WEBVTT - Thomas Dorr and the Time When Rhode Island Had 2 Governors 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:15.160 partnership with I Heart Radio. Thomas Jefferson once noted that 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:19.960 quote a little rebellion now and then was a good thing, 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:25.279 is it? Welcome to criminal Lea. I'm Maria Trumarkie and 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.280 I'm Holly Fry. Kind of funny that Jefferson said that, 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:30.840 considering last week's episode, That's what I was na good. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.199 Once the state of Rhode Island had two governors at 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:39.880 one time. True story. Thomas Wilson Door was elected governor 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.840 under a new state constitution. The problem with that, though, 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.519 was that Rhode Island already had a governor that was 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.880 a man named Samuel Ward King, and the state legislature 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:54.160 refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new constitution or 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:59.880 of Governor Door. Tom Dor was born on November five, 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:04.200 the scion of an incredibly wealthy family in Providence, Rhode Island. 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.399 His father, Sullivan Door, amassed the family's fortune through trade 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.280 between the Jane dynasty and the United States during what's 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.319 known as the Old China Trade. Door's mother, Video Allen, 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.560 was the sister of the prominent textile manufacturer Zachariah Allen. 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.160 Tom's father and uncle co owned the Burnon Mill Village, 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:27.240 which was used for textile production in Woonsocket, about fifteen 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:32.280 miles outside of Providence. Door was very well educated. He 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:36.200 attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and graduated from 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:40.160 Harvard University in the class of eighteen three. He studied 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.000 law for two years in New York City under Chancellor 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.240 James Kent. You might not recognize that name, but he 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.760 was the author of one of the leading American legal 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:52.440 texts of the first half of the nineteenth century. Door 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.360 was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar in eighteen twenty 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.280 seven and opened a law practice on College Street in Providence. 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.440 Over the next six years, give or take, though, he 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.680 mostly toured the country, and he occasionally practiced maritime and 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.040 commercial law in New York City before returning to Providence 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.600 in eighteen thirty three. He was often referred to as 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:18.880 a quote lackluster lawyer. In the eighteen thirties, Dora threw 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:23.560 himself behind a number of reform causes, including public education, 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:28.360 freedom of speech, banking, anti slavery, suffrage, extension, imprisonment for debt, 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.840 and prison reform. He began his career as part of 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:36.079 the Whig Party, but he didn't remain a Whig. Disagreements 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.959 over banking reform and suffrage extension led to his expulsion 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.480 from that party. He briefly had the Equal Rights wing 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:47.400 of the state's Democratic Party, but just briefly. He began 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.480 his political career as a representative in the Rhode Island 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:53.080 General Assembly in eighteen thirty four, at the age of 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:57.239 twenty nine. In his role, he drafted and secured a 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.000 statute providing for regulation of state chartered banks, and he 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.800 also set up a permanent school fund and laid the 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:07.560 groundwork for the state's first public high school. The trouble 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:11.880 began with an argument over Rhode Islands constitution because you 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:16.000 see Rhode Island and actually have one before and into 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.600 the eighteen forties, the government document of Rhode Island was 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:23.000 its original colonial charter that dated all the way back 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:27.160 to sixteen sixty three. In fact, for nearly two hundred years, 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.880 from sixteen sixty three to eighteen forty three, the citizens 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:34.079 of Rhode Island were governed under a royal charter granted 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.520 by King Charles the Second of England. They were a 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:41.040 political anomaly in this regard because most states drafted and 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:45.840 adopted new state constitutions during and after the American Revolutionary War, 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.160 but not Rhode Island. So let's get a little bit 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.160 more specific on this. Under the colonial Charter, it was 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:57.280 outlined that only men who owned real estate valued at 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.800 one hundred and thirty four dollars or of more than 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:06.080 that could vote, so specifically quote, gentlemen of property and 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:10.880 standing had voting rights in the state. In two the 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.560 state legislature restricted that right to vote to white men only, 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:19.040 disenfranchising freemales of color across the state, all of whom 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.120 had just previously been as eligible as the white male 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:27.400 citizens to vote. At the time of the American Revolution, 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:31.120 eight percent of the adult white male citizens of Rhode 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:34.960 Island were enfranchised. Voting rights hadn't really been a big 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:39.000 issue when the state was sparsely populated farmland, but by 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:43.760 the eighteen forties things were becoming increasingly industrial and crowded. 