The word Federal comes from the Latin fœdus, a league or compact. A federal form of government is one under which a number of States, while retaining their individual institutions and autonomy, unite together for purposes of defence and for a larger national existence, delegating to a representative national government certain specified powers. The most noteworthy examples in history of this form of government are the Achaean League, the Swiss Republic, and the United States of America. In the early history of the United States the term “Federal” was applied to that one of the two great political parties which was supposed to be more particularly in sympathy with English standards and to favour an English alliance, and which desired a strong central government. Their opponents, who preferred a French alliance, and who opposed a strong central government, were then termed “Republicans.”
About 1830 the “Federals” became Whigs, and in 1856 they assumed the name of Republicans (from res publica, the State), the States-rights party having in the meantime taken the name of “Democrats” (from demos, the people). During the civil war of 1861-1865 the Northerners were all termed “Federals” (or by their opponents “Yankees” or “Yanks”), while the Southerners had taken the name of Confederates, because their Constitution instituted a weaker central government and favoured the independent action of the several States.
The Southerners were also given the nickname of “Corn-feds,” in allusion to the chief article of their diet. The term Yankee above alluded to dates back to the seventeenth century, and is a modification of the name “Yengees,” an attempt by the Massachusetts Indians to pronounce the name “English.”
By the residents of the Northern States, the term is limited to the inhabitants of the six States of New England. During the civil war of 1861-1865, the members of a political faction in the North received the name of Copperheads, because they were regarded as secret foes to the national cause. The allusion was to the poisonous copperhead serpent, which gives no warning of its approach. The Know-nothings were a secret political party in the United States (1848-1860), whose chief aim was the checking of foreign immigration and the political influence of foreigners by the repeal of the Naturalization Laws, and the reserving of public appointments for native-born Americans. The answer given by its members to all questions about the party organization was, “I don’t know.”
The Tammany Ring was the name used to designate an organization among certain officials and their backers in the city of New York in 1870-1871, who succeeded for a time in enriching themselves at the expense of the city. The ring was overthrown in 1871, and its leaders imprisoned or banished. The name of the ring arose from Tammany Hall, the headquarters of a society originally founded (in 1805) for benevolent purposes, but which had become a political power, and which is again (1892) controlling the government of New York.
The term Mugwump first came into political use in 1884. It was then applied to voters who had been “Republicans,” but who, on various grounds, preferred the Democratic candidate Cleveland to the Republican Blaine, and who succeeded in electing the former. It has since been given generally to citizens, who, while actively interested in politics, refuse to be bound closely by party ties, considering causes such as free trade, civil service reform, honest money, &c., as more important than party labels or party success. The name “Mugwump” is said to be derived from an Indian word signifying “wise chief.”
The Chartists constituted an enormous body of the people of this country who, soon after the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, loudly clamoured for “The People’s Charter,” of which the six principal points were these:—Universal Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, Annual Parliaments, Payment of the Members, Abolition of the Property Qualification, and the Equalization of Electorial Rights. William Lovett, the author of this document, died in August, 1877. The English war party, who sided with the Turks in the Russo-Turkish struggle of 1878 received the nickname of Jingoes, or The Jingo Party, from the chorus of Macdermott’s famous music-hall song, commencing—
“We don’t want to fight, but, by Jingo, if we do!”
“Jingo” is a corruption of Jainko, the Basque term for God. Hence the expression, “By Jingo!” is properly a direct appeal to the Deity. A Protectionist is one who advocates the protection of home-produce and manufactures against foreign competition by the imposition of import duties.