TO THE FREEMEN OF THE STATE OF RHODE-ISLAND. IT HAVING BEEN REPRESENTED THAT MR. WILLIAM GREENE, AS ONE OF THE STATE'S COMMITTEE, CONDUCTED IMPROPERLY, I THINK IT A DUTY TO GIVE A TRUE STATE OF THAT BUSINESS IN RESPECT TO HIM...
Providence: Printed by D. Wheeler, [1796]. Broadside, 9-1/8" x 11-1/2". Old fold lines, light wear and soil. Else Very Good, with irregular bottom edge.
This unrecorded broadside expresses the public outrage over a State Committee's determination of the various rates at which Rhode Island towns would be taxed. Committeeman Greene was vilified for voting to increase taxes for certain towns. Dorrance defends Greene's honor and integrity, although Greene's views "differed very much from myself." Dorrance signs his name in type at the bottom, with the printed place and date: "Providence, August 26, 1796."
John Dorrance [c.1747-1813], a native of Providence, graduated from Brown University in 1774. He was a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas; was involved with the Washington Insurance Company and a director of the Exchange Bank. Governor Fenner once accused Dorrance of having sold the body of a stranger who had committed suicide in exchange for a beaver skin hat. Fenner used the charge to squash Dorrance's run for a seat in the General Assembly in 1801; Dorrance later sued for slander.
Not in Evans, Shipton & Mooney, Bristol, NAIP, ESTC, Alden, or the online sites of OCLC, Library of Congress, AAS, Brown University, Yale, Harvard as of January 2024. Item #33603
Price: $1,850.00