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:48.720 By the early nineteenth century, immigration had increased the state's population, 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:52.880 and many of the newcomers rented their homes. Rhode Island 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:56.680 had failed to reconcile that increase in immigration with political democracy. 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.000 Dout in spite of the substantial changes to this day 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.680 its population, the General Assembly refused to reabortion its seats. 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.760 They had been reluctant to expand suffrage requirements, mainly in 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:13.000 light of that growing immigrant population. Adult white males who 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:17.000 rented rather than owned property, according to the Charter, had 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:21.440 no voting rights. Black people, indigenous people's, really, any person 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.839 of color, and all women regardless of race were not 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.320 allowed to vote, whether they happened to be qualified by 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:31.360 the rules applied to white male voters or not. By 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.680 eighteen forty, the population of Rhode Island had grown to 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.119 a little more than a hundred thousand people. Many people 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.720 lived in urban areas, specifically in Providence. With these changes, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.839 the proportion of adult white men who met state qualifications 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:52.440 to vote decreased from eight percent to forty In eighteen 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.560 forty one, Rhode Island became the only state that did 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.679 not allow all adult white males to vote, regardless of property. 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:04.400 Staff is doors attempt to enfranchise all male citizens of 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.720 Rhode Island and that included men of color, turned into 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.440 what we now know as the Door Rebellion. We're going 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.920 to take a quick break forward from our sponsor. But 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.200 when we're back. We'll set the scene for how Rhode 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:33.839 Island found itself in a small civil war. Welcome back 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:38.000 to Criminalia. Let's talk about how Rhode Island found itself 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:42.880 with two elected governors. The Door Rebellion, or as it's 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:46.480 also known, Rhode Island's own very small civil war, had 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.120 what you might expect from a tiny civil war. There 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:53.640 were cannons, impassioned speeches, they were rival governments, and at 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.560 one point those who supported the new party took up 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:01.080 arms against the colonial charter defined government. The very short 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:05.120 lived rebellion to overthrow Governor King and the General Assembly 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:10.679 was ultimately unsuccessful. Here's what went down. So a new 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:15.560 reform party, the People's Party, called a Constitutional Convention, adopted 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:19.440 a new constitution, held elections, and then on May third, 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.360 eighteen forty two, installed Thomas dor As the new governor 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:27.160 of the State of Rhode Island to da the end. Yeah, 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:29.960 not so fast, man, not so fast at all. So 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.680 the formation of the Rhode Island Suffrage Association in the 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:37.360 spring of eighteen forty led to growing interests in this 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.680 suffrage movement, and around the same time, reformers in the 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.960 state sought to forcibly seek to free Rhode Island from 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.520 the antiquated Royal Charter of sixteen sixty three. Spearheaded by 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:52.680 Tom Door, Door Rights, as those who supported him were nicknamed, 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.800 formed a new political party, a new state constitution, and 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:02.000 new leadership. The People's Party, as they became known, wanted 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:05.440 to redistribute wealth in the state, which was and had 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.120 long been run by a small, wealthy group of white men. 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.880 The People's Constitution called for an independent judicial system and 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:19.560 universal manhood suffrage. In October of eighteen forty one, supporters 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.760 held what they called the People's Convention. They drafted the 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:28.080 People's Constitution that granted voting rights to all white males 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.960 aged twenty one or older who had lived in Rhode 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:35.880 Island for at least one year. Reformist and abolitionist in sympathies, 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.200 Door supported the idea of manhood suffrage in the jackson 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:44.600 Ian definition, which argued for universal manhood suffrage, or voting rights, 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.680 for all white male adults. Where he differed, though, was 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:51.360 that he argued for voting rights for black men as well. 