Students suspended for posting photo of a visit to the gun range

Bask in Your Thought Crime

Think and speak only government approved thoughts

(NJ.com)  -  A New Jersey school district that allegedly suspended two high school students this week over a gun photo taken during a family visit to a private shooting range is facing community backlash and the threat of a lawsuit over district policies.

The photo of four rifles, magazines and a gun duffel bag was shared by one of the students on the social media app Snapchat with the caption "fun day at the range," according to Lacey Township resident Amanda Buron, a family friend of one of the students.

A screen capture of the image made the rounds among other students and later brought to the attention of Lacey Township High School officials. Buron said the students received a five-day in-school suspension for violating the school's policy on weapons possession.

News of the suspension soon circulated on social media groups for Lacey and quickly drew hundreds of responses harshly criticizing the district's action and its policy on weapons, which many called overly broad.

Lacey schools Superintendent Craig Wigley said in an email to NJ Advance Media on Thursday that "information posted on social media is incorrect" and that private matters involving students cannot be discussed. He declined to say what aspect of the accounts posted on social media is inaccurate.

Read More . . . .

Trump channels Hamilton and Jackson says Bannon

The Problem is the Oligarchs Own Congress

(Breitbart)  -  Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon told Charlie Rose that President Donald Trump combined Jacksonian populism and Hamiltonian economic nationalism to galvanize working-class Americans of all backgrounds to win the White House.

Rose aired Bannon’s remarks on his much-heralded Charlie Rose Show on PBS on Tuesday evening. The esteemed CBS anchor interviewed Bannon for 60 Minutes, and he also aired some of his interview with the Breitbart News executive chairman on his interview program on Monday evening as well.

When Rose asked Bannon to define the populism that got Trump elected, Bannon told him  that “populism is anti-elitism. Anti-crony capitalism.”

“It is basically the voice of the people of this country saying that there is a corrupt permanent political class in Washington, DC, inextricably linked to the financiers on wall Street and the high-tech community in Silicon Valley and in Hollywood,” Bannon said.

He added that these elites “rule us” in order to “spite what we want to happen” and commit “economic hate crime[s]” against American workers. Bannon spoke about the country’s industrial and manufacturing base being “exported overseas” while Asia’s middle class rises “at the expense of the working-class people in this country.”

“What Donald Trump was able to galvanize is kinda what i call Jacksonian populism, which is always very, very concerned about an elite in Washington, DC, with … Hamiltonian economic nationalism,” Bannon said. “The two great forces of 19th century politics have really been combined in this modern movement.”

Bannon further defined the three basic “touchstones” of Trump’s movement: 1) stop mass immigration and cut back dramatically on legal immigration; 2) bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States; 3) get us out of these pointless foreign wars.

He said these were the “three broad categories’ of Trump’s movement and added, “you are going to see that time and again.”

Bannon also said Trump resonated with Breitbart News’ readers and defeated the most talented Republican presidential field in history because of his positions on trade and illegal immigration. Bannon also told Rose that Breitbart News is a throwback to 19th century newspapers that openly stated their positions on issues.

“We’re very anti-elite. And the reason is the elites are incompetent,” Bannon said. “If they were so smart, we would be in a better situation. They are complete and totally incompetent.”

Bannon also added that, “We’re populist. We’re economic nationalists. We believe in America First. We don’t believe in a lot of foreign intervention that’s not in the vital national security interests of the United States.”

Read More . . . .

Visitors rap Hamilton's story at Jefferson's Monticello home

Bitch Slapping Thomas Jefferson

• I say stick it to him. Jefferson's phony "dream" of an agrarian democracy of small farmers and slavery died the moment he left office. 
• The Federalists under Hamilton correctly saw the future of a powerful and industrial United States.
• "The proudest empire in Europe is but a bubble compared to what America will be, must be, in the course of two centuries, perhaps of one." - - - - Gouverneur Morris, Federalist (Author of the Constitution of the United States)

(Lexington Herald Leader)  -  Alexander Hamilton never visited the home of archrival Thomas Jefferson. But the nation's first Treasury secretary – and namesake of the hit musical – rules the house during the new Hamilton Tour Takeover at Monticello.

