Background
Samuel Ward King was born on May 23, 1786 in Johnston, Rhode Island, United States, the son of William Borden and Welthian (Walton) King.
physician politician statesman
Samuel Ward King was born on May 23, 1786 in Johnston, Rhode Island, United States, the son of William Borden and Welthian (Walton) King.
Samuel entered Brown University in 1802 and attended for four years, but he did not graduate with his class. Instead he studied medicine and received a diploma in Providence in 1807.
In the course of the War of 1812, King employed his talents as a surgeon, first on a privateer and later on the Hornet. After the war he became interested in business and politics. Elected in 1839 as first assistant, he served as acting governor in default of the election of a governor and lieutenant-governor, then served as governor in his own right, upon his election to the office in the Whig year of 1840. He was reelected in 1841 and 1842.
During his administration a vigorous attempt was made to supersede the charter of 1663 with a new constitution. The governor's relation to this episode, known as the Dorr War, is his only claim to importance. The old charter, in an era of Jacksonian democracy, seemed to many Rhode Islanders a distasteful anachronism. Agitation against its provisions had occurred from time to time but new vitality was breathed into the movement by the formation in 1840 of the Rhode Island Suffrage Association. This organization, adopting the high ground of "natural rights, " proceeded to choose a "people's convention, " draw up a "people's constitution, " ratify that document and elect officers under its provisions. The governor chosen, Thomas W. Dorr, was inaugurated May 3, 1842, and affected to regard himself as the lawful executive of the state. In dealing with this movement, the King administration proceeded with caution. While busying itself with arrangements for drawing up a counter constitution, conciliatory in tone, it apparently hoped to obliterate the Dorr menace with the aid of the national government.
In early April Governor King made an appeal to President Tyler for federal assistance on the ground that Rhode Island was "threatened with domestic violence. " The President preferred to await an overt act. In later May and June, King lived under the fear of "an incursion" headed by Dorr from neighboring states, and he so informed Tyler on two separate occasions. The President, however, could not be persuaded that federal intervention was warranted. Consequently when Dorr entered the state at the end of June, to place himself at the head of a few of his followers, the state authorities had to deal with the situation.
On June 26 King proclaimed martial law under an authorization of the legislature, and Dorr's army dispersed before the arrival of the state militia. Before King left office in 1843, the franchise movement had been practically allayed by a more liberal constitution. King does not seem to have played a decisive part in these proceedings. The governor's power, for one thing, was severely limited by the charter. In the second place, he was aided throughout the crisis by a special board of councilors, appointed by the legislature at his own request. He retired from the governorship having played a comparatively colorless role, and died a few years later.
King was a member of the Whig Party.
King married Catherine Latham Angell on May 20, 1813.
