Tag Archives: Olive Branch

What Happened in Rufus King’s Library

Most rank and file Federalists disagreed with Hamilton, who opposed Burr’s nomination for governor of New York.  Nevertheless, in the name of disunion, Pickering and Griswold were locked in a battle to secure leadership of the party in New York.  … Continue reading

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How Alexander Hamilton Reacted to Pickering and Griswold’s Scheme

At first Hamilton simply opposed the whole disunion scheme.  He agreed with George Cabot.  The time was not right to secede.  Most of New York’s Federalists helped to nominate Burr as a candidate for governor, despite Hamilton’s efforts to dissuade … Continue reading

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What Happened When Pickering and Griswold Tried to Engage New York’s Federalists

If the Federalist Party had trouble with solidarity in Massachusetts, the problem was far worse in New York State.  As Timothy Pickering and Roger Griswold looked to New Yorkers to support their scheme for disunion, they walked into a hornet’s … Continue reading

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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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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 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 Federalist Party Evolved in Massachusetts

As the last decade of the eighteenth century began, Massachusetts Federalists continued to be guided by the state’s revolutionary patriots. John Hancock (1737/8-1793) the wealthy merchant, and first signer the Declaration of Independence was enormously popular, with nearly infallible political instincts.  He presented … Continue reading

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