The after-hour visits are part history class and part civics lesson – with chances to rap and sing.

"Jefferson is definitely a villain of the musical, but this is not in any way a response," says Steve Light, Monticello's tour manager. "We want people to engage in the history."

The leaders' complicated and contradictory relationship becomes clear the moment you enter the mansion. Light points to busts of Hamilton and Jefferson, which the third president installed so they could remain "opposed in death as in life."

The guide distributes stick puppets of the Founding Fathers, and the nature of their conflict emerges as visitors read excerpts from source documents and lyrics from the musical. Hamilton, an "immigrant, orphan, bastard," believed in the leadership of aristocrats, while Jefferson, an aristocrat, trusted in the people, Light says.

"Who does he mean by the people?" asks Astrid Crookshank, visiting from Maryland with her college-age son. "Women? Slaves? Or white landowners?"

Light answers by quoting "The Hamilton Mixtape" about the nature of history: "The reality is messier and richer, kids."

As the tour approaches the dining room, a visitor begins to sing "The Room Where It Happens," a showstopper from the play.

Light explains the famed meeting actually occurred in New York, where Hamilton, Jefferson and James Madison agreed the nation would assume states' debts in return for placing the capital in Washington, D.C. As the song says, Jefferson likely "arranged the menu, the venue and the setting" – with the help of his slave, Paris-trained chef James Hemings.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/living/travel/article144969609.html#storylink=cpy

Read More . . . .

"Mommy, Mommy can I visit the room where
Jefferson raped his slaves?"
kk
Jefferson raped and impregnated his 14 year old slave Sally Hemings
who was the half-sister of his dead wife Martha Wayles Skelton.
Jefferson was one sick bastard.
kk
See More:
Thomas Jefferson and political attack ads

Descendants of Thomas Jefferson and slave Sally Hemings pose for a 
group photograph at Monticello in 1999.

July 4th, 1776

The Greatest Man in History.
My, my how petty and small the modern political hacks
look in comparison to George Washington.

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

- - - - Declaration of Independence

"The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.  But killing one tryant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few and the many."

- - - - John Adams (1787)


"I am resolved to vest the Congress with no more power than is absolutely necessary, and to use a familiar expression, to keep the staff in our own hands; for I am confident if surrendered into the hands of others a most pernicious use will be made of it."

- - - - Edward Rutedge (1776)


"A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired."

- - - - Alexander Hamilton (1775)


"Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country."

- - - - George Washington (1783)


"Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of Action; and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life."

- - - - George Washington (1783)


"Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?"

- - - - James Madison (1788)


"But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain...let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING."

- - - - Thomas Paine (1776)

Yankee Doodle

Ballad of the Green Mountain Boys

We owe no allegiance, we bow to no throne,

Our ruler is law and the law is our own;
Our leaders themselves are our own fellow-men,
Who can handle the sword and the scythe and the pen

Hurrah for Vermont! For the land that we till

Must have sons to defend her from valley and hill

Our vow is recorded--our banner unfurled,

In the name of Vermont we defy all the world!

Then cheer, cheer, the green mountaineer, then cheer, cheer the green mountaineer

"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms."

James Madison

"No man can suffer too much, and no man can 
fall too soon, if he suffer or if he fall in defense of 

the liberties and constitution of his country."

."

Daniel Webster
Federalist Party
New Hampshire Congressman
Massachusetts Congressman
U.S. Senator
Secretary of State

Alexander Hamilton Saved, Andrew Jackson Screwed

Hamilton Dodges The Second Bullet

• We here at The Federalist applaud Alexander Hamilton (founder of the Federalist Party) remaining on the $10 bill.  We also feel it is only just that Thomas Jefferson is stuck on the nearly unused $2 bill.
• But I had to laugh out loud that a Democrat Administration would dump Jackson, the founder of the Democrat Party.

(RT News)  -  Former slave Harriet Tubman will replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is expected to announce on Wednesday.

There will also be changes made to the $5 bill to depict civil rights-era leaders and on the $10 for the suffragette movement, Politoco reported, citing sources.

