American History Tellers - Encore: Political Parties | A Tale of Two Parties | 1

Episode Date: September 9, 2020

In the earliest days of the United States, there was no such thing as an organized political party. George Washington, elected twice to the presidency unanimously in the Electoral College, warned the new nation against political factions, writing that organized parties would become, “potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men subvert the power of the people.”But immediately after Washington vacated the Presidency, factions did spring up and bitter personal rivalries began to shape the nation. The two first political parties–the Federalists and the Republicans–had very different views of what America should become, and were led by very different men: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App. https://wondery.app.link/historytellersSupport us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. This is a special encore presentation of our series on political parties in the United States. As we head into November and face a contentious and consequential election, it seems a ripe time to revisit how we got here in the first place. It wasn't always Democrats and Republicans. And if you'd like even more insight into our American political process, search for

and subscribe to another one of my podcasts, American Election's Wicked Game. It chronicles every single presidential election from 1789 to 2020. Both in this series and in that podcast, you'll find our current strife isn't so new, and certainly not any worse than it has been. Hopefully, that's a comfort. Imagine it's July 4th, 1795. You're a candle maker in Germantown, Pennsylvania. It's a sultry summer day and you and your apprentice are attending the holiday festivities, sponsored by the local Federalist group. The Federalists put these celebrations on every year, featuring speeches by local leaders, sing-alongs, dancing, fireworks, and of course, plenty of food and beer. You've heard this year that the Republicans plan to hold their own 4th of July event,

complete with a parade, but their celebration is taking place on the other side of town. You've just finished listening to a speech by one of the Federalist men. He railed against the violent revolution going on in France and the Americans, like Thomas Jefferson, who tacitly support it. Young Charles sips his ale, shakes his head, and chuckles. He doesn't care much for old Tom Jefferson, does he? Not at all. He's a Hamilton man, through and through. He thinks Jefferson and his Republicans are just a lot of agitators who

believe in mob rule. I'm not sure he's wrong about that. Your apprentice gives you a look of surprise. You agree with the Federalists? My uncle says he used to, but now he thinks they're becoming tyrants. He says they're trampling the rights of the common man. Well, that's just nonsense. Take this treaty that John Jay has negotiated with Great Britain. It's a sensible document that finally solves the trade dispute with England, the very dispute that's been hurting the common man. But my uncle said it puts us in a bad place with France. A revolution has been going on in France for six years now. Just two years ago, they guillotined their king, Louis XVI. Since then, thousands more have been executed under the new French Republic. Jefferson and his supporters have refused to denounce these actions. They argue alienating

France will harm America's own commitment to republicanism. Federalists have been using that against them, saying Jefferson's group prefers mob rule and terror to the rule of law. And you're inclined to agree with them. Look, I'm no lover of the British king or aristocracy, but I'll take a British noble any day over a radical Frenchman with a guillotine. Then, in the distance, you hear the sound of music. It grows louder by the second, soon drowning out the sounds of the orator at the podium. It's the parade of the local Republicans.

Its members are marching right down the street towards where the Federalist celebration is taking place. They were supposed to stay on their side of town. Yeah, this can't possibly turn out well. Everyone is turning to watch the parade move down the street. Many of the Republicans are holding signs with slogans like, Damn John Jay, Liberty Over Tyranny, and Don't Tread On Me. You see some people at the edge of the Federalist crowd begin to move forward menacingly. This crowd's getting restless. I agree. Let's get out of here before things turn ugly.

No sooner have the words left your mouth than someone in the crowd yells and a glass of beer goes hurtling towards the parade. More yelling erupts and the music stops abruptly as additional projectiles start to fly. Soon, men are shoving one another and a full-scale street fight breaks out. You see someone fall to the ground while another man beats his way through the Republican group with a cane. Shouts of traitor and tyrant can be heard above the grunts and screams and curses. The scene is quickly becoming a riot. Shocked and upset, you and your young apprentice hurry away from the crowd, even as more men run to join the fray.

