In America, the Federal Party was the first political party which had control of the Federal Government. When the Constitution of 1787 was before the people for ratification, those who favoured its adoption took the name of Federalists, giving to its opponents that of Anti-Federalists. In the First Congress, definite party divisions were not found. Before the second had ended, there was a definite division between Federalists and those who called themselves Republicans or Democrats. Hamilton was the leader of the former, Jefferson of the latter. Hamilton's financial measures had been acceptable to those who desired strong government, the commercial classes, those who wished to see the Union drawn still more closely together, still further in the direction of centralization and national consolidation. Their opponents stigmatised them as monarchists. Beside Hamilton and Vice-President John Adams, the party's chief leaders were Fisher Ames, Cabot, Sedgwick, Strong, Pickering and Quincy, of Massachusetts; Ellsworth, Tracy, Griswold and Hillhouse, of Connecticut; Rufus King, Jay and Gouverneur Morris, of New York; Dayton, of New Jersey; Bayard, of Delaware; Marshall, Henry Lee, of Virginia, and C. C. Pinckney, of South Carolina. George Washington was more inclined to this party than to the other.
The Federal Party's strength was always greatest in New England. When war broke out between England and France in 1793, the Federalists, conservative and averse to the French Revolution, favoured Great Britain. In 1796 they elected John Adams President, but failed to elect Thomas Pinckney Vice-President. In 1797 they tried to bring the country into war with France, but Adams, never so extreme as the bulk of the party, prevented this; the result was a schism in the party. In 1798 the party passed the Alien and Sedition laws, which forever destroyed their popularity. In the election of 1800 Adams and Pinckney were decisively defeated by Jefferson and Burr; the causes were, the acts mentioned, internal dissensions, and the indifference of intellectual and acute leaders to popular feelings. During the administrations of Jefferson and Madison the party dwindled. As an opposition party, it took strict-constructionist ground. Some of its leaders engaged in projects for a disruption of the Union. Finally, its unpatriotic course in the War of 1812 and the odium excited by the Hartford Convention destroyed it utterly. Holding the Government during the critical years 1789-1801, it had given it strength, but it distrusted the people top much for permanent success in America. Research Federal Party
The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were the oldest truly political constitution in America, according to Bryce. They were framed in January, 1639, by the towns of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield, uniting to form 'one publike State or commonwealth'. The orders provided for two general representative assemblies each year, composed of delegates from each town, one for the election of Governor and magistrates, the other for the making of laws. Research Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
The Hartford Convention met at Hartford, Connecticut on December the 15th, 1814, and adjourned on January the 5th, 1815. The convention consisted of delegates from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and was the outgrowth of the opposition of the New England Federalists to the war with Great Britain which was then in progress and which was especially injurious to the commercial interests of New England. The New England States strongly denounced the policy of the Democratic administration in the conduct of the war, especially in respect to forcible drafts. The convention was held in secret and a report was falsely circulated that it looked toward a dissolution of the Union. The general aim of the convention seems to have been to propose certain reforms in the direction of States' rights. Its proceedings brought upon the New England Federalists great odium. Research Hartford Convention
David Glasgow Farragut was an American sailor. He was born in 1801 and died in 1870. He entered the US navy at the age of nine. In the War of 1812, while a mere boy, he was intrusted with important missions; but in the long period of peace he found little opportunity for distinction. A Southerner by birth, he threw in his lot with the Union, and toward the end of the first year's fighting in the war he was assigned to important command. He had charge of the flotilla in the approach to New Orleans in April, 1862; his fame was founded on the passage of the river past the forts on April the 24th, which caused the fall of the city and its delivery into the hands of the Federals under Butler. On June the 28th he ran the batteries of Vicksburg, and the following year, having meanwhile received the rank of rear-admiral, he contributed to the fall of Port Hudson and the final opening of the river. The greatest event in David Farragut's life, and one of the greatest naval battles of the time, was the Battle of Mobile Bay on August the 5th, 1864. David Farragut's oversight of the contest while lashed to the mast of his flag-ship, the Hartford became one of the most familiar episodes of the war. The American office of vice-admiral was specially created for him in December, 1864, and that of admiral in 1866. Research David Farragut
Edmund Clarence Stedman was an American poet and critic. He was born in 1833 at Hartford, Connecticut and died in 1908. Educated at Yale, from 1859 until 1861 he was on the staff of The New York Tribune and from 1861 until 1863 was correspondent in the American Civil War for The New York World. Research Edmund Stedman
Edward Winslow was one of the leaders of the Pilgrim Fathers. He was born in 1595 and died in 1655. He joined Robinson's congregation at Leyden in 1617, and was one of the prominent members of the 'Mayflower' band. He was the diplomatist and commercial head of the colony. The first year he negotiated a lasting treaty with Massasoit, whose life he saved two years later. He conducted an exploring expedition into the interior, and visited England several times in the interests of the settlement. Edward Winslow was often chosen assistant, and was three times Governor. In 1633 he dispatched a vessel up the Connecticut whose crew built a house on the site of Hartford, in rivalry with the Dutch claims. He represented his colony in the New England Confederation, and by Oliver Cromwell was appointed head commissioner of an expedition against the Spanish West Indies, which was, however, unsuccessful; Edward Winslow died during its course. Research Edward Winslow
Gene Pitney was an American singer and songwriter. He was born in 1941 at Hartford, Connecticut and died in 2006. Although best known for his song '24 Hours From Tulas' - which he performed, but didn't write - he wrote the hits 'Rubber Ball' which was a hit for Bobby Vee and 'Hello Mary Lou' which was a success for Ricky Nelson. Research Gene Pitney
George Cabot was an American sailor and statesman. He was born in 1751 and died in 1823. He entered Harvard, but left to go to sea, becoming a master mariner while still very young. In 1776 he was chosen to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and in 1788 was a member of the State convention that adopted the federal Constitution. He was a US Senator from Massachusetts from 1791 until 1796, and was President Adams' first choice for Secretary of the Navy when that department was organised in 1798. In 1814 he was chosen president of the Hartford Convention. Research George Cabot
Harriet Elizabeth Stowe (born Harriet Elizabeth Beecher) was an American author and abolitionist. She was born in 1811 at Litchfield, Connecticut and died in 1896. Educated at Litchfield Academy and at Hartford in 1836 she married the anti-slavery advocateCalvin Stowe. She is best known for her novel 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' which was first serialised in 'The National Era' of Washington between 1851 and 1852 and published in book form in Boston in 1852, in which she exposed slavery, and thereby greatly helped in the abolition of slavery in the USA. Research Harriet Stowe
Harrison Gray Otis was an American politician. He was born in 1765 and died in 1848. He represented Massachusetts in the US Congress as a Federalist from 1797 to 1801. He was Speaker of the Massachusetts Legislature from 1803 to 1805, and president of the Senate from 1805 to 1806 and from 1808 to 1811. He was prominent at the Hartford Convention in 1814. He was a US Senator from 1817 to 1822. Research Harrison Gray Otis
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