Hartford Convention

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Image:Secret Journal of the Hartford Convention.jpg

The Hartford Convention was an event in 1814 in the United States during the War of 1812 in which New England's opposition to the war reached the point where secession from the United States was discussed. The end of the war led to the collapse of the Federalist Party.

Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson's anti-foreign trade policies, particularly the Embargo Act of 1807 and Non-Intercourse Act of 1809, were very unpopular in the northeastern United States, especially among merchants and shippers. Jefferson's successor, President James Madison, was even less popular in New England, particularly after his prosecution of the War of 1812, which ended legal trade with England. The opposition Federalist Party, formerly quite weak, regained strength especially in New England, and in New York where it collaborated with Mayor DeWitt Clinton of New York City and supported him for president. When Madison defeated Clinton in the fall election the furor in New England intensified. The war turned against the Americans, and the British effectively blockaded the entire coastline. Almost all maritime activity (apart from smuggling) was stopped and New England interest suffered.

On October 10, 1814, the Massachusetts state legislature called for the Hartford Convention, ostensibly to discuss several constitutional amendments necessary to protect New England's interests. On December 15, 1814, delegations from the then-five New England states (Maine at this point was still part of Massachusetts) met in Hartford, Connecticut. Official delegations were sent by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Delegations from New Hampshire and Vermont were from dissident counties; these two states were not as dependent upon foreign trade, or as culturally tied to Boston. Meetings continued in secret through January 5, 1815.

In all, 26 delegates attended. Largely due to the sensitive nature of what was being discussed, no records of the proceedings were kept. In January, a final report was issued, containing language to the effect that New England had a "duty" to assert its authority over unconstitutional infringements on its sovereignty — a doctrine that echoed the policy of Jefferson and Madison in 1798 (in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions), and which would later reappear in a different context as "nullification."

The Hartford Convention's final report proposed several amendments to the United States Constitution. These attempted to combat the policies of the ruling Republicans by: 1) Prohibiting any trade embargo lasting over 60 days; 2) Requiring a two-thirds Congressional majority for any declaration of war, admission of a new state, or interdiction of foreign commerce; 3) Shifting the bulk of Federal tax payments to the slaveholding South; 4) Limiting future Presidents to one term; 5) Requiring each future President to be from a different state than his predecessor. (These last provisions were aimed directly at the ruling Virginia Dynasty.)

The Republican-dominated Congress would never have recommended any of New England's proposals for ratification. Hartford Convention delegates intended for them to embarrass the President and the Republicans in Congress—and also to serve as a basis for negotiations between New England and the rest of the country.

Some Hartford Convention delegates may have been in favor of New England's secession from the United States, and forming an independent republic. No such resolution was adopted at the convention; however, Massachusetts actually sent three commissioners to Washington, D.C. to negotiate these terms. When they arrived in February, 1815, news of Andrew Jackson's success at the Battle of New Orleans, and the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, preceded them and, consequently, their presence in the capital seemed both ludicrous and subversive. They quickly returned to Massachusetts. Thereafter, both the Hartford Convention and the Federalist Party became synonymous with disunion and secession, especially in the South. The Federalist Party was ruined as a national party, and survived only in a few localities for several more years before vanishing entirely.

References

• Lyman, Theodore. A short account of the Hartford Convention: taken from official documents, and addressed to the fair minded and the well disposed; To which is added an attested copy of the secret journal of that body. Boston: O. Everett, 1823.
• Adams, James Truslow. New England in the Republic, 1776-1850 (1926)
• Banner, James M. Jr. To the Hartford Convention: The Federalists and the Origins of Party Politics in Massachusetts, 1789-1815 (1970).
• Buckley, William Edward. The Hartford Convention. New Haven: Yale University Press (1934)