You know this sort of thing has been happening more often in recent months, but seeing it yourself opens your eyes to just how deeply divided these new political factions really are. It's only been a few years since the new constitution went into effect, and you hope these bickering factions are just temporary and that they will soon pass away. Maybe one day you'll see this as just a difficult growing phase for the new young nation. You couldn't, of course, be more wrong. I'm Sachi Cole.

And I'm Sarah Hagee. And we're the hosts of Scamfluencers, a weekly podcast from Wondery that takes you along the twists and turns of the most infamous scams of all time, the impact on victims, and what's left once the facade falls away. Follow Scamfluencers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Kill List is a true story of how I ended up in a race against time to warn those who lives were in danger. Follow Kill List wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story. On our show, we'll take you to the events, the times, and the people that shaped America and Americans. Our values, our struggles, and our dreams. We'll put you in the shoes of everyday citizens as history was being made. And we'll show you how the events of the times affected them, their families, and affects you now.

In the earliest days of the United States, there was no such thing as an organized political party like the ones we know today. In the years after the Revolutionary War, however, political factions began to form around the role of the federal government. The Articles of Confederation had established the colonies as sovereign states in a perpetual union. After the war, many statesmen began arguing that the Articles didn't give enough authority to the federal government to effectively run the country. The Confederation Congress had no power to raise taxes and no way to enforce any of its decisions. In time, this tension between the federal government and the states led to an ideological split, and Americans took sides. On the one hand were the so-called Federalists, who were in favor of

a new Constitution and a stronger federal government. On the other were the Anti-Federalists, who favored maintaining the Articles of Confederation and giving more sovereignty to the states. Eventually, the Federalist perspective won out. A convention was called and delegates from each state hammered out a new constitution that went into effect on March 4, 1789. General George Washington became the nation's first president. For many years, there was relative peace and accord among the leaders of the new country. But those political differences of the 1780s had planted ideological seeds. Before Washington's first term was even complete, the first real political parties had begun to sprout. In this series, we'll explore America's rich and diverse political history,

delving into the personalities and the events that led us to where we are today. From the Whigs to the Socialists, to the Know-Nothings to the Dixiecrats, we'll cover the significant parties that have come and gone through the decades. We'll pay special attention to the formation and evolution of our two modern primary parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. We'll start at the very beginning with a tale of two parties, the Federalists and the Republicans. But in many ways, this is a story of not two parties, but two people, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. When George Washington took office in the spring of 1789, the United States faced a multitude of problems. One of the main issues was paying off millions in federal debt left over from the Revolutionary War. It fell to Washington's Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, to establish a

comprehensive economic program for the country. Hamilton's important role in founding what would become the biggest economy on earth was by no means preordained. Born to a struggling merchant family on the Caribbean island of Nevis, Hamilton's father abandoned the family when he was just a boy, and a few years later, his mother died, leaving Hamilton orphaned at age 11. Despite the disadvantages of his childhood, he made his way to Boston as a young teen. By age 20, he was serving on the staff of George Washington in the Revolutionary War, and by 32, he was building an economic program for the fledgling nation.

Thomas Jefferson's background couldn't have been more different. Born into a family of prominent and wealthy Virginia planters, Jefferson moved in circles of high society and received a classical education. By the age of 21, he was overseeing a 5,000-acre plantation of prime southern farmland. Several years older than Hamilton and famous for his Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was already widely known when he was chosen to serve as the nation's first Secretary of State. Hamilton and Jefferson found themselves at odds from the beginning. Hamilton viewed himself almost like a prime minister, directing the fortunes of a nation with Washington's approval. Jefferson, on the other hand, viewed Hamilton's strong, centralized government as little more than European-style monarchy. Hamilton was a self-made man with an urban financial background.

He naturally saw manufacturing, national banking, and urban commerce as the keys to America's future. He argued in a report to Congress that manufacturing establishments would not only help the nation's economy, but would render the economy greater than it could possibly be without such establishments would not only help the nation's economy, but would render the economy greater than it could possibly be without such establishments. A prosperous economy, Hamilton believed, would ultimately help everyone, including the farmers. The faction that grew up around him became known as the Federalist Party, but Jefferson found the Federalist views to be preposterous. Unlike Hamilton, Jefferson came from rural wealth and privilege.

