374 LETTER XXI. CHARACTER AND INTERESTS OF THE DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF THE CONFEDERACY, AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS. NEW ENGLAND. FINAL EXTINCTION OF THE FEDERAL PARTY.· CENTRAL STATES. -- WESTERN POLICY AND INFLUENCE OF VIRGINIA. STATES. POWERS OF CONGRESS RESPECTING BLACK SLAVERY. FORMATION AND GOVERNMENT OF TERRITORIES. GENEROUS POLICY OF THE WESTERN STATES. - FITTE. - VARIOUS TIES WHICH CEMENT THE UNION OF THE STATES. MY DEAR FRIEND, New York, February, 1820. LOOKING to the general plan of the central government, it will be seen with what extreme nicety the different interests of the multitudinous parts of this great confederacy are balanced, or employed as checks one upon the other. In the course of years these interests may be somewhat more distinctly marked than they are at present; some have even thought that they may be more strongly opposed. This appears more than doubtful: but even admitting the supposition, we cannot calculate the probable effects of this without counting for something the gradual strengthening of the national union by the mixture of the people, the marriages and friendships contracted between the inhabitants of the different States, the tide of emigration, which shifts the population of one to the other, the course of prosperity enjoyed under a government more and more endeared as time more and more tries its wisdom, and imparts sanctity to its name. The time was, when none, or but a few of these sacred bonds existed, and still a friendly sympathy was not wanting among the different and uncemented communities scattered along the shores of the Atlantic. During their colonial existence, the inhabitants of these States had but little intercourse with each other. Vast forests separated often the scanty population of the infant provinces. Varying climate and religion influenced also their customs and character; but still, however, parted by trackless wastes, how little connected soever by the ties of private friendship, they had always two things in common, -language, and a fierce spirit of liberty; which sufficed to bind with a sure though invisible chain all the members of the scattered American family. The strength of this chain has seldom been fully appreciated by the enemies of America: they expected to break it even during the war of the Revolution; and were certain that it would of itself give way when the high-toned sentiment kept alive by a struggle for independence should subside, or when the pressure of common danger being removed, the necessity of cordial co-operation should not be equally apparent: experience has hitherto happily disproved these calculations. The advantages of a vigorous, and the blessings of a beneficent government, directing the energies and presiding over the welfare of the great whole, has been more and more felt and understood, while the influence of just laws, and still more the improved intercourse of the states one with another, have broken down prejudices, and, in a great measure, obliterated distinctions of character among the different quarters of the republic. The portion of the union that has most generally preserved her ancient moral distinction is New England. The reason may be found in the rigidity of her early religious creed, and in the greater separation of her people from the rest of the nation. Strictly moral, well-educated, industrious, and intelligent, but shrewd, cautious, and, as their neighbours say, at least, peculiarly long-sighted to their interests, the citizens of New England are the Scotch of America. Like them, they are inhabitants of a comparatively poor country, and send forth legions of hardy adventurers to push their fortunes in richer climes: there is this difference, however, that the Scotchman traverses the world, and gathers stores to spend them afterwards in his own barren hills, while the New-Englander carries his penates with him, and plants a colony on the shores of the Ohio, with no less satisfaction than he would have done on those of the Connecticut. The nursery of back-woodsmen, New England, sends forth thousands, and of course takes in few, so that her citizens are less exposed to the visitation of foreigners, and even to mixture with the people of other states, than is usual with their more southern neighbours. This has, perhaps, its advantages and disadvantages: it preserves to them all the virtues of a simple state of society, but with these also some of its prejudices: it serves to entrench them against luxury, but imparts to them something of a provincial character. Zealously attached to their own institutions, they have sometimes coldly espoused those of the nation. The federal opposition chiefly proceeded from this quarter of the Union. The political conduct of New England subsequent to the establishment of the federal government sunk her a little for some years in the esteem of the nation. The narrowness of her policy was charged to some peculiar selfishness of character in her people; but their conduct during the revolutionary struggle redeems them from this charge, and leads us to ascribe their errors to defect of judgment rather than to obliquity of principle. Since the war the liberal party, ever numerous, has gained the ascendant; and consequently the eastern states are resuming that place in the national councils which they originally held. It is difficult now to find a Federalist, absolutely so called. A certain soreness upon some political topics, a coldness of manner in pronouncing the name of Jefferson, and, I have observed, of Franklin, is what may sometimes enable you to detect a ci-devant member of the fallen party.* New York and Pennsylvania may perhaps be considered as the most influential states of the Union. The elegant expression lately employed by Mr. Clay, in rendering his tribute to the important services of the latter, may with propriety be applied to both. They are "the key-stones of the federal arch." Their rich and extensive territories seem to comprise all the interests into which the Union is divided. Commerce, agriculture, and manufactures, are all powerfully represented by them on the floor of congress. Their western division has much in common with the Mississippi states, and their eastern with those of the Atlantic. Their population stands conspicuous *The secret hostility borne by some of the federal party towards the departed Franklin is rather amusing. This benign sage, whose last efforts were spent in fixing the wheels of the federal government, and who sunk beneath the weight of years and honors before the struggle of the two parties commenced, might be supposed to have had it little in his power to give umbrage to either. The reverence in which his name was ever held by the democratic party, who were the children of his school, explains the enigma. |