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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2009
There is no comprehensive study of Federalist opposition to the War of 1812. The fragmentary studies that exist suggest a party divided between New England extremists on the one hand and moderates in the Middle and Southern States on the other. In this interpretative framework, Federalists to the south and west are invariably portrayed as “good” Federalists, that is, as patriots who consciously and decisively rejected New England's leadership in order to support the war or at least maintain a discreet neutrality. A closer examination of the subject, however, suggests that this view is largely false.
A version of this paper was read at the Annual Convention of the Organization of American Historians in Atlanta, Georgia, April 1977. For helpful criticism of earlier drafts, the author is indebted to Robert McColley of the University of Illinois, Morton Borden of the University of California at Santa Barbara, Jerry Martin of the University of Colorado, and Vance Burke of Chicago.
1 The older studies focus on New England's opposition, giving the impression that Federalists elsewhere supported the war. See Adams, Henry, History of the United States during the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison, 9 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1889–1991), 6, 399–403, 8, 1–23, 287–310Google Scholar; McMaster, John Bach, A History of the People of the United States, 8 vols. (New York: D. Appleton, 1883–1913), 3, 543–53, 4, 210–52Google Scholar; Schouler, James, History of the United States under the Constitution, 7 vols., rev. ed. (New York: Dodd–Mead, 1894–1913), 2, 395–96, 461–76Google Scholar; Channing, Edward, A History of the United States, 6 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1905–1925), 4, 543–63Google Scholar; Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Life and Letters of Harrison Gray Otis, Federalist, 1765–1848, 2 vols. (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1913), 2, 53Google Scholar.
More recent studies show a greater awareness of Federalist opposition in the Middle and Southern States, but still tend to discount this opposition or to emphasize its tame and patriotic cast. See Beveridge, Albert J., The Life of John Marshall, 4 vols. (Boson and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1916–1919), 4, 30–31Google Scholar; Fox, Dixon Ryan, The Decline of Aristocracy in the Politics of New York (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1919), pp. 176–77Google Scholar; Higginbotham, Sanford W., The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800–1816 (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p. 279Google Scholar; Risjord, Norman K., “The Virginia Federalists,” Journal of Southern History, 33 (1967), 510–11Google Scholar; Zahniser, Marvin R., Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Founding Father (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1967), p. 260Google Scholar; Munroe, John A., Federalist Delaware, 1775–1815 (New Brunswick: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1954), p. 259Google Scholar, and Louis McLane: Federalist and Jacksonian (New Brunswick: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1973), p. 52Google Scholar; Abernethy, Thomas P., The South in the New Nation, 1789–1819 ([Baton Rouge]: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1961), pp. 406–11Google Scholar; Renzulli, L. Marx JrMaryland: The Federalist Years (Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press, 1972), pp. 269–71, 295–96Google Scholar; Smelser, Marshall, The Democratic Republic, 1801–1815 (New York: Harper and Row, 1968), pp. 287–97Google Scholar.
For exceptions to this pattern, see Morison, S. E., Harrison Gray Otis, 1765–1848: The Urbane Federalist (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969), pp. 325–26Google Scholar; Lemmon, Sarah M., Frustrated Patriots: North Carolina and the War of 1812 (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1973), pp. 162–86Google Scholar.
2 Goodrich, Samuel G., Recollections of a Lifetime, 2 vols. (New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton and Mulligan, 1856), 1, 439Google Scholar. See also Richard Sedgwick to Henry D. Sedgwick, 20 June 1812, in H. D. Sedgwick Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass.; Lee, Henry to Jackson, Patrick T., 30 01 1813, in Porter, Kenneth W., ed., The Jacksons and the Lees: Two Generations of Massachusetts Merchants, 1765–1844, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1937), 2, 1076Google Scholar.
3 Theodore Sedgwick Jr. to Henry D. Sedgwick, 30 June 1812, in H. D. Sedgwick Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass.
4 Felix H. Gilbert to Sarah Hillhouse, 20 June 1812, in Alexander-Hillhouse Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill, N.C.