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.920 Door eventually gave up that fight for black suffrage in 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:58.839 order to win the support of immigrants, many of whom 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:03.480 were Irish and white, which his party would accept. His 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.160 party's constitution, though ended up demanding voting rights for only 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.520 quote all white adult male citizens. The change was made 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:16.600 over doors strong objections. They adopted their constitution, and they 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.880 put it to a vote, and that document was overwhelmingly 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.840 approved in a referendum that was held in defiance of 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:27.360 the standing state government. Fourteen thousand people voted for it 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:31.520 and fewer than one hundred against it, even the majority 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.800 of those who were already entitled to vote back the move. 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:39.760 All of this, though, all of this was unofficial and illegal. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.240 The old charter government hadn't given any kind of consent 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:47.600 for a referendum and refused to recognize its legitimacy, so 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.480 you can begin to see the problem here. By springtime. 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.280 On April eighteen, eighteen forty two, Door was elected to 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:59.160 the office of governor under the People's Constitution. I know 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.080 you're like, why Yes. In April of eighteen forty two, 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:07.440 two elections were held, one with the intention of electing 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:11.559 a government under the People's Constitution and the other to 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:15.680 elect a government under the legal Charter. Samuel Ward King 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.120 was elected governor by charter rights. Those who believed the 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:23.600 state should keep its colonial charter. The People's Party installed 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:27.840 Thomas Wilson Doris, their governor on May third, eighteen forty two, 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:33.040 and Rhode Island suddenly found itself with two elected governors. 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:38.040 In early May, both governors, as well as state legislatures 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.960 and other officials were all sworn into office, and in 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.480 that moment there were two complete governments in the state. 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.840 Printed in the Charleston Mercury quote, in the small state 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.880 of Rhode Island, with the population of about a hundred thousand, 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:57.000 there are at this moment two governors, two senates, two 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:01.520 Houses of Representatives, and other things in proportion, a clear 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:05.880 exemplification of Jefferson's maxim that the world is governed too much. 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:12.400 Reformers remarked former President John Quincy Adams have taken steps 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.600 to achieve a revolution in government because the state still 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:20.080 adheres to the Royal Charter. In April of eighteen forty two, 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:24.000 just before the elections, the state's General Assembly passed the 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:28.920 Algerian Law, which basically rendered elections held by the People's 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:34.000 Party as completely illegal and set punishments for anyone meeting 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:38.559 or running for office under the People's Constitution. Many of Yours. 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.360 Supporters were fined, some were imprisoned, some were tried. The 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.840 Charter government passed a statute declaring results of any People's 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.720 Party election to also be illegal. It also made it 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.320 an act of treason against the State of Rhode Island 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:56.959 and punishable by life imprisonment for anyone to assume state 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:02.240 office under the People's Constitution. It became pretty clear that 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:07.720 neither side would compromise, and the situation escalated. Door's election 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.480 by the People's Party was outright rejected by the pre 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.520 existing state government. Both Door and King claimed to be 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.400 the legitimate governor of the state, and both appealed to 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:22.280 President John Tyler for intervention. No help came, not really. 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:25.800 The President was reluctant to get involved in this situation, 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.679 but he did send troop reinforcements to Fort Adams in Newport, 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:34.400 Rhode Island, just as a precautionary measure. Door himself had 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:40.520 zero military experience, but he decided to organize between two 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:44.520 hundred to three hundred Door Rights and began his campaign 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.480 by stealing two light cannons from a small local militia post. 