Chaput, Erik J., and Russell J. DeSimone. “Strange Bedfellow:  The Politics of Race in Antebellum Rhode Island.” Common-Place 10 (2010), http://www.common-place.org/vol-10/no-02/chaput-desimone/

“Early in the morning of May 18, 1842, Thomas Wilson Dorr, the “People’s Governor,” and a band of more than two hundred followers advanced on the state arsenal in Providence. The goal was simple: use the weapons within to seize power from Governor Samuel Ward King and forcibly establish the People’s Constitution. Having tried diplomacy and appeals to President John Tyler, the elite revolutionary Dorr turned to more drastic measures to achieve recognition as the legitimate governor of his native state. Rhode Island was now in a standoff between two men who each claimed to have been legally elected governor….”

via Common-Place