Description:

War of 1812 1812 - 1815 Federalist broadside issued on eve of War of 1812; stellar content



Single page broadside measuring 10.75" x 17.875" issued from Boston, MA in April 1811 and addressed to "Federal Republicans", or Federalists, in Massachusetts. In very good to good condition, with overall toning, some isolated breaks along folds, and isolated stains from old tape, a bit of which remains. Back of document was used as scratch paper; a draft of a poem beginning "Do you not see your castle fair" as well as number tallies appear verso.

"BOSTON, APRIL, 1811. Let every Federalist do his duty, and Massachusetts will yet be saved!!! Federal Republicans! YOU have lost the election of GOVERNOR. You have elected but nineteen federal Senators. YET YOU ARE THE MAJORITY". This broadside urges Massachusetts voters to seize more representation in a national government dominated by morally corrupt Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans, a puppet president, French sympathizers, British detractors, and conspiring Southern planters. From a Federalist point of view, Jefferson had established overly friendly relations with French empire-builders. An official Francophilic policy in turn alienated the British, and on the eve of war with that country, a weak James Madison rejected peace overtures and yet assured Americans that all was well. Meanwhile, Southern planters, whose major commercial enterprise was slavery-based farming -- not shipping and commerce like in the North -- had no idea of the financial consequences of the British embargo.

The headline and lead paragraph summarize the Federalists's fiery platform: "You heed not the things which concern your peace, your property, your freedom. Plans are laid to take from you the use of the ocean ... You now obey the commands of the enemy of the human race, BONAPARTE; these commands are sent to you through the proud, tyrannical, slave holding PLANTERS of your Southern states. Would war, would the loss of your commerce, the loss of your liberties be evils to you? These are at hand. Will you LISTEN? Will you THINK? Will you ACT?"

This document reveals interesting fault lines in early American politics originating from ideological differences, regional rivalries, and a mistrust of foreign entanglements. Anxiety about war with Britain was intensified because of a Congressional decision issued the previous month that increased taxes on American vessels trading with the British. "Government seizes upon all he [a hypothetical ship captain] is worth; takes about half to itself, and gives the rest to the pimps, informers, and smiling OFFICERS OF THE CUSTOMS!!"

A call to arms, this broadside was meant to galvanize a Federalist backlash. It aimed to avert disaster by attempting to fill the House of Representatives with Federalists. If readers did not agitate, two things could happen: more extreme Federalists operating out of Boston, whose incendiary Resolutions were published at bottom, would further pull away; and/or the country would be driven to war, wrack, and ruin. About a year later, "Mr. Madison's War", as the Federalists disparagingly termed the War of 1812, erupted in the spring of 1812.

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