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.480 On May set, two doors Men surrounded the state arsenal 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.520 on Cranston Street in Providence, with the intention of taking 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:01.200 the arms stored within. His father elevant Or and uncle 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.560 Crawford Allen are said to have been among those defending 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:11.079 the armory That's right against Tom Dora's family aligned themselves 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.360 with Samuel Ward King and the Charter Rights. His parents 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.080 pled for him not to run for governor under the 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:21.439 People's Constitution. His father wrote him quote, it grieves us 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:23.760 to the heart to know that a son of ours 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.280 arrived at so mature an age, and so well versed 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:30.000 in the laws of his country, should be a participant 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:34.320 in acts calculated to carry this date into destruction. We 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:38.600 pray you to pause before you pass the rubicon. They 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.079 couldn't change his mind, and ultimately he became estranged from 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:46.600 his family when its defenders would not surrender the armory 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.959 to him. Door ordered his cannons fired, and they were fired, 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:55.120 but no balls were fired, not on the first tribe, 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.880 not on the second try. The theory here is that 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.800 perhaps the equipment was just too old. This was equipment 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:05.000 from the Revolutionary War, so roughly seventy years earlier. But 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.439 that was the end of the armory raid. Though there 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.800 was nothing left to do it that moment, but retreat. 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.280 So the plan wasn't super great. Well, he didn't have 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:18.680 any military experience. Governor King declared martial law and issued 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.360 a warrant for doors arrest. Door fled to Connecticut, where 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.479 the Democratic governor refused to extradite him to Rhode Island. 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:30.400 Nearly two hundred of Doors followers were captured and brought 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:33.600 to Providence, where they were jailed, some for several weeks 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:38.600 before being released. This entire thing resulted in one death, 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.200 that of an innocent civilian who was shot by mistake. 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.480 The New York Herald humorously reported on the event, though 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:52.280 printing quote killed, zero wounded, zero missing, four one scared, 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:56.880 nine hundred and sixty horribly frightened, seven eighty nine painted 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:01.680 on the battleground, seventy three women in hysterics, temperance pledge 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:07.640 broke before the battle. Governors k missing one. So we're 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.480 going to take a break here for a word from 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.800 our sponsor, and when we return, we will talk about 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:16.560 when Door returned from exile and when he turned himself in. 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:34.000 Welcome back to Criminally a Door became the first person 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:37.560 convicted of treason against one of the states. So let's 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:41.800 talk about that trial. After a month in exile, Door 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.640 returned to Rhode Island in order to reconvene the People's 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:48.360 Party on Independence Day at Chapatcha, a small village near 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.240 the town of Gloucester. William Gibbs McNeil, a West Point 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:56.240 graduate who commanded the Charter militia of roughly three thousand militiamen, 0:15:56.720 --> 0:16:01.520 was dispatched to protect the state's interests. Or hadn't realized, though, 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:05.120 how the militia of the People's Party had just disintegrated 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.040 after the failed attack on the Arsenal, and only a 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.160 few hundred of his own supporters and militia met him there. 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:17.080 In total, this rebellion lasted just about two months you'll 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.680 see six weeks sometimes, and aside from the debacle at 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.880 the Armory, not a single battle was fought. Actually, it's 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:28.720 reported that the Charter forces were somewhat disappointed they couldn't 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:33.040 find their enemy to fight. Regardless of that, though they 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:38.400 still stormed Doors armies abandoned encampment at Chapachet. A few 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.680 weeks later, Door wrote a lengthy letter to his friend 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.720 William Simons, editor of the Providence newspaper The Republican Harold, 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:49.720 and that letter said, quote, it is due to myself 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.360 to say that, although I am not insensible to the 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.160 opinions of men, I feel conscious that I have done 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:57.360 the duty which was assigned to me by the people 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.800 of Rhode Island, and in this a source of satisfaction 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.560 of what no hostility or malice can deprive me. My 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.520 spirit is not broken by the burden of defeat and 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.560 obloquy that has been cast upon me. Through all of this, 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:16.359 the Charter government kind of got the message. A document 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.680 was drafted in an attempt to answer the People's Constitution. 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.280 After a few drafts, in November that year, it was 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:27.000 debated upon by the state legislature and passed by the Electorate. 