Introduction

In 1837, William Chace served as the corresponding secretary of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society, an organization founded in 1835 by the prominent Rhode Island Quaker Arnold Buffum. Chace wrote to Dorr, who was running for Congress as a Constitutionalist in the August election, in order to obtain his views on slavery. Before he penned his reply, Dorr copied Chace's original questions.