Professor Erik Chaput will present “The People’s Martyr” and the Dorr Rebellion an exploration of the life of Thomas Wilson Dorr and the 1842 Rhode Island rebellion that bears his name. Thomas Dorr’s attempt at constitutional reform set off a firestorm of debate over the nature of the people’s sovereignty in Jacksonian America.

This year’s series is presented as part of the Rhode Island Historical Society’s Taking a Stand in Rhode Island, a yearlong examination of how the people who have called this place home, from the 17th century to the recent past, have identified aspects of society that needed to shift and how they worked to change them.