Alexander Hamilton, who created the Treasury Department, was originally targeted for replacement, but will remain on the $10 bill after public outcry.

Critics called for Jackson to be replaced based on his decision to violently remove Native Americans from their ancestral lands as well as the fact that he was a slaveowner. He is likely to remain on the back of the bill, according to Politico.

Hamilton has gained popularity recently, thanks to the Broadway hit musical based on his life. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who created and stars in ‘Hamilton’, was a leading lobbyist for the former Treasury secretary to remain on the $10.

Read More . . . .

INSANE Ted Cruz wants to overthrow the Supreme Court

The Great Whore Ted Cruz

• The scumbag Cruz just spent months pushing Obamatrade that is top secret and no one was allowed to read.  Now Cruz wants to burn down the Supreme Court in a quest for personal power.

By Gary:

The Great Whore Ted Cruz is why our Founding Fathers created an independent Federal Court system in the first place.

With a massive 4% in the last Fox News poll for President, Ted Cruz is trying to pump up his failing campaign with a populist plan to overthrow the Supreme Court.

The truly independent Court was created by great men like George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Rufus King and James Madison to be able to stand up against crass politicians who pander to the masses for votes and raw power.

But the supremely ambitious Cruz wants the voters to be able to throw Supreme Court justices out in popular elections.

INSANITY  -  Leftist Democrats have won four of the six elections for President.  Imagine the majority left-wing voters tossing out all of the pro-2nd Amendment judges in a national election!

Cruz is a mad man looking to use Supreme Court decisions he does not like as an excuse to undermine the Constitution and obtain personal power.

Our Federalist Founding Fathers knew that a strong Constitutional Republic needed a balance between the fire breathing un-thinking masses and politicians wanting to use those temporary passions to accumulate personal power.

Cruz has proven the Founders were right.  Cruz pandered by butt-kissing on Obamatrade and now he attacks the independent judiciary looking for votes.

As I wrote before, Ted Cruz is as phony as a $3 bill.

________________________________________

From Senator Ted Cruz:

"The time has come, therefore, to recognize that the problem lies not with the lawless rulings of individual lawless justices, but with the lawlessness of the Court itself. The decisions that have deformed our constitutional order and have debased our culture are but symptoms of the disease of liberal judicial activism that has infected our judiciary. A remedy is needed that will restore health to the sick man in our constitutional system."

"Rendering the justices directly accountable to the people would provide such a remedy. Twenty states have now adopted some form of judicial retention elections, and the experience of these states demonstrates that giving the people the regular, periodic power to pass judgment on the judgments of their judges . . . "

"Judicial retention elections have worked in states across America; they will work for America. In order to provide the people themselves with a constitutional remedy to the problem of judicial activism and the means for throwing off judicial tyrants, I am proposing an amendment to the United States Constitution that would subject the justices of the Supreme Court to periodic judicial-retention elections. Every justice, beginning with the second national election after his or her appointment, will answer to the American people and the states in a retention election every eight years."

Read More . . . .

"It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is."
"

Chief Justice John Marshall

Federalist Party

The Federalist Papers #78 
"The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body." 
Alexander Hamilton
Founder, Federalist Party

Obama attacks Alexander Hamilton

The White House Suggestion for the New 10 Spot

The Final Insult

"There is nothing wrong now with Hamilton, a Founder, Constitution signer, and founder of the Federalist Party, on the $10 bill. The choice to remove him for a yet-to-be-named woman while a genocidal, Democrat bigot who defied a Supreme Court ruling to tickle his “relocation” fetish remains on the $20 is insulting." 

- Dana Loesch

By Gary;

Yet another Leftist insult to Alexander Hamilton, the Federalist Party and our Founding Fathers.

The Obama Regime wants to remove Founding Father and Revolutionary War hero General Alexander Hamilton from the $10 bill and replace him with a yet unnamed women.

The selection of a woman fits right in with the Democrat "War on Women" narrative.  Don't think for one second that this is not part of the plan.