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:31.240 After suffrage. Language was modified to remove the property requirement 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:35.800 for natural born citizens. Though it wasn't nearly as reformist 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:40.160 as the People's Constitution, the new State Constitution did greatly 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.640 increase male suffrage in Rhode Island, and it finally put 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:47.200 an end to the racial requirement. It did, however, retain 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:51.280 the property qualification for immigrants, which left a good number 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.200 of doors Irish supporters just as disenfranchised as they had 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.800 been before the rebellion. The new constitution went into effect 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:01.879 in eighteen forty three, but the landholding requirement wasn't entirely 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:06.800 dropped from the document until eighteen eighty eight. Facing arrest 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.960 by the state, Door fled with a bounty of five 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.680 thousand dollars on his head under the protection of Governor 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.919 Henry Hubbard. Door remained in exile in New Hampshire from 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:21.480 July of eighteen forty two until October of eighteen forty three. 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:26.080 On August eighteen forty two, he was indicted in absentia 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:30.400 in state court for treason against Rhode Island. He returned 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.600 to Rhode Island on October twenty one, eighteen forty three, 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:38.399 and turned himself into authorities in Providence. Door was charged 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.760 with treason. He remained in the Providence Rhode Island City 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.040 Jail for five months before he was reigned on March fifth, 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.639 eighteen forty four. He pleaded not guilty and his trial 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.440 was set for April. With is bail denied. Door remained 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:55.920 in jail until his trial. The trial was held before 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.600 the judges of Rhode Island Supreme Court at the courthouse 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.719 in Newport, which is actually about forty miles from Providence. 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:05.960 Newport was known for its pro Charter government sympathies, making 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.600 it a place where the prosecution believed they would have 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.199 an easy time finding a jury that was sure to 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:15.520 convict him. Joseph W. Blake and Alfred Bosworth were the 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:20.639 chief prosecutors. Door, a lawyer, represented himself and was assisted 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:25.639 by three attorneys, Samuel y Atwell, George Turner, and Walter S. 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:32.120 Burge's Door never denied his actions. His argument primarily relied 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:35.680 on two lines of defense. His first argument was that 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:39.320 because the United States Constitution defined treason as a crime 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.360 committed against the country of the United States and not 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:46.399 against any individual state, he could not be charged with 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:50.560 treason against Rhode Island. His second argument was about his 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:54.600 legitimacy as governor, specifically that during the events of eighteen 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:57.720 forty two, he was the legitimate governor of the state 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:02.000 and therefore the Algerine law was in valid. The court 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:06.840 rejected both of those arguments. According to the judges job 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.879 De Free, Levy, Hail william Our Staples, and George A. 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:15.159 Braton quote, wherever allegiance is due, their treason may be 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:19.240 committed allegiance is due to a state, and therefore treason 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:23.840 may be committed against the state of this Union. Additionally, 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.840 the judges argued that only the state legislature that had 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:30.680 been elected in eighteen forty three, and not any judge 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:34.399 or jury or Thomas Door, had the power to decide 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:38.119 which government or constitution was legitimate in eighteen forty two. 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:42.840 The jury retired on May six and returned a verdict 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:46.639 of guilty just three hours later. Door became the first 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:51.120 person convicted of treason against one of the states. On June, 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:54.280 he was sentenced for his actions against the state of 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:57.199 Rhode Island. He was imprisoned quote for the term of 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:00.240 his natural life, and they are kept it hardly were 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:04.600 in separate confinement. Motions were made for a new trial, 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.680 but they were denied by the court. Door was taken 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:11.000 to the state prison and providence two days after his sentence, 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.359 saying where the sentence of solitary confinement was strictly enforced. 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:19.240 His request for permission to take daily walks inside the 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:23.639 prison and to have books available were both refused. He 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:26.920 was not allowed to speak or write to anyone outside 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.199 of the prison, with the exception of his lawyer. His 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:33.760 parents were not allowed to see or talk to him 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:37.520 the prison was damp and poorly ventilated, and doors health 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:41.680 deteriorated while he was incarcerated. Yet he hadn't lost his fight. 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.920 When the state legislature offered him amnesty on the provision 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:49.520 he swore allegiance to the eighteen forty three state constitution, 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:53.200 he refused. Door spent his time working on his appeal 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.600 to the United States Supreme Court, but his situation changed. 