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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Sunday, November 30, 2014

The 1816 Presidential Election in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire


Rufus King
Founding Father of the United States
Major, Continental Army
Confederation Congressman
Constitutional Convention
Minister to Great Britain
U.S. Senator from New York
1816 Candidate for President
Federalist Party


(Here is another in our continuing series on the Federalist Party. They helped created this great nation, gave us liberty and our Constitution. But would they even recognize the centralized, authoritarian and Big Brother country that calls itself the United States?)


By Gary;

The Internet has taken me to Nerd Heaven on more than one occasion.  On the net you can find some of the most obscure, strange and interesting things imaginable.

In this case I ran across a blog created by a student at the University of Oxford dealing with American election results going back to 1789.  A fellow election nerd.  Bless him.

If all you read was school text books you might think that Jefferson, Madison and Monroe were worshiped by voters everywhere.  But that type of history has always been fantasy.

Huge portions of American society opposed the Jeffersonian style anti-bank, anti-commerce, anti-internal improvements, anti-military policies that appealed to unthinking mob rule.  Though out of power from 1800 on the Federalists continued to aggressively oppose the Jeffersonians.

Slowly portions of the public woke up to the gross incompetence of Jeffersonian rule.

Gross Incompetence

There is nothing like the gross incompetence of an administration to breath life into the opposition party.

The Jeffersonian Democrat-Republicans systematically starved the American military allowing everyone from the British to the Barbary pirates to walk all over us.  The propaganda "to the shores of Tripoli" still exists to cover up the fact that Jefferson's military policies were a total failure that ended up in the U.S. paying ransom to Islamist pirates to temporarily end the war.

Rather than build a strong American military and economy, Jefferson pretended to "punish" England with Embargo Act of 1807.  The real aim was to politically punish the states that supported the Federalist Party. By spring 1808 New England ports were nearly shut down, and the regional economy headed into a depression, with growing unemployment.

Election of 1816

The incompetence of the Democrat-Republicans up to and during the War of 1812 caused a revival of the Federalist Party.  The people were so angry that only four months after Madison's declaration of war against Britain the Federalist fusion ticket for President won 48% of the vote nearly beating Founding Father James Madison.

But by 1816 the war was over.  The war had been a bumbled mess with no meaningful change in Britain's policies.  But because of Andrew Jackson's last minute victory at New Orleans the Democrat-Republicans got the credit for some great "victory" in a national wave of patriotism.

So James Monroe rode the wave of victory in war in the election of 1816.  He also adopted the Federalist policies of a national bank and protective tariffs.

The Federalists floundered with no foreign enemy, their issues taken and the Hartford Convention pulling them down.  The Federalists ceased to be a major force in national politics.

Still Opposition to the Democrat-Republicans

With everything going against them and for their opponents, many voters were still opposing the Jeffersonians.

Politics never changes.  It would be a cold day in Hell before Hamiltonians would cast their vote for a follower of Jefferson and vice versa.

The Federalists could still command nearly 41% of the vote in Pennsylvania against Democrat-Republican James Monroe.

So we return to the Internet Blog I ran across.  Below are two maps showing the strength of Federalism among voters.




















            Republican in shades of tan                    Federalist in shades of blue-purple


1816 U.S. Presidential Election: Pennsylvania Results
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James Monroe [Republican]
25,653 (59.33%)
.
Rufus King [Federalist]
17,588 (40.67%)


Philadelphia 
Rufus King [F]                               James Monroe [R]
4,110 (59.09%)                              2,846 (40.91%)

Lancaster
Rufus King [F]                               James Monroe [R]
1,438 (54.04%)                              1,223 (45.96%)

Bucks County
Rufus King [F]                               James Monroe [R]
1,950 (52.15%)                              1,789 (47.85%)

Delaware County
Rufus King [F]                               James Monroe [R]
471 (57.51%)                                 348 (42.49%)

Adams County
Rufus King [F]                               James Monroe [R]
448 (68.61%)                                 205 (31.39%)

Allegheny County
Rufus King [F]                               James Monroe [R]
419 (65.78%)                                 218 (34.22%)

Lycoming County
James Monroe [R]                           Rufus King [F]
267 (94.01%)                                  17 (5.99%)

Huntingdon County
James Monroe [R]                           Rufus King [F]
474 (87.13%)                                   70 (12.87%)

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                              Republican in shades of tan           Federalist in shades of purple


1816 U.S. Presidential Election: New Hampshire Results
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James Monroe [Republican]
15,195 (53.34%)


Rufus King [Federalist]
13,291 (46.66%)


In yet another state the Jeffersonian Democrat-Republicans still faced stiff opposition from Federalist voters.