Note that a Constitutional Federalist is targeted for removal to the ash bin of history to forget and be forgotten by the American Sheeple.

By "accident" the Obama Regime skipped over removing $2 bill placeholder Thomas Jefferson (a rapist of female slaves who did not write the Constitution) and $20 bill placeholder Democrat Andrew Jackson (slaveholder and a murderer who defied Federalist Party Supreme Court Justice John Marshall).

In my view politics is totally at play here.

Leaving politics aside, I am happy to dump Jackson and honor a women on the $20 bill.  My two top contenders are Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross, and feminist Susan B. Anthony who has already been on the $1 coin.

I know it is too late, but leave Hamilton alone.


Thanks to Diogenes' Middle Finger

If not an Angela Davis $10 bill these 

could be the runners up.

Abigail Adams

Harriet Tubman

Susan B. Anthony

Jane Addams

Eleanor Roosevelt

A very, very narrow victory for free speech

One Vote Away From Fascism

• In a narrow 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court acted to protect the 1st Amendment from a Congress of both parties that wants to limit political free speech.
• The so-called "Conservative" Supreme Court is Schizophrenic.  One day they support guns and free speech, then the next day they openly piss on other Bill of Rights amendments and support a police state.
• The question of the day - "Do the judges actually read the Bill of Rights? or are they just making it up as they go?"

The Federal Court system is the only branch of government still operating as our Federalist Founding Fathers intended.  Our lifetime appointed judges are the only thing standing between us and the mindless anarchy of an insane Congress pandering to the mob for votes and building their personal power.

Even so, judges from both parties still act like the Bill of Rights does not exist.  What part of "Congress shall make no law" do they not understand?

On Wednesday the Conservative Supreme Court majority ruled that wealthy donors should not be limited in how many candidates they can contribute to during an election.  A blow for free speech and the 1st Amendment. 

But then the "Conservatives" left in place the Fascist donation cap limit on freedom of speech with a limit on what Big Brother Government will allow you to give to one candidate.

So we have half a victory.  Still half is better than the zero the lib justices wanted.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., in the controlling opinion in the 5-4 ruling, said that while the government has an interest in preventing corruption of federal officeholders, individuals have political rights that include being able to give to as many candidates as they want, in order to show support.

“Money in politics may at times seem repugnant to some, but so too does much of what the First Amendment vigorously protects,” the chief justice wrote. “If the First Amendment protects flag burning, funeral protests, and Nazi parades — despite the profound offense such spectacles cause — it surely protects political campaign speech despite popular opposition.”

Under the current limit, a donor can’t give more than $123,200 to candidates, parties and political action committees. Of that, just $48,600 can go directly to candidates.

That means if someone wanted to give the maximum donation, he could only contribute to nine candidates.

Chief Justice Roberts said it made no sense that someone couldn’t give to a 10th candidate or more — and said the government didn’t offer a clear line on where corruption would come into play.

Justice Roberts‘ ruling was joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel A. Alito Jr. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote an opinion joining in the judgment, though he would have gone further in undoing the limit on how much can be given to individual campaigns.
.
Via The Washington Times..
..

The Federalist Papers #78
"The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body."
Alexander Hamilton
Founder, Federalist Party

Alexander Hamilton, Syria & the Imperial Presidency

"The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. . . . It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first General and Admiral of the Confederacy; while that of the British king extends to the declaring of war and the raising and regulating of fleets and armies, -- all of which by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature."

Alexander Hamilton

  (The Federalist Papers, 69, 1788.)

By Gary;

Syria is not some BS Democrat vs. Republican issue.  The debate for war cuts across party lines and comes down to Authoritarianism vs. Constitutional Federalism. 

Alexander Hamilton had it right.  No one man should be able to send a nation to war against another nation that has not even threatened to attack the U.S.  Congress has that power.

The rapid spread of news and ideas through a free Internet Media forced a vote in the British Parliament that defeated war.

The British defeat caused the war plans of the bipartisan Washington Elite to be thrown off balance, and forced Obama to seek Congressional approval.  The Elites are not used to the Internet Media that can point out the BS and lies of both government and their lap-dog establishment media.