0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:00.920 Before his case reached the High court stocket. Door did 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.320 not serve out his life sentence. He was still popular 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:08.119 among many Rhode Islanders, and many continued to champion his cause, 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.680 calling him the People's Governor and making his freedom a 0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:15.800 cause celebre His imprisonment became a key issue in the 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:20.760 gubernatorial election of eighteen forty five. After twenty months under 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:26.360 Governor Charles Jackson's administration, Door was unconditionally released from prison. 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:29.879 It's important to note, though, that this was not a pardon. 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:34.040 Doors civil and political rights were not restored until his uncle, 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:38.120 Philip Allen became the state's governor in eighteen fifty one. 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:43.000 In eighteen fifty four, a decade after his release, doors 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:47.800 treason conviction was reversed. Shortly before his death on December year. 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:53.879 He never wavered. He maintained that his new government was legal, 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:58.000 and he always maintained he had legitimately won that election 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:05.919 of eighteen forty two. The Door Rebellion was the climax 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:08.600 of years and years of debate in the state over 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:12.760 the question of suffrage rights. Historians have described the rebellion 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:16.600 in different ways. The Door rights have been called irresponsible 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:19.880 idealists who ignored the state's need for stability and order, 0:23:20.600 --> 0:23:22.720 but they've also been hailed as being part of an 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:27.360 early working class attempt to overthrow an elitist government. Some 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:31.399 historians call it a legitimate expression of republicanism in the 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:36.120 United States, although politics actually changed very little for Rhode 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:38.760 Islanders after eighteen forty two, because at the end of 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:41.840 the day, that same elite group of men held the 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:46.520 power the remaining state population a k. The women, meanwhile, 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:49.359 would have to wait until nineteen twenty for full voting 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:51.960 rights with the addition of the nineteenth Amendment to the 0:23:52.040 --> 0:23:57.560 United States Constitution. Tom Door is buried in Providence, Rhode Island. 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:02.040 On his headstone at Swan Cemetery is a small plaque 0:24:02.119 --> 0:24:07.720 bearing the state seal with People's Constitution inscribed below above 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:11.639 it names the grave to be that of Governor Thomas Wilson. 0:24:11.720 --> 0:24:22.359 Door None is our story of the door riots. Would 0:24:22.359 --> 0:24:24.280 you like to have a little perfecty pour with me 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:30.760 after this? Yes? I was trying to think about something 0:24:30.880 --> 0:24:37.679 interesting that would feature a sense of two things competing 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:40.000 and canceling each other out in the way that there 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:43.399 were two governors going on here. And so this drink 0:24:43.440 --> 0:24:46.040 has two flavors that tend to be strong, but they 0:24:46.080 --> 0:24:48.600 do balance in a very weird way. When you drink it, 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:52.600 you will remember that a while back I did a 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:55.479 cocktail where we tried to reclaim the Negroni and make 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:58.840 it something delicious and palatable to me. Absolutely remember that, Yes, 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:01.400 And in the int um I have continued to play 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:03.520 with Kompari a little bit and see how I can 0:25:03.600 --> 0:25:05.560 use it in ways that I like. Because I am 0:25:05.600 --> 0:25:08.439 not the biggest fan of a biting, bitter thing, so 0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:10.160 I thought, is there a way I can balance out 0:25:10.200 --> 0:25:13.760 Kompari and make it not feel quite so harsh but 0:25:13.920 --> 0:25:16.280 still have that unique flavor where you get a little 0:25:16.280 --> 0:25:18.560 bit of the bitter flavor, but it doesn't feel as 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:21.359 bity in your mouth. So this is a drink that 0:25:21.400 --> 0:25:24.679 I'm calling double Trouble just to represent two governors. It 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:28.479 actually has three ingredients, is super easy. So they're two 0:25:28.520 --> 0:25:31.520 flavors that tend to be strong, but they balance each 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:34.840 other out because there's also a modifier in there. So 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:38.080 you start with one ounce of kompari three quarters of 0:25:38.080 --> 0:25:40.480 an ounce of vodka, just a basic, clean vodka, you 0:25:40.480 --> 0:25:42.879 don't want any flavor in there, and then you'll shake 0:25:42.920 --> 0:25:44.760 that and pour it over ice, and you top it 0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:48.000 with ginger ale or ginger beer, depending on how you 0:25:48.000 --> 0:25:50.720 want it to flavor. Add bitters if you want. I 0:25:50.760 --> 0:25:52.440 added a floral bitter and it was nice, but you 0:25:52.480 --> 0:25:55.120 don't need it. But what's interesting is that the ginger 0:25:55.960 --> 0:25:59.080 neutralizes the kampari in a way that I didn't anticipate. 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:01.879 It's like the ginger in the vodka together. Do you 0:26:01.920 --> 0:26:05.639 still taste that bitter orange flavor, but it doesn't create 0:26:05.680 --> 0:26:08.560 that weird pucker that kampari can take can create in 0:26:08.600 --> 0:26:14.240 your mouth where you're like um. And it actually becomes 0:26:14.400 --> 0:26:18.280 really quite a sipable drink that has the flavor profiles 0:26:18.720 --> 0:26:22.119 without any of the unpleasant parts of them, which was 0:26:22.280 --> 0:26:25.160 very fascinating to me. It doesn't work with just kampari 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:28.200 and ginger. The vodka has to be in there, otherwise 0:26:28.359 --> 0:26:30.720 it doesn't quite balance right. It's like the vodka is 0:26:30.760 --> 0:26:34.000