5 Charleston, Courier, 25 06 1812Google Scholar. For similar sentiments, see oration of Winder, William, 4 07 1812, in Wilmington, American Watchman, 15 07 1812Google Scholar; B. D. Rounsaville to Citizens of Rowan County (N.C.), 1 July 1812, in Raleigh, , Minerva, 10 07 1812Google Scholar; Resolutions of Fayetteville (N.C.) Town Meeting, 27 June 1812, in Charleston, Courier, 10 07 1812Google Scholar; Address of Isaac Auld, cited in Charleston, Courier, 21 07 1812Google Scholar; Baltimore Federal Gazette, reprinted in Chillicothe Supporter, 11 July 1812; Philadelphia Freeman's Journal, reprinted in Wilmington American Watchman, 1 July 1812; Philadelphia United States Gazette, 23–29 June 1812.
6 See Gribbin, William, The Churches Militant: The War of 1812 and American Religion (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1973), pp. 24–34Google Scholar; Address of Mass. House, 25 June 1812, in Boston Gazette, 29 June 1812; Resolutions of Boston Town Meeting, 15 July 1812, in Boston, New-England Palladium, 17 07 1812Google Scholar; Address of Middlesex County (Mass.) Convention, 10 Aug. 1812, in Providence, Gazette, 22 08 1812Google Scholar; Boston, Columbian Centinel, 11 07 1812Google Scholar; Boston, New-England Palladium, 9–26 06 1812Google Scholar; Hartford, Connecticut Courant, 7 07 1812Google Scholar; Hartford, Connecticut Mirror, 17 08 1812Google Scholar; Petition of Bridgeport (Conn.), 28 Jan. 1814, in Harlow, Thompson R. et al. , eds., John Cotton Smith Papers, 7 vols. (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1948–1967), 2, 168–69Google Scholar.
7 Otis to John Rutledge Jr., 31 July 1812, in Rutledge Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill, N.C.
8 Theodore Sedgwick Sr. to Henry D. Sedgwick, 9 July 1812, in H. D. Sedgwick Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass. See also Philadelphia United States Gazette, 29 June 1812; Resolutions of Md. House, 24 Dec. 1812, in Niles' Register, 2 Jan. 1813, p. 273. For an analysis of the militia problem, see Hickey, D. R., “New England's Defense Problem and the Genesis of the Hartford Convention,” New England Quarterly, 50 (1977). 587–604CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
9 See Hickey, D. R., “The Darker Side of Democracy: The Baltimore Riots of 1812,” Maryland Historian, 7 (Fall, 1976), 1–19Google Scholar.
10 Charleston, Courier, 5 and 10 08 1812Google Scholar.
11 For identification of the Federalists in the war Congresses, see Hickey, D. R., “The Federalists and the War of 1812,” Ph.D. dissertation (University of Illinois, 1972)Google Scholar, Appendix A. In the Twelfth Congress (1811–1813), there were 36 Federalists in the House (19 from New England, 6 from the Middle States, and II from the South), and 6 in the Senate (4 from New England and 2 from the South). In the Thirteenth Congress (1813–1815), there were 64–68 Federalists in the House (30–31 from New England, 20–23 from the Middle States, and 14 from the South), and 8–10 in the Senate (4–6 from New England, I from the Middle States, and 3 from the South). The number of Federalists fluctuated in the Thirteenth Congress because of resignations and contested elections.
12 Speech of Quincy, Josiah, in Annals of Congress, 12 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 545Google Scholar.
13 Speech of Taggart, Samuel, in Annals of Congress, 12 Cong., I Sess., p. 1640Google Scholar. For similar sentiments, see speeches, ibid., 12 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 512–14 (Elijah Brigham); 13 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 1818 (Artemas Ward). Also Gribbin, , Churches Militant, p. 28Google Scholar.
14 Memorial of Md. House, [ Jan. 1814], in Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 1207.
15 A New-England Farmer [Lowell, John Jr], Mr. Madison's War (Boston: Russell and Cutler, 1812), p. 41Google Scholar. See also Memorial of Mass. House, [Spring 1812], in Niles' Register, 20 June 1812, p. 259; speeches in Annals of Congress, 12 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 512–14 (Elijah Brigham), 516–18 (Henry M. Ridgely), 537–38 (Lyman Law), 646 (Benjamin Tallmadge), 653–56 (Laban Wheaton), 692–93 (Daniel Sheffey); 13 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 1286–87 (Timothy Pitkin), 1453–54 (Joseph Pearson), 1516–19 (Z. R. Shipherd), 1569–70 (William Gaston).