In many ways it will be a phony debate.  Congress has pretended for a long time now that the CIA was not active in funding and arming the Syrian rebels.  We have already been at war using Islamic Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States as front men.

What the debate is really about is should the U.S. go in the deep end of the pool or stay in the shallow end and go on pretending we are not supporting the rebels.

Syrian Rebels.
The bipartisan Washington Elites have already been running an unconstitutional war in Syria through the CIA.  A vote by Congress only gives the Elites legal cover to expand their actions.

Warmongers line up to back Obama
The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen were not enough.  Now the Washington Elites want to go into Syria.


Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, former CIA director, called strongly Saturday for Congress to back the White House on Syria, declaring that military action against the regime is “necessary” to deter “Iran, North Korea and other would-be aggressors.”

“Failure of Congress to approve the president’s request would have serious ramifications not just in the Mideast but around the world,” Petraeus said in a four-sentence statement provided to Politico.

Nancy Pelosi  -  “It is in our national interest to respond to the Syrian government’s unspeakable use of chemical weapons."

John McCain  -  “I think it would be a very serious situation where we are now 535 commanders in chief. Look, the president of the United States is the only commander.”

Eric Cantor  -  “There are no easy solutions and a one-off military strike is not by itself an adequate strategy, but I am convinced that the risks of inaction outweigh the risks of a limited intervention."

Peter King  -  Presidents from both parties have not hesitated to take quick and effective military action when they believed it was essential to our national interest. And they did it without seeking prior approval from Congress.  These presidents acted pursuant to their constitutional and statutory powers as commander-in-chief. They knew that for America's security and credibility, we cannot have 535 commanders-in-chief.


Pat Buchanan Syria Is Dress Rehearsal For War With Iran

Thank you CIA for your support.

The GOP-Democrat Alliance to protect Obama on Syria

 

  

 The GOP-Democrat Alliance

The U.S. is the only democracy on earth

without an opposition party.

 

While there are some differences between the political "factions" that rule America, it is also true that both sides traditionally close ranks to protect the Elites of Washington from the prying eyes of those pesky voters back home.

Now it is leaking out that the House GOP Leadership may prevent a floor vote on Syria if it looks like Obama would be defeated.

“I just don’t believe that if defeat is certain, the House leadership will want to see a president utterly humiliated on the House floor in a public vote,” one top aide to the Republican leadership told the National Review.

Should the full Senate vote to approve an attack on Syria — as still appears somewhat likely — the battle would shift to the House.

“An attempt would be made to let the whole thing go away. I don’t think it would be done to give the GOP any extra leverage in debt-ceiling or budget negotiations — Obama isn’t the grateful type — but simply because the weakness it would demonstrate wouldn’t be good for the country,” the aide told the National Review.

Good for the country my ass.  The GOP wants to protect Obama's ass and the future ass of any GOP President to wage war.

.
Dems & GOP Arm Syrian Rebels.
.
We have long been conducting and unconstitutional war to overthrow the government of Syria.  The Democrat and GOP leadership is doing everything possible to protect their CIA run "Secret War" in Syria from full public view.  But detailed information about CIA directed arms shipment can be seen in media all over the world. 
.
See our past stories.
THE FEDERALIST - "U.S. - Britain are arming the Islamist Syrian Rebels."
.
THE FEDERALIST - "CIA smuggling arms to Syria."
.
THE FEDERALIST - "WAR - Democrats & GOP push for a new war in Syria."
.
THE FEDERALIST - "CIA trained Syrian rebels 'on way to battlefield'."

 

DOMA and Voting Rights - Constitutional Federalism in Action

The Supreme Court Supports the 10th Amendment

The Court upholds the right of the states to control their own

affairs in the areas of election and marriage laws.

By Gary;

The Supreme Court must be doing a good job.  In one week they have managed to both piss off and bring praise from Liberals and Conservatives.

The Court is the last properly operating fragment created by the Federalists at the Constitutional Convention.  So naturally both Big Government Liberals and Conservatives will be angry at the Court at different times for daring to be the third branch of government and operate the way Alexander Hamilton and Federalist Chief Justice John Marshall wanted them to.

