Background
Burgess was born in Providence and graduated Brown University, class of 1822.
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Thomas Mackie
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Brown University.
Career
After graduation, he began to study law, but abandoned this pursuit to become a successful merchant. On the death of the first mayor, Samuel West. Bridgham, in February 1841, Burgess was elected his successor and re-elected annually until 1852. He was mayor during the Dorr Rebellion (1841-1842), a violent free-suffrage movement that promoted voting rights for all men regardless of property ownership.
This was a turbulent time when Rhode Island had two separate governors vying to run the state concurrently.
Burgess was president of the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad Company. And/or he served as the President of the Boston and Providence Railroad Company.
Membership
When Providence became a city in 1832, Burgess was elected one of the original members of the Providence Common Council.