16 See speeches in Annals of Congress, 12 Cong., I Sess., pp. 1517–18 (Abijah Bigelow), 1522–24 (Harmanus Bleecker), 1526–27 (Elijah Brigham); 12 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 873–78 (Bigelow), 895–902 (Thomas R. Gold), 902–07 (Timothy Pitkin); 13 Cong., I Sess., pp. 381 (Z. R. Shipherd), 405–09 (Brigham), 458–62 (A. C. Hanson); 13 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 1274 (Bigelow), 1290–98 (Pitkin), 1298–1311 (Daniel Sheffey), 1371–79 (Hanson), 1447–53 (Joseph Pearson), 1504–07 (Shipherd), 1732–33 (Timothy Pickering).
17 See speeches in Annals of Congress, 12 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 381–93 (Josiah Quincy), 1134–42, 1157–63 (T. P. Grosvenor); 13 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 554–61 (Jeremiah Mason), 602–11 (Christopher Gore), 937–38, 2020 (Cyrus King), 1135–37 (William Gaston), 1137–39 (Grosvenor), 1965–1973 (Daniel Webster), 2034–42 (Richard Stockton), 2042–46 (Timothy Pitkin).
18 See D. R. Hickey, “The Federalists and the Coming of the War, 1811–1812,” Indiana Magazine of History, forthcoming.
19 See speeches in Annals of Congress, 12 Cong., I Sess., pp. 131–47 (James Lloyd), 895–99 (Lyman Law), 933–38 (Thomas R. Gold), 949–68 (Josiah Quincy); 12 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 170 (Quincy), 414–17 (Gold), 866–69 (James Milnor).
20 Speech of Miller, Morris, in Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 958Google Scholar. See also speeches and proposals for defensive warfare, ibid., 12 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 170, 560 (Josiah Quincy); 13 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 939 (Daniel Sheffey), 941, 951 (Daniel Webster), 1054–56, 1545 (William Gaston), 1364 (John Culpepper).
21 A. C. Hanson to Robert Goodloe Harper, 29 Sept. and 9 Oct. 1814, in Harper-Pennington Papers, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Md.; Memorandum of Rufus King [Oct. 1814], in King, Charles R., The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, 6 vols. (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1894–1900), 5, 422–24Google Scholar; Timothy Pickering to Gouverneur Morris, 21 Oct. 1814, in Pickering Papers (microfilm), Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass., reel 15. The Pickering letter can also be found in Lodge, Henry Cabot, Life and Letters of George Cabot, 2nd ed. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1878), p. 536Google Scholar, although the date is erroneously given as 29 Oct.
22 See American State Papers: Foreign Relations, 3, 695–710.
23 See New London Connecticut Gazette, 17 Aug. and 7 Aug. 1814; Portland, Eastern Argus, 18 08 1814Google Scholar; Boston, Gazette, 1 09 1814Google Scholar; New York Evening Post, 23 Sept. 1814.
24 Speech of Hanson, A. C., in Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 3 Sess., pp. 381–82Google Scholar.
25 Alexandria, Gazette, 15 10 1814Google Scholar. See also speech of Oakley, Thomas J., in Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 3 Sess., pp. 382–83Google Scholar; Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to F. D. Petit de Villers, 31 Oct. 1814, in Pinckney Papers, Duke University Library, Durham, N. C.; Robert Goodloe Harper to William Sullivan, 2 Nov. 1814, in Harper-Pennington Papers, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Md.; John Jay to Timothy Pickering, 1 Nov. 1814, in Johnston, Henry P., ed., The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 4 vols. (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1890–1893), 4, 378–79Google Scholar; William Polk to Gov. William Hawkins, 17 Oct. 1814, in Raleigh, Minerva, 21 10 1814Google Scholar; Resolutions of N. Y. Legislature, cited in Georgetown, Federal Republican, 31 10 1814Google Scholar; New York Evening Post, 12 Oct. 1814; Georgetown, Federal Republican, 11 10 1814Google Scholar; Raleigh, Minerva, 21 10 1814Google Scholar; Philadelphia United States Gazette, 14 Oct. 1814.