Gay Marriage  -  Yes and No

The pro and anti Gay marriage sides along with the media missed what I consider to be the main points of the DOMA ruling.  The ruling represents a victory for the cause of state's rights and the 10th Amendment.

 

The Supreme Court for the first time said the Federal government couldn't discriminate against same-sex couples if their marriage is recognized by a state.

Conservatives argued Gay Marriage
from a religious not Constitutional
point of view.  America is not a
Theocracy where the courts exist
to support Holy doctrine. 

In the case before the court, New York resident Edith Windsor would have been exempt from a Federal estate tax of $363,000 had her late spouse been male.  The Court was simply upholding the marriage laws of the state of New York and equal treatment under the law for all groups.

Ms. Windsor will now get a refund from the IRS of $363,000 plus interest.

Conservatives attack the ruling from a religious, not a legal, point of view. 

The United States is not a theocracy like Saudi Arabia, Iran or Vatican State.  The courts to not exist to support Sharia, Biblical or Buddhist religious teachings.  The U.S. is a secular society with many different points of view from atheist to dozens of very different religions.

Voting Rights

Here is was the Liberals turn to scream at the "evil" Supreme Court for overturning the key elements of the oppressive Voting Rights Act.

Liberals (including most Republicans in Congress) were more than happy to keep fifty year old voting law restrictions in place against selected states.  That way both parties could parade themselves before the voters at election time and boast how "progressive" they are.

Under the Constitution and the Civil Rights Acts passed in the 1860s and 1870s the Congress has the right to protect the rights of the people from oppression by dictatorial state governments.

The Supreme Court rightly decided that using 50 year old data to control selected states for political purposes was unconstitutional.  Again, this was a victory for the 10th Amendment right of states to control their own affairs.  If that power is used to oppress a group then the Federal Courts are there to seek justice.

The 10th Amendment
So-called "Conservatives" are beating the anti-gay marriage drum.  So bet it.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion . . . on a state by state basis that is.  The Supreme Court's ruling on DOMA effectively upholds the 10th Amendment of the Bill of Rights. 
.
The Court is saying that an All-Powerful Federal Government cannot discriminate against or unfairly tax people legally married under state laws.  This is yet another case where so-called "small government" Conservatives want the Federal Government to dictate policy to the states.  The ruling is actually a victory for Constitutional Federalism.

The Federalist Papers #78
"The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body."
Alexander Hamilton

Book Review - The Revolution of American Conservatism





Book Review
The Revolution of American Conservatism
The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy
By David Hackett Fischer
(1965)  -  Out of print book


By Gary;

I have been blessed with a very large and extensive local public library with some books going back to the 1840s.

In wandering through the stacks I ran across this book which is perfect for my area of interest  -  The Federalist Party.

In recent years I have been exploring the politics of the early American Republic to fill in the massive gaps that neither high school teachers nor college have filled.  Basically, according to our teachers George Washington was President and then came the "great" Thomas Jefferson, he who must be worshipped no matter what.  Period.

The fact that an entire political party existed and was dedicated to opposing Jefferson is glossed over very rapidly by our teachers.  After all, who could possible oppose Jefferson?  That is "crazy" talk.  Students are never told about the huge number of Founding Fathers and their followers who worked for years to oppose Jefferson's brand of republicanism.

The book's author provides wonderful and detailed information on America's first two-party system between Alexander Hamilton's Conservative Federalist Party and Jefferson's Democrat-Republican Party.

The book covers not just the politics, but it documents the massive shift in American society itself.


"I fear Federalism will not only die,
but all rememberence of it will be lost."  
Fisher Ames (1807)
Federalist Congressman

.
Changes in Society  -  The book covers changes in America from 1800 to 1816.  American society was changing from the powdered wig colonial society of gentlemen and sturdy yeomen patriots who looked to England. 

As America moved west more and more voters were interested in stealing land from our neighbors like Spain and Canada than in the international commerce of the Federalist dominate coastal cities.

