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 of the party, estimated that only about five hundred men shared the values and views of the Essex Junto. Nevertheless, because of the organization of New England society, their influence was significant.[1]
New England’s Federalists became convinced that South and West were responsible for their loss of power and influence nationally. “The influences of emigrants prevail over those of the ancient natives,” said one Federalist. “The voices of our Representatives will be drowned amid the discordant jargon of French, Spanish German and Irish delegates, chosen by slave owners, in a disproportionate ratio.”[2]
The “French Influence” on American sectional differences was not readily obvious to those outside New England. Not only Napoleon, but also Talleyrand, influenced the sectional conflicts of the United States. Talleyrand successfully maneuvered through the vicissitudes of the Revolution. As talented as Talleyrand was, he did not readily fathom Napoleon’s mercurial nature, and once he did, he and Napoleon were entangled in a relationship that was a riddle to the Americans trying to deal with them. [3]
Together, Napoleon and Talleyrand guided the French policies towards the United States. They used the French controlled Spanish colonies in America to play on Southerners’ fears.[4] First Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase, and then Madison’s acquisition of territory in Florida confirmed New England Federalists’ conviction that all the new territory would cause the balance of power in Congress to swing successfully to the South.
After 1800, the population of the North outside New England grew more rapidly than population in the South. Policies of Democratic-Republicans from the South were ably supported by their Democratic-Republican counterparts in the North. New Englanders ignored those facts. To the Federalists, the conflict of the two parties pitted New England against the South.
Massachusetts Federalists sought to thwart the clash between North and South by removing the three-fifths clause of the Constitution. That clause allowed Southerners to count five slaves as three white men, increasing each Southern state’s representation in the House of Representatives.[5]
Next: How Opposition to the Three-Fifths Clause Merged with a Campaign of Morality
Look for it Monday, September 30
[1] Henry Adams, History of the United States of America during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (New York: Literary Classics, 1986) 63.
[2] James M. Banner, To the Hartford Convention: The Federalists and the Origins of Party Politics in Massachusetts 1789-1815 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970) 93.
[3] Adams, History of the United States, 228.
[4] Adams, History of the United States, 228-9.
[5] Banner, To the Hartford Convention, 102.
