[257] Cf. reprint of the handbill circulated at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the Independent Chronicle of July 20, 1795.
[258] Cf. extracts from the speech of Fisher Ames in the House of Representatives, April 28, 1796. Quoted by Channing, History of the United States, vol. iv, pp. 145 et seq.
[259] As a matter of fact, as far as Congress was concerned, the discussion over the treaty was continued for some time to come, because of the measures that were necessary to be taken to put the treaty into effect. Cf. Bassett, The Federalist System, p. 134. The country, however, showed a disposition to accept the treaty as inevitable when the President’s signature was finally affixed.
[260] McMaster, A History of the People of the United States, vol. ii, pp. 248 et seq. Cf. Works of Fisher Ames, vol. i, p. 161.
[261] Morse, The Federalist Party in Massachusetts, pp. 153 et seq.
[262] Travelers from abroad who were in the country at this time remarked the extreme virulence of public and private discussion. De La Rochefoucault-Liancourt, Travels through the United States of North America, vol. ii, pp. 231 et seq. Cf. ibid., pp. 75 et seq., 256, 359, 381; vol. iii, pp. 23, 33 et seq., 74 et seq., 156, 163 et seq., 250, 274, 366 et seq. Cf. Weld, Travels through the States of North America … during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797, p. 62. Writing specifically of the excited state of the public mind in February, 1796, the latter observer of our national life said: “It is scarcely possible for a dozen Americans to sit together without quarrelling about politics, and the British treaty, which had just been ratified, now gave rise to a long and acrimonious debate. The farmers were of one opinion, and gabbled away for a long time; the lawyers and the judge were of another, and in turns they rose to answer their opponents with all the power of rhetoric they possessed. Neither party could say anything to change the sentiments of the other one; the noisy contest lasted till late at night, when getting heartily tired they withdrew, not to their respective chambers, but to the general one that held five or six beds, and in which they laid down in pairs. Here the conversation was again revived, and pursued with as much noise as below, till at last sleep closed their eyes, and happily their mouths at the same time….” (Ibid., pp. 58 et seq.) Such unfavorable reflections are not to be dismissed as representing prejudiced views of the case. A habit of intolerance toward political opponents and of all men who shared contrary opinions, had become one of the characteristics of the times. The agitation over the treaty went far toward fixing this habit. The Alien and Sedition Acts, which came a little later, were the result of an unrestrained freedom of discussion scarcely more perceptible when they were passed in 1798 than at the time of the heat produced by the treaty.
[263] Gibbs, Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams, vol. i, p. 226, Oliver Ellsworth’s letter to Oliver Wolcott. Ellsworth reports that the “argument and explanation [of the treaty], that ‘’tis a damned thing made to plague the French,’ has by repetition, lost its power.” This could have been true only in a local sense.
[264] Cf. McMaster, A History of the People of the United States, vol. ii, pp. 227 et seq., for an ample discussion of this view of the situation.
[265] That this fierce indictment of “British faction” and appeal to republican sentiment was by no means without practical effect, is shown in the result of the general election of 1796. The outcome of that election gave ground for great encouragement to the Democrats; for while their hero and idol, Thomas Jefferson, was not summoned to the presidency, none the less, to the deep chagrin of the Federalists, his opponent, John Adams, received his commission to succeed Washington on the basis of a majority in the electoral college of only three votes. There could be no question that a spirit of confident and undaunted republicanism was abroad in the land, and the good ship Federalism was destined to encounter foul weather. The state contest held in Massachusetts that same year was even more ominous. After a campaign marked by great vigor on the part of the Federalists, in an effort to rally popular support to their candidate, Increase Sumner, it developed that Samuel Adams, whose enemies had stressed the charge that he desired to enjoy a life tenure of the gubernatorial office, was reelected by a handsome Democratic majority of 5,000 votes. Cf. Morse, The Federalist Party in Massachusetts, p. 161. Jedediah Morse showed himself to be a fairly astute prognosticator in connection with this election. He is found writing Wolcott, in October, 1795, to the effect that he is conscious of the fact that a severe storm is brewing. It is his conviction that the storm has been gathering for some time and is now about to burst forth. “Disorganizers” have been behind the opposition to the treaty. They have worked subterraneanly, trying to keep opposition alive. Cf. Wolcott Papers, vol. viii, 14.