Memorial to the Hon. General Assembly ... at their session to be holden on the last Monday in October, 1839, the undersigned, freeman of the town of Cumberland--respectfully represent--that at a meeting of delegates from different banks in this state, held in Providence ... it was recommended that the several banks of this state should suspend the payment of their debts; and ... that all, or nearly all of said institutions, have from that time to the present, utterly refused payment of all claims presented...
[Providence: publisher not identified, 1839.]. Folio broadside (approx. 16" x 8½") text triple column under the running head; signed in type by Fenner Brown, Aaron White, Jr., "and four others," dated Cumberland, October, 1839 at the end of the third column; some light foxing at top; previous fold, near fine. Remonstrating against the recommendation that Rhode Island banks suspend payment of debts and petitioning the legislature to pass a law requiring the banks to honor the paper currency they have issued. While the proximate cause of Dorr's Rebellion was the desire to replace an outmoded State Constitution, and in particular to broaden the franchise, the economic conditions caused by the Panic of 1837 provided fertile ground for "insurrection." Brown was for a time a member of the Rhode Island Legislature and was narrowly defeated as a Democratic candidate for Congress in 1847. White was a close political ally of Thomas Dorr and one of the leaders of Dorr's Rebellion. According to an online article by Chaput and DeSimone, White was a proponent of black suffrage ("Strange Bedfellows," in Common-Place, Vol. 10, no. 2, Jan. 2010). Five in OCLC: NY Historical, AAS, Library Co., Williams, and Brown; not in American Imprints. Item #55290
Price: $475.00