He believed in the duty of leaders to protect the interests of regular everyday people. He saw Hamilton's economic programs as unfairly benefiting urban elites and threatening his notion of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When Jefferson contemplated the future of America, he imagined a sort of peaceful, agrarian society of land-owning gentry, where citizens controlled their own destiny with little to no interference from the federal government. The entire North American continent was waiting to be claimed and built into a farm-based paradise. Westward expansion would give rich and poor alike the opportunity to claim their own plot of land. After all, farming was what God intended. Jefferson wrote,

Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. As for manufacturing and urban growth, Jefferson wasn't quite so idealistic. The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body. Jefferson's faction soon began organizing in opposition to the Hamiltonian economic program, and it wouldn't be long before these two factions would butt heads in very public and increasingly bitter ways. One of the first issues Hamilton faced was how to deal with the government's

domestic debts. Much of this debt was owed to Revolutionary War veterans who had been paid with government promissory notes. But most of them couldn't afford to wait until the government solved its financial problems to redeem those notes. So instead, many of these veterans had long since sold their certificates to speculators who gave them just a fraction of what they were worth. Hamilton proposed paying these debts to the current certificate holders, the speculators who had bought them.

Not doing so would mean compromising the sanctity of legally obtained promissory notes. That would harm the young nation's credit. Jefferson was furious. How could Hamilton and his cronies just ignore the very men who had fought and bled to free the country? He and his fellow Virginian, James Madison, came up with a different scheme. It aimed to give the speculators only their original purchase price, while handing the balance over to the original owners of the notes, the war veterans.

On the floor of Congress, Madison argued passionately for the proposal. He said, the original owners will receive from their country a tribute due to their merits, which, if does not entirely heal their wounds, will assuage the pain of them. But as the Treasury Secretary, Hamilton's argument carried more weight. His insistence that the nation's credit would suffer if the government failed to pay full price to the current holders convinced most of the members of Congress to vote his way. But the public debate, and Jefferson and Madison's notable attempt to give war veterans their fair share, helped lay the groundwork for a new political party, a party that would work to protect the rights of the people. Its followers would become known as Jeffersonians or Republicans. Republicans bitterly accused Hamilton of being a despot. Hamilton countered by accusing the

Republicans of despotism themselves. He wrote, a dangerous ambition lurked behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of people. History will teach us that this zeal has been found to be a certain road to despotism. Of those men who have overturned the liberty of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants. It would be the first of many conflicts. The next phase of Hamilton's economic plan called for taxes on certain products, the first time anything like that had been done in the new nation. The first such tax, on distilled spirits, rolled out in 1791. But once again,

Hamilton was unprepared for the backlash. Across the country, many farmers supplemented their modest incomes by converting their excess grain into whiskey, then using it to barter for staples like salt and sugar. And as it turned out, they would fight hard to defend their livelihoods. Imagine you're a Revolutionary War veteran and small grain farmer in western Pennsylvania. It's September of 1791, just after nine o'clock on a cool, clear evening in early fall. But you're crouching near a quiet dirt track in the country, hiding in the undergrowth. The moon is almost full, but the road beneath the overhanging trees is dark, almost invisible from your position. You're wearing a brown hooded robe

that covers you from head to toe. Even your face is obscured behind a dark red sash you took from your wife's drawer at home. Only your eyes are left uncovered. You've got your smooth-bore musket propped easily against your shoulder. Your neighbor, Thomas McComb, is crouched beside you. A third man is hidden across the road. Thomas leans in and whispers, For sure this is the right road? What if he takes the Monongahela Turnpike?

