Secessionist schemes were slow to gain popular support. While they had been the topic of conversation in Massachusetts since 1786, they did not gain traction until 1804.[1] After Jefferson purchased Louisiana Federalists in both houses of Congress agreed that a crisis was certain. Only Senators Simeon Olcott of New Hampshire and John Quincy Adams from Massachusetts disagreed.[2]
Senator Timothy Pickering and Representative Roger Griswold began to think of forming a confederation, starting with Massachusetts. They were certain that the rest of New England would join. New York, they agreed, had to be involved. New Yorkers, however, would need to be persuaded.[3]
Pickering outlined his thoughts in a letter to George Cabot, one of the leaders of the Essex Junto.[4] Pickering insinuated that disunion was needed.
In Massachusetts the Federalist majority was fragile. Cabot, and leaders of the Essex Junto, Fisher Ames, Stephen Higginson, and Theophilus Parsons knew any suggestion of disunion would incur the wrath of John Quincy Adams and moderate Federalists. Cabot responded that separation from the United States would not work. He knew any attempt at disunion would destroy the Federalists.[5] He wrote to Pickering:
“A separation is now impracticable, because we do not feel the necessity or utility of it. The same separation then will be unavoidable when our loyalty to the Union is generally perceived to be the instrument of debasement and impoverishment. If it is prematurely attempted, those few only will promote it who discern what is hidden from the multitude.”[6]
George Cabot
Roger Griswold grew impatient. He wrote to Oliver Wolcott:
“We have endeavored during this session to rouse our friends in New England to make some bold exertions…they think the time has not yet arrived. Prudence is undoubtedly necessary; but when it degenerates into procrastination it becomes fatal…democracy is making daily inroads upon us, and our means of resistance are lessening every day…Under these circumstances I have been induced to look to New York.”[7]
Roger Griswold
Next: What Happened When Pickering and Griswold Tried to Engage New York’s Federalists
Look for it Monday, January 27.
[1] James Mr. Banner, Jr. To the Hartford Convention: The Federalists and the Origins of Party Politics in Massachusetts 1789-1815 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970) 116.
[2] Henry Adams, History of the United States of America during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (New York: Library of America, 1986) 409.
[3] Adams, History of the United States, 410-11.
[4] Timothy Pickering to George Cabot, January 29, 1804, quoted in Adams, History of the United States, 409.
[5] Adams, History of the United States, 411-413.
[6] George Cabot to Timothy Pickering, February 14, 1804, quoted in Adams, History of the United States, 412.
[7] Roger Griswold to Oliver Wolcott, unspecified date, 1804 quoted in Adams, History of the United States, 415.
