The Dorr Rebellion and Irish Suffrage

While the state of Rhode Island may have changed much since Roger Williams first established the Providence Plantations, the state was still using the same pre-revolutionary constitution. Notably, the original 1663 charter only granted enfranchisement to local-born Rhode Island men who owned property in the state. As a result of unequal enfranchisement, the state was run largely by the rural gentry. In 1841, Thomas Wilson Dorr attempted to expand enfranchisement by establishing a new constitution that eliminated the land requirement. For the following year, Rhode Island had two synchronous governments. Eventually, Dorr was crushed by the Rhode Island military. However, in 1842, the state legislature radically expanded voting requirements by allowing any native-born person to pay a $1 poll tax and enabled any male to vote if he owned property. While this did not have an immediate effect, as second-generation Irish were born in Rhode Island, the Irish began to slowly amass political power.