Category Archives: Secession

Involving Secession

What Other New Englanders Wrote About Disunion between the East and West

In private correspondence to Noah Webster and Cyrus King respectively, Thomas Dawes and Ephraim Lock promoted a return of the government to the original thirteen states.  They wanted to remove the three-fifths clause.  They suggested permission from all states was needed … Continue reading

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Why John Lowell, Jr. Advocated Uniting North and South Against the West

Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans imagined a nation of farmers boldly opening the frontier of the Louisiana Territory.  Massachusetts Federalists were tied to the Atlantic, and its mercantile trade.  They were apprehensive about what was happening in the West.[1] The West, … Continue reading

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How New England’s Federalists Regarded the Union (continued)

New England’s Federalists were concerned about the loss of representation and power.  In 1788, during the Constitutional Convention,  Northerners made a concession to the South.  They gave Southern states the ability to count five slaves as three free white men, … Continue reading

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How New England’s Federalists Regarded the Rest of the United States

Federalists and other New Englanders considered themselves exceptional.  They claimed superiority over other American regions, especially the South.  Their claims were based on religion. A writer for the Columbian Centinel in Boston explained: “The God of nature, in his infinite goodness … Continue reading

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How the Federalists Tried to Tamper with the Presidential Election

  The Federalists wanted a victory in the presidential election.  They boldly attempted to tamper with electoral votes. Their proposed bill used a “Grand Committee” selected from the House, Senate, and Supreme Court.  They controlled all three.  The “Grand Committee” … Continue reading

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How William Duane Eluded Authorities

In November 1798, after the yellow fever epidemic had subsided Margaret Bache, Benjamin Bache’s widow, continued to publish the Aurora.  She appointed William Duane as the new editor.  He was Bache’s assistant and an associate of Carey’s.   Duane was an … Continue reading

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Were New England’s Federalists Really Abolitionists?

During the 1780s Massachusetts abolished slavery.  After that, the abolition society in Massachusetts stopped taking part in Philadelphia’s annual abolition convention.[1] After the economically crippling policies of Jefferson and Madison, the Federalists regained power in New England.  The authorities segregated … Continue reading

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How Opposition to the Three-Fifths Clause Merged with a Moral Campaign

Opposition to slavery, as a tenet of Congregationalism, began with Samuel Hopkins.   Hopkins (1721-1803) graduated from Yale College in 1741.  As a senior, he was attracted to the revivalism of the Great Awakening, a movement led by the Congregational clergyman Jonathan … Continue reading

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How the French Influenced Sectional Discord

First with the Constitution, and next with the Jay Treaty, the more liberal New England Federalists migrated to Jefferson and Madison’s Democratic-Republican Party.   That caused the more conservative faction, the Essex Junto, to gain prominence.   Fisher Ames, one of the post-revolutionary leaders … Continue reading

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How Jefferson’s Newspaper Politics Challenged New England’s Federalists

By 1800, the state of Massachusetts was split politically between Jefferson’s party and the Federalists.  Roughly 20,000 voters were Democratic-Republican.  About 25,000 voters were Federalists.[1] Following the election of 1800, Democratic-Republicans set their sights on augmenting their gains in New … Continue reading

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