No, he won't. Not unless he wants to sleep under the stars tonight. The only inn is down by Pigeon Creek. He has to come this way. You're waiting for a man named Robert Johnson. Reports have reached you that he's on his way from Newtown, a day's journey to the east. You and your comrades intend to stop him before he reaches the inn at Pigeon Creek. You've been living here in Washington County for almost a decade now, farming the parcel of land you received after the war. Everything was going well until March. That was when Congress decided the best way to pay off the government's debt was to target hard-working

farmers like you. Once this new whiskey tax had been paid, you practically had no profit left over. Your children will have plenty of bread to eat this winter, but now they can forget new shoes. All right, all right, here he comes. Next to you, Thomas McComb shuffles his feet, double-checking that his musket is loaded. You grip your own musket in sweaty hands. The agreed-upon plan calls for you to fire the first shot. The tired horse draws closer. It's too dark to see the rider, but he's close enough now you can hear the leather saddle creaking beneath him. You wait until the sound of the hose is right in front of you, and you spring from the bushes, firing your musket into the air. Just as expected, the horse whinnies and then rears up, throwing the surprised rider to the ground.

McComb grabs the horse while you scramble forward to wrestle the rider into submission. Once you have Johnson pinned to the ground, your other comrade rushes across from his side of the road. He's holding a wooden bucket and a burlap sack trailing feathers. While you hold Johnson still, your comrade first uses a small knife to cut several large hunks of hair from the terrified man's head. What's this all about?

If it's money you're after, I have very little. You're the one who's about to rob people of their hard-earned money, you weasel. Holding a handful of the man's jacket, your comrade upends the bucket and pours thick, pungent pine tar across his head and shoulders. He finishes by dumping the bag of feathers over him. You go back to Philadelphia and tell them what we think of their taxes. Once the deed is done, you and your accomplices take off, McComb leading Johnson's horse by the bridle. The man you attacked is the government tax agent, sent to collect this year's levy from you and your fellow distillers. You fought a revolution 15 years ago over unfair

taxes, and you'll do the same again if you have to. And now, the politicians in Philadelphia will know it. Regional sentiment in western Pennsylvania was so strongly anti-tax that local law enforcement chose not to prosecute anyone for the tarring and feathering of Robert Johnson. The man who was sent to replace him was treated even worse. He took a whipping before being tarred and feathered, robbed, and then left tied to a tree in the woods. In the three years following the first whiskey tax, a full-scale rebellion broke out in western Pennsylvania. When local militia was unable to quell the unrest, President Washington had to organize a federal force to put down the insurrection. The ultimate result was a further deepening of the partisan divide. Jefferson's faction supported the farmers and were opposed to taxes in general.

They believed that a tariff on imported goods was sufficient to pay the country's debts. They painted Hamilton and the Federalists with a brush of monarchy, suggesting that there was little difference between a king's tax and a congressional tax. The Whiskey Rebellion was finally put down, but resistance to taxes remained, and not just in western Pennsylvania, but around the country. While these fires were still cooling, another conflagration sprang up. It started when George Washington assigned Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Jay to negotiate a treaty with Great Britain. France and Britain had been at war since 1793. In retaliation against France, Britain had begun detaining American merchant ships that were trying to deliver goods to French colonies in the Caribbean. But there was an even bigger problem. The British had been kidnapping

British-born American sailors and forcing them to fight on British naval vessels against France, a process known as impressment. John Jay's job was to find a solution to these and several other problems hanging over from the Revolutionary War. Though Jay was the chief negotiator, the American position and terms were largely drawn up by Alexander Hamilton. The treaty proved controversial in the extreme. It failed to even address the issue of impressment, and Republicans were upset that it improved relations with Great Britain at the expense of France. The Federalists acknowledged the treaty's limitations, but argued that it was the best that could be expected. U.S. was a small, young nation with little foreign leverage against a world power like Great Britain.

The Senate eventually passed the treaty, but only just barely, and amidst ugly controversy. Mobs confronted a Federalist senator and began throwing stones, forcing him to run for cover. Speaking in New York City, Hamilton was stoned too. John Jay was condemned so widely, he reportedly quipped that he could go from Boston to Philadelphia, traveling only by the