Subject Area
American history
Description
In the aftermath of the failed 1842 Dorr Rebellion, a new Rhode Island state constitution was drafted and ratified. It was claimed that the new constitution included many of the provisions that were in the extra-legal People’s Constitution. This was not exactly true. In one respect the new state constitution differed from the People’s Constitution in that naturalized citizens were required to have a freehold while native born citizens were not. Henry J. Duff, a naturalized citizen from Ireland, fought for a period of five years to have the state constitution amended to remove the freehold requirement for naturalized citizens. Due to nativistic and anti-Catholic sentiments his efforts to amend the constitution failed. It would not be until 1888 when the freehold requirement was removed for naturalized citizens. The amendment, known as the Bourn Amendment, became Article VII under the Articles of Amendment to the Rhode Island Constitution.
Date
11-2025
Type
Article
.docx
Language
English
