. Almon Danforth Hodges and his neighbors . acted judiciously, with the judgment and tact of otherpoliticians and public men, he would have reached, I believe,the liighest offices in the State. He was a very warm friendso long as his opinions were accepted; but opposition he wouldnot endure, being exceedingly self-willed and was very persistent in his ideas and efforts, and on thesubject of the method of changing the form of governmenthe was considered insane by many. The men originally in the movement for the extension ofthe suffrage were very unwilling to admit him to a share i
. Almon Danforth Hodges and his neighbors . acted judiciously, with the judgment and tact of otherpoliticians and public men, he would have reached, I believe,the liighest offices in the State. He was a very warm friendso long as his opinions were accepted; but opposition he wouldnot endure, being exceedingly self-willed and was very persistent in his ideas and efforts, and on thesubject of the method of changing the form of governmenthe was considered insane by many. The men originally in the movement for the extension ofthe suffrage were very unwilling to admit him to a share intheir councils. They said that he belonged to an aristocraticfamily and hence could have no genuine sympathy with themin their desires. Moreover they had no confidence in histact and discretion. But Dorr by persistence worked him-self into a position in the party where his ability enabled himto seize and hold the leadership. Until 1842, the original charter granted in 1663 by KingCharles II to the colony remained in force in Rhode Island,. THOMAS WILSON DORR. THE DORR WAR. 177 and the right to vote was allowed only to freeholders, orowners of real estate of the value of $134, and their eldestsons. This limitation of the suffrage seemed to be satisfac-tory during a long period when almost every man was a free-holder; but when the number of non-voters became large,the subject of extending the suffrage was agitated. At firstall that was asked was a rule as liberal as that in Massachu-setts, and this modest demand was favored by many of thefreeholders. The extension-of-suffrage party grew rapidlyin numbers, especially in the northern part of the State, wheremany of those already entitled to vote admitted that thetime had come for a change, and were prepared to join withthe non-freeholders in petitioning the State legislature (tech-nically styled The General Assembly) for a change in theconstitution. The new party, as it increased, split into two factions —one conservative, the o
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