticipated from having a true state of the case laid before the patriotic young men of Providence.

You ask, are Messrs. Haile & Sisson thorough Constitutionalist? I ans -wer we have their pledge that they will use every endeavor to carry into effect the 13th Resolution passed view page image(s) by the Constitutional Convention, and generally to act with the party.

Yours very respectfully, Wm. Wheaton
view page image(s)
Questions

What role does Dorr see the Constitutional party playing in Rhode Island's political culture in 1834?

Toolbox

Themes:

William Wheaton to Thomas Wilson Dorr : an Electronic Transcription The Thomas Wilson Dorr Letters Project Wheaton to TWD William Wheaton Encoded by Rachel Golub 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 William Wheaton Thomas Wilson Dorr May 1, 1834. (Courtesy of The John Hay Library, Brown University.) John Hay Library, Brown University The Road to Rebellion

A three-page manuscript letter. Envelope.

 May 1, 1834

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 Lehrman 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 (Philips 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.

Original spelling is retained.

 The Dorr Letters Project William Wheaton to Thomas Wilson Dorr:Electronic Transcription
Introduction

William Wheaton was a member of Rhode Island’s Constitutional Party, a political party comprised mainly of Whigs. The party was formed in March of 1834 in Providence and used the Northern Star and Constitutionalist newspaper to promote its cause. From the outset of his political career, Thomas Dorr became connected with this party and helped to push for the organization of a constitutional convention. In 1837, Dorr ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for Congress as a Constitutionalist.
Letter Providence 1st May 1834 Dear Sir,

I highly approve of your plan calling a meeting of the friends of Reform, in your city, at the present juncture. It will have the effect of convincing the enemies of the cause throu -ghout the state, that its advocates are “wide awake” and determined to main -tain the position assumed for the pur -pose of securing to the rightful owners those political rights and privileges which are now withheld from the great mass of people in our state.

I consider it all important that the public mind should be occasionally agitated, so as to keep the attention of the people constantly directed towards the object for which we are contending Every exertion should be made to prepare the minds of the people for the willing reception of a mandate from the General Assembly calling a convention to frame a Constitution on the plan proposed by the Constitutional party I do not know whether we shall send any representatives to your meeting At any rate, you may depend on our cordial sympathy in whatever may be proposed for the general good.

You seem to think that the Constitu -tionalist Paper cannot be published in consequence of the deficiency of sub -scribers. Would it not be well to take some action upon the matter at the meeting of your citizens? Surely some -thing very favorable might be anticipated from having a true state of the case laid before the patriotic young men of Providence.

You ask, are Messrs. Haile & Sisson thorough Constitutionalist? I ans -wer we have their pledge that they will use every endeavor to carry into effect the 13th Resolution passed by the Constitutional Convention, and generally to act with the party.

Yours very respectfully, Wm. Wheaton
Questions

What role does Dorr see the Constitutional party playing in Rhode Island's political culture in 1834?