For more on these elections go to Centanium.com


Presidential election of 1816
Support for the Federalist Party largely came from the coastal states where money and jobs were created from imports and exports to Europe and the Caribbean.  As voters moved inland the economic issues of trade and commerce became far less important to them.
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The hot button issues for these new voters became "free" land to be stolen by law or war from their neighbors in British Canada, Spain or the Indian tribes.  In this growing western frontier area the Jeffersonian Democrat-Republican Party racked up huge majorities.

U.S. Senate elections, 1816
While the Federalist Party was overwhelmed in the 1816 Electoral College they continued to elect large numbers of U.S. Senators through the end of the decade.
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The War of 1812 saw a massive revival of the Federalist Party.  Anti-war feeling pushed the fusion Federalist Party Presidential ticket up to 48% of the vote (up from 32% in 1808).  James Madison was nearly defeated because of his incompetent policies.  The Federalist revival saw a huge jump in new Federalist Congressmen.
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But the revival of the two party system was not to be. The unfortunate Federalist Hartford Convention combined General Andrew Jackson's overwhelming victory in New Orleans swept over the Northeast.  Voters conveniently "forgot" their anti-war views.  The Federalists were discredited resulting in their elimination as a major national political force.
.
By the election of 1822 Federalists in the House had dwindled to 24 Congressmen and only 5 Senators.  In 1824 the surviving Federalists mostly merged with supporters of former Federalist U.S. Senator, and now President, John Quincy Adams. Eventually the Adams party became the new National Republican Party. 

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The Federalist eagle prevents Jefferson from burning the Constitution 
on the alter of despotism and mob rule.


Life, Liberty and Property.

“Citizens choose your sides. You who are for French notions of government; for the tempestuous sea of anarchy and misrule; for arming the poor against the rich; for fraternizing with the foes of God and man; go to the left and support the leaders, or the dupes, of the anti-federal junto. But you that are sober, industrious, thriving, and happy, give your votes for those men who mean to preserve the union of the states, the purity and vigor of our excellent Constitution, the sacred majesty of the laws, and the holy ordinances of religion.” - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - A New York Federalist Newspaper (Spring of 1800)


The Federalist Party was the first American political party. In Presidential politics the Federalists operated from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System. Remnants of the Party lasted until 1830. The Federalists totally controlled the Federal government until 1801. 

The party was formed by Alexander Hamilton, who, during George Washington's first term, built a network of supporters, largely urban bankers and businessmen, to support his Conservative fiscal policies. These supporters grew into the Federalist Party committed to a fiscally sound and nationalistic government. The United States' only Federalist President was John Adams; although George Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, he remained an independent his entire presidency.

Read some profiles of the great Federalist leaders who helped build a free United States.


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THE FEDERALIST - James Buchanan - Our Last Federalist Party President
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THE FEDERALIST - John Eager Howard - Revolutionary War Patriot

THE FEDERALIST - Jonathan Dayton - Founding Father 

The Revolution of American Conservatism - The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy

THE FEDERALIST - General Philip Schuyler - Revolutionary War Patriot

THE FEDERALIST - Founding Father Jared Ingersoll 

THE FEDERALIST - General William Richardson Davie

THE FEDERALIST - General Thomas Pinckney

THE FEDERALIST - Josiah Quincy III - Federalist Patriot 
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THE FEDERALIST - Robert Goodloe Harper - "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." 

THE FEDERALIST - Edmund Randolph - Founding Father

THE FEDERALIST - Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge - George Washington's Spy

THE FEDERALIST - Colonel John Hoskins Stone

THE FEDERALIST - Revolutionary War General Henry Lee

THE FEDERALIST - John Quincy Adams

THE FEDERALIST - Thomas Jefferson and political attack ads


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