26 Hanson's reaction in particular caused a sensation in New England. See Caleb Strong to Timothy Pickering, 17 Oct. 1814, in Adams, Henry, ed., Documents Relating to New-England Federalism, 1800–1815 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1877), p. 398Google Scholar.
27 Boston, Gazette, 7 11 1814Google Scholar.
28 Otis to Robert Goodloe Harper, 27 Oct. 1814, in Morison, , Otis, 2, 181Google Scholar. See also Pickering to Strong, 12 Oct. 1814, Strong to Pickering, 17 Oct. 1814, and John Lowell Jr. to Pickering 19 Oct. 1814, in Adams, , New-England Federalism, pp. 395–400Google Scholar; Pickering to Gouverneur Morris, 21 Oct. 1814, in Lodge, , Cabot, pp. 536–37Google Scholar; Samuel Taggart to John Taylor, 2 Nov. 1814, in Reynolds, Mary R., ed., “Letters of Samuel Taggart, Representative in Congress, 1803–1814,” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 33 (1923), 430–31Google Scholar; Porter, , Jacksons and Lees, 2, 1122Google Scholar; Boston, New-England Palladium, 18 and 28 10 1814Google Scholar; Boston, Columbian Centinel, 19 and 26 10 1814Google Scholar; Keene, Newhampshire Sentinel, 22 10 1814Google Scholar.
29 See Taggart to Taylor, 5 June. 1812, in Reynolds, “Letters of Taggart,” pp. 403–04; Pickering to Rufus King, 4 Mar. 1804, Pickering to Strong, 12 Oct. 1814, Strong to Pickering, 17 Oct. 1814, in Adams, New-England Federalism, pp. 352, 394–96, 399Google Scholar; Proclamation of Gov. Caleb Strong, 26 June 1812, and Address of Mass. Senate, 8 June 1814, in Niles' Register, 1 Aug. 1812, p. 355, and 25 June 1814, p. 274; Hartford, Connecticut Courant, 15 06 1813 and 21 06 1814Google Scholar; Boston Daily Advertiser, reprinted in Philadelphia United States Gazette, 29 Oct. 1814. New England Federalists who had moved to the West held similar views. See Rufus Putnam to Pickering, 16 June 1813, in Pickering Papers (microfilm), Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass., reel 30; Manasseh Cutler to Ephraim Cutler, 23 Mar. 1813, in William, and Cutler, Julia, Life, Journals, and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, 2 vols. (Cincinnati: R. Clarke, 1888), 2, 318Google Scholar.
30 Address of Mass. Senate, 8 June 1814, in Niles' Register, 25 June 1814, p. 274.
31 Strong to Pickering, 17 Oct. 1814, in Adams, , New-England Federalism, p. 399Google Scholar.
32 Boston, Columbian Centinel, 19 10 1814Google Scholar.
33 Taggart to Taylor, 2 Nov. 1814, in Reynolds, “Letters of Taggart,” p. 431. In February of 1815, shortly before peace was restored, Massachusetts officials considered adopting a legislative resolution indicating the state's willingness to give up part of Maine. See Christopher Gore to Rufus King, 11 Apr. 1815, in King, , King, 5, 476–77Google Scholar.
34 See New York Evening Post, 13 Oct. 1814; Philadelphia United States Gazette, 27–28 Oct. 1814. and articles reprinted from Boston, Daily Advertiser in Gazette, 25–31 10 1814Google Scholar; Georgetown, Federal Republican, reprinted in Charleston Courier, 1 11 1814Google Scholar.
35 See Monroe to William Branch Giles, 17 Oct. 1814, in American State Papers: Military Affairs, 1, 515.
36 See speeches in Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 3 Sess., pp. 76 (David Daggett), 90–91 (Jeremiah Mason), 151 (Christopher Gore), 442 (Cyrus King), 687–88, 791 (Morris Miller), 739, 742 (T. P. Grosvenor), 821 (Z. R. Shipherd), 907–08 (Artemas Ward), 940–44 (Lyman Law), 964–69 (Elijah Brigham). Also New York Evening Post, 4–5 Nov 1814; Alexandria, Gazette, 17 12 1814Google Scholar; Baltimore Federal Gazette, reprinted in Pittsburgh Gazette, 21 Jan. 1815.