But no study of the period can ignore the massive influence of the French Revolution, the Terror that murdered 40,000 people followed by the dictatorship and endless wars of the Emperor Napoleon. 

It should be remembered that a French army was sent to the New World to put down the slave revolt in Haiti.  More than 50,000 French troops died in an attempt to retake the colony.  That huge French army could just as easily landed in Virginia.

A comparison of the French Revolution to the rise and military expansion of violent 1950s Communism is a good one.  Both the French and Communist events seriously impacted American politics and the economy.

The author shows larger and larger shares of the American electorate turning against the very Federalist Founding Fathers who fought against monarchy and created the Republic in the first place.  There was a tide of radical egalitarian French inspired anarchy in the air and the Jeffersonians were encouraging the movement in order to gain political power for themselves.

Many have pointed out that a wealthy, over educated, slave owning Jefferson was hardly a man of the people.  But facts have nothing to do with politics.  It is about feelings and emotion.  Jefferson was acting as a symbol for the lower classes looking for more "free" land in the West.


"We must consider whether it be
possible for us to succeed, without,
in some degree, employing the
weapons which have been
employed against us."  
Alexander Hamilton (1802)

American society was dividing into rival camps. 

Jeffersonian Republicans favored French clothing while Federalist British styles.  Emotions were running so high that members of each party would throw the members of other out of different local social groups.  Family members would even refuse to attend funerals of dead members of the other party.

The Revolution of 1800  -  The author shows how the Jeffersonian Revolution almost did not happen.  The Federalist Party only lost New York's electoral College votes because of a hand full of New York City ballots rounded up by Tammany Hall "ward healer" Aaron Burr.  But politics itself was changing.

The author tells how 18th century politicians stood for office and did not campaign to voters.  Burr and Republicans around the country changed the rules and took an active face to face campaign directly to voters.  Jeffersonian "Republican Societies" were created nationwide.  Jeffersonian newspapers were started to control the news.  Get out the vote efforts were becoming the norm.

The wealthy plantation owning Jefferson himself demagogued to lower income voters about the evil rich monarchist Federalists.   Never mind that the Federalists fought to overthrow the monarchy. 

Propaganda and class warfare was now the rule of the day in American politics.

Politics changed with direct campaigning to voters
.
"We must court popular favor. We must study popular opinion and accommodate measures to what it is." - - - Fisher Ames, Federalist Congressman
.
"Honest, independent men of talents should yield so far to public opinion, as to retain the confidence of the people; for without that confidence, they are lost . . . If they do not lead the people, fools and knaves will."  - - - Noah Webster, Federalist
.
"The leading Federalists are gentlemen of fortune, talents and education, the natural leaders of the country. The leaders of the democratic party, on the other hand, are for the most part, what may be called politicians of fortune; adventurers who follow politics as a profession. With them politics are pecuniary, with the Federalists, they are a secondary consideration."
- - - An Englishman wrote of politics while touring 18th century Virginia

Electioneering Techniques  -  The author details political pandering to the mass of often uninformed voters.  The 1800 - 1816 period refined this new election technique pioneered by the Jeffersonians. 

The author shows how the Federalist fell behind in the political arms race of direct electioneering and pandering.  But slowly they started to copy Republican party organization.  The Federalists started party newspapers to get the word out. 

Then a party caucus system started to form.  The first Federalist caucus was formed in New York state where a state central committee of 50 members was elected.  The state was divided into four districts with sub-committees at county and town levels.  The committee nominated the Federalist candidate for Governor and planned campaign strategy.  Other states soon followed.


As a young attorney, Roger Taney copied the
Jeffersonians and organized the Federalist Party
in Maryland to better reach out to the mass
of voters with committees, mass meetings,
barbecues and a Federalist newspaper.

Committees engaged in party fundraising. They organized the systematic distribution of pamphlets, broadsides and ballots.

Mass voter meetings were organized.  In 1808 a Boston Grand Caucus attracted 4,000 Federalists.  Jeffersonians used BBQs to entertains partisans.  The Federalists adopted the system along with "turtle dinners", clambakes and "oyster roasts".  Both parties sponsored separate holiday events on Independence Day with speeches, parades and fireworks.

