The Law and Order Party of Rhode Island was a short-lived political party in the state of Rhode Island in the 1840s, brought into existence as a consequence of the Dorr Rebellion.
In 1840, Rhode Island still used the King's Charter of 1663 as its constitution, which held that only landowners with $134 in property could vote.
In 1841 and 1842, Rhode Island Governor Samuel Ward King faced opposition from Thomas Wilson Dorr and his followers in the Rhode Island Suffrage Party who wanted to extend suffrage to a wider group of citizens.
[1] The Law and Order Party were initially opposed to extending suffrage, but they realized that the 1663 charter was archaic.
In November 1842, they drafted a "Law And Order Constitution" which extended the right to vote to all native-born adult males, including black men.