Considerations on the Questions of the Adoption of a Constitution
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Reports and Documents Upon Public Schools and Education in ... Rhode Island
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As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Elisha Reynolds Potter was an American congressman, jurist, and writer.
Background
He was born on June 20, 1811 in the family homestead on Little Rest Hill, South Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. He was eldest of five children. Through his father, for whom he was named, he was descended from Nathaniel Potter who was in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, as early as 1638; through his mother, Mary (Mawney) Potter, he was the descendant of a French Huguenot named Le Moine, who with others of his faith settled in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 1686.
Elisha Reynolds Potter, Sr. (November 5, 1764 - September 26, 1835), who had been in turn blacksmith, farmer, and practising lawyer, served for some thirty years in the Rhode Island legislature, was four times elected to the federal Congress, and in 1818 was unsuccessful candidate for governor of this state. Wherever he went he was a conspicuous figure, by reason of his gigantic stature, vigorous personality, and keen wit.
Education
He fitted for Harvard at the Kingston Academy, entered college in 1826, and graduated in 1830. The winter following, he returned to the Academy to teach the classics, but left in the spring to study law in the office of Nathaniel Searle of Providence.
Career
On October 9, 1832, he was admitted to the bar and began to practise his profession. The father's reputation made the son's entrance into public life a natural expectation. He was adjutant-general of the state from 1835 to 1837, in 1839 became a representative in the General Assembly, serving a year, and in 1841-42 sat in the state constitutional conventions. When in the latter year the uprising known as the Dorr War was precipitated, he took his stand with those who were opposed to violent action and military force and was one of three commissioners sent to consult with President Tyler.
He was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-eighth Congress, and served March 4, 1843, to March 3, 1845. In 1849 he was appointed commissioner of public schools, which office he held until 1854. To create an interest in his work he undertook in 1852 the publication of the Rhode Island Educational Magazine, of which he was editor and chief contributor until August 1853.
In 1861 he was elected a member of the upper house of the state legislature, serving until 1863. Five years later he became an associate justice of the supreme court of Rhode Island, and was still holding this office at the time of his death.
Among his works are A Brief Account of Emissions of Paper Money, Made by the Colony of Rhode-Island (1837) and Memoir Concerning the French Settlements and French Settlers in the Colony of Rhode Island (1879).
Achievements
Elisha Reynolds Potter was editor and chief contributor of the Rhode Island Educational Magazine. As the associate justice of the supreme court of Rhode Island, he brought distinction by his exceptional knowledge of the law, and his natural courtesy and patience. Although devoted to his profession, he was also an eager student of history and a prolific writer. His best-known work, is The Early History of Narragansett, a collection of documents gathered at the cost of laborious search and reproduced with great accuracy.
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Views
Earnest in his effort to promote efficient administration of the schools he was also zealous in endeavoring to keep public education free from sectarian influences.
Membership
He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.
Personality
He inherited neither his father's physique nor his temperament. He was slight of build, with clear-cut, sensitive features, quiet in manner, and scholarly in his tastes. A portrait of him in the Rhode Island Historical Society suggests the poet rather than the politician.
He never became a very rich man, but was always possessed of ample means and was known to the poor and distressed of a wide community as a generous benefactor and a kind counsellor.
Connections
Potter never married, and he lived all his life in the house where he was born.