Candidates for high office even started to personally campaign.  In 1808 James Ross, Federalist candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, spent two months on the road meeting people, visiting churches and making promises. 

By 1808 every voter in New York city was given a Federal ballot (parties printed their own ballots then).  The modern campaign was here.

There was also a new class of "leader" - the professional politician.  Gone were the days of gentlemen like George Washington who did public service and then returned to his farm.  Now America saw a new class of politician that did nothing for a living except politics.  The term politics even changed to mean a negative.

Searching for Major Issues_- The author shows that like politicians to this day, the Federalists started to "moderate" their views on some key issues in order to broaden their voter appeal while searching for major issues to use against the Republicans.

In using current issues, Federalists flocked to defend Vice President Aaron Burr in Jefferson's phony, trumped up treason trial and accused the Republicans of being French "mobocrats".


"Pro Patria" ("For Country")
A membership ribbon for the Federalist
Washington Benevolent Society. 

The Federalists attacked Jefferson's refusal to build up the American military to stand up against British impressment of sailors.  Rather than spend money on the navy, the Republicans passed Embargo Act of 1807 that directly crushed the businesses and voters in Federalist controlled states and created unemployment.

Federalists used the run-up to the War of 1812 as a major issue.  Federalist declared themselves party of "Peace, Union and Commerce."

The Federalist newspapers used Jeffersonian mob riots in cities like Baltimore to stir the voters to their cause.  This new type of anti-war issue oriented direct electioneering worked.  In 1812 the Federalists swept the elections in Maryland and in other areas.  The party added 32 Congressional House seats and doubled their number of US Senators in the next 3 national elections.

Washington Benevolent Societies 

The author notes how the Jeffersonians broke new political ground in popular politics with the creation of Republican or Democrat societies to promote candidate for election. 

The societies were closely connected with sympathy for the French Revolution.  But many of these groups faded as the French Terror killed tens of thousands of people.  In the late 1790s the groups reformed calling themselves "Republican Societies" or "Friends of the People."

The Federalist were suspicious of these rabble rousing type groups and had to pay political catch up.

That changed in January, 1800 with the creation of the "Washington Society of Alexandria" by a group of prominent Virginia gentlemen.  Dues was $4 a year.  A larger sum of money for the time.

For several years this was the only group of its kind.  As disenchantment with Jefferson grew new chapters of Washington Societies began to spring up around the nation.  With the insane Jeffersonian Embargo Act causing depression and unemployment there was an explosion of Washington chapters.

1808 Washington Benevolent Society Silver Medal.

The author managed to count at least 208 Washington Societies around the nation.  The largest was the Washington Society of Pennsylvania with over 3,000 members as of 1816. 

The Boston Society had 1,647 members and the Berkshire County, Massachusetts Society had 2,300.  The only chapters in the West were in Ohio, the rest were in the east.

The author even presented detailed breakdowns of the occupations of the memberships in several chapters.  Some 80% of the Philadelphia chapter membership was made up of the middle classes of professionals, merchants and shopkeepers.

New members were required to take a solemn oath to support the Constitution, stay true to Washington's principals and "to oppose all encroachments of Democracy, Aristocracy, or Despotism."   To stand for a Constitutional Republican form of government rather than mob rule.

Washington Benevolent Society toast:

"To the Tree of our Liberty - May the apes of French policy no longer suspend

themselves from its branches, nor the jackals of the French emperor

repose in its shade."

For a political junkie like myself I could go on and on.  The volume of detail of early American politics in this book moves into the excruciating category.  There is also the bewildering numbers of Federalist politicians, both major and minor, that the author covers.  But I have to say there is nothing like this study that I have ever seen.  The book is a wonderful read if you can find it.

Washington Benevolent Society
Traveling desk box, probably Mass., 1812. Pine, original iron hinges, iron lock, brass drawer knobs, molded brass oval pull on top, brass escutcheon, original painted decoration, initialed and dated in red paint “W.B.S.” “1812” and “N.L.,” with an engraving of George Washington under glass.

(Washington Benevolent Societies)