Death Knell of the Federalist Party

In the years leading up to the U.S. Declaration of War against Great Britain, in the 12th U.S. Congress, the Democratic-Republican party increased its majorities. In the House, 106 members were Democratic-Republicans, and 36 were Federalists. In the Senate, the split was 29 to 7 in favor of the Democratic-Republicans.

However, votes were not always along party lines. One of the most divisive issues was which course of action the U.S. would take against Great Britain. The economy in states like Massachusetts, where many merchants whose livelihoods were dependent on trade with England, the representatives of both parties opposed a war.

While there was near unanimous agreement something needed to be done, the disagreement as to what was the crux of the debate. Jefferson’s Embargo Act of 1807 and the subsequent Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 caused the economy to contract. Today, we would call the 10% reduction in U.S. GDP caused by these laws a severe recession bordering on depression.

War was declared on June 18th, 1812, and to be honest, it did not go well for the U.S. Our invasion of Canada failed, the dismal performance of the U.S. Army at Bladensburg, and then the burning of Washington were just three of our failures. Coupled with the British blockade of major U.S. ports caused severe hardship among merchants who depended on foreign trade.

The bright spot was that we gained control of the Great Lakes, and the small U.S. Navy was, when it could get to sea, effective. Along with privateers, the U.S. gave the Royal Navy a migraine headache.

By 1813 and early 1814, merchants in both parties, particularly the Federalists in New England, had had enough. In December 1814, 26 Federalists from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont convened the Hartford Convention to lay out their grievances against the Federal government.

The meetings of the Hartford Convention were held in secret, and there is no official record of the debate, who voted for what proposal or who said what. What did come out was a report that demanded five changes to U.S. policies.

1.? Congress shall not pass any trade embargo that would last more than 60 days.

2.? Amend the Senate and House rules so that a 2/3rds majority would be needed for any declaration of war, admission of a new state, and initiating a policy of prohibiting commerce with a foreign nation.

3.? Eliminating the three-fifths rule that allowed southern states to count 60% of their slave population to determine how many representatives in the House of Representatives a state would have.

4.? Limit future presidents to one term.

5.? Require each president to come from a different state than his predecessor.

The reaction was not what the Federalists intended. Their timing was terrible. By the time their report was released, Battle of New Orleans had been won, and the war was over because the Treaty of Ghent had been signed on December 24th, 1814

Democratic-Republicans pounced on the proposals. They used the event to position the Federalists as against the expansion of the United States, proponents of secession by the five states represented and downright treasonous.

Some of the loudest and most vehement protests came from the southern states with large slave populations. The three-fifths rule did give them an advantage with more members in the House of Representatives.

In the election of 1816, the Federalist Party was trounced and was no longer a viable force in U.S. politics.

Like any action of this sort, the Hartford Convention had an unintended consequence. Fast forward to the days leading up to the American Civil War. As Secessionist leaders in the states that became the Confederacy planned their secession, they looked carefully at the legal underpinnings of some of the Hartford Convention proposals and borrowed what they needed to support their argument.