Tag Archives: Democratic-Republicans

How Benjamin Franklin’s Grandson was charged with Seditious Libel

  In May 1798, William Cobbett published an influential piece, “Detection of a Conspiracy formed by the United Irishmen, with the Evident Intention of Aiding the Tyrants of France in Subverting the Government of the United States”  reporting that the … Continue reading

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How Newspaper Politics Lead to Federalist Attacks on Other Newspaper Editors

  John Fenno wanted to publish an official government newspaper.  He was a penmanship teacher from Boston who had failed at keeping an inn, managing a shop, and working in the export business before working as a journalist for the Boston … Continue reading

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How the Federalists Attacked Mathew Carey and His Brother

Mathew’s brother James established the Daily Advertiser in Philadelphia.  He was an avid Democratic-Republican.  He had been involved with the Evening Star, mouthpiece of the United Irishmen in Dublin.  Inevitably, he attracted the attention and venom of William Cobbett.  Cobbett … Continue reading

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Roger Griswold and the “Spitting Lyon”

The Federalists had long denigrated Vermont congressman Matthew Lyon as being a lower-class Irishman and former indentured servant.  Then, in February 1798, Roger Griswold, a representative from Connecticut, implied that Lyon’s service during the Revolution had been less than exemplary. … Continue reading

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Those “Wild Irishmen” and the Alien and Sedition Acts

This is not the first time America’s two parties have been contentious.  The government shutdown, coupled with the controversy over illegal aliens, brings to mind the Alien and Sedition Acts.  The Federalists tried to silence the Democratic-Republicans.  Mathew Carey was part of the struggle.  … 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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How the Jay Treaty Affected New England

A Recap of the Jay Treaty Issues: The British impressed American sailors—an issue especially important to New Englanders More than two hundred merchant ships were confiscated by the British—another issue important to New Englanders Merchants wanted trade reopened in the … Continue reading

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