37 Quoted words from speech of Goldsborough, Robert, in Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 3 Sess., p. 104Google Scholar. See also speeches, ibid., pp. 70–77 (David Daggett), 77–91 (Jeremiah Mason), 95–102 (Christopher Gore), 775–99 (Morris Miller), 819–30 (Z. R. Shipherd), 830–33 (Jonathan O. Moseley), 834–50 (Richard Stockton), 850–60 (Daniel Sheffey), 904–21 (Artemas Ward), 922–28 (William Gaston). Also Federalist press, Oct.–Dec. 1814
38 Speech of Grosvenor, T. P., in Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 3 Sess., p. 733Google Scholar. See also speeches, ibid., pp. 720–32 (Cyrus King), 744–49 (Morris Miller). Also Federalist press, Oct.–Dec. 1814
39 See speeches in Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 3 Sess., pp. 440 (Thomas Bayly), 472 (Z. R. Shipherd), 948 (Lyman Law). Also Boston, Columbian Centinel, 31 08 1814Google Scholar; Boston, New-England Palladium, 2, 6, 9 09 1814Google Scholar; Boston, Gazette, 5 09 1814Google Scholar; Portsmouth Oracle, reprinted in Chillicothe, Supporter, 19 11 1814Google Scholar; Baltimore Federal Gazette, reprinted in Pittsburgh, Gazette, 21 01 1815Google Scholar; George Hay to James Monroe, 27 Nov. 1814, in Monroe Papers (microfilm), Library of Congress, Washington, D. C., reel 5.
40 A. C. Hanson to R. G. Harper, 9 Oct. 1814, in Harper-Pennington Papers, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Md.
41 Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 3 Sess., pp. 110–11; Ingersoll, Charles J., History of the Second War Between the United States of America and Great Britain, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, 1853), 2, 292–93Google Scholar.
42 See American State Papers: Foreign Relations, 3, 710–26.
43 Washington National Intelligencer, 2 Dec. 1814. The attempt to suppress the documents, unmentioned in the Annals, was observed and recorded by a correspondent for the Boston New-England Palladium. See issue of 9 Dec. 1814.
44 See Ebenezer Stott to Duncan Cameron, 12 Dec. 1814, in Cameron Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill, N. C.; Boston, New-England Palladium, 9 12 1814Google Scholar; New York Evening Post, 5, 7, 8 Dec. 1814; Trenton, Federalist, 5 12 1814Google Scholar; Philadelphia United States Gazette, 13 Dec. 1814, and 6 Jan. 1815; Georgetown, Federal Republican, 2 12 1814Google Scholar; Alexandria, Gazette, 3 12 1814Google Scholar; Baltimore Federal Gazette, reprinted in Charleston, Courier, 20 12 1814Google Scholar.
45 Ingersoll, , History, 2, 282Google Scholar.
46 Federalists allowed a state army bill to go through uncontested, but this was consistent with their policy of supporting local defense.
47 See speeches in Annals of Congress, 13 Cong., 3 Sess., pp. 208–14 (Rufus King), 564–65, 568–81, 987–88 (William Gaston), 626–28 (Elijah Brigham), 642–43, 1011–12, 1014–23 (Daniel Webster), 656–65 (A. C. Hanson), 665–85 (T. P. Grosvenor), 686–88 (Morris Miller).
48 See tables in Hickey, “The Federalists and the War of 1812,” pp. 186–87. On all the tax bills combined, New England Federalists voted 24–156, Middle State Federalists 45–51 and Southern Federalists 20–39.
49 Fritz, Harry, “The Collapse of Party: President, Congress, and the Decline of Party Action, 1807–1817,” Ph.D. dissertation (Washington University, 1971), p. 258Google Scholar. This study is a broadly–based examination of party behavior in the Age of Jefferson. Fritz does not distinguish between war measures and other legislation, and his list of Federalists differs from mine. Even so, his quantitative work is sparkling, and his figures show House Federalists acting with consistently greater cohesion than Republicans throughout the period of his study.
