2972. FEDERALISTS, Opposition of.—
Though we may obtain, and I believe shall
obtain, a majority in the Legislature of the
United States, attached to the preservation of
the Federal Constitution according to its obvious
principles, and those on which it was
known to be received; attached equally to the
preservation to the States of those rights unquestionably
remaining with them; friends to
the freedom of religion, freedom of the press,
trial by jury, and to economical government;
opposed to standing armies, paper systems,
war, and all connection, other than commerce,
with any foreign nation; in short, a majority
firm in all those principles which we have
espoused and the federalists have opposed
uniformly; still, should the whole body of
New England continue in opposition to these
principles of government, either knowingly or
through delusion, our government will be a
very uneasy one. It can never be harmonious
and solid, while so respectable a portion of its
citizens support principles which go directly to
a change of the Federal Constitution, to sink
the State governments, consolidate them into
one and monarchize that.—
To Gideon Granger. Washington ed. iv, 330.
Ford ed., vii, 450.
(M.
Aug. 1800)
