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Introduction
In this remarkable letter, Catharine Williams relates the names of the Dorrite women who were working towards the cause of free suffrage. Indeed, in no other letter will researchers find such a detailed description of female activism. Williams details that over 80 women met once a week to “discuss the affairs of the state.” Researchers will pick up the clear class elements that were part and parcel of the Dorr Rebellion. She is critical of the “mushroom aristocracy.” Williams was in contact with the Democratic governor of Maine (John Fairfield), an outspoken supporter of the Dorrite cause. She tells Dorr that she expects to meet with New Hampshire Democratic Governor Henry Hubbard. Williams also relates the often repeated rumors that Dorr intended to seize the homes of the wealthy on the East Side of Providence and give them to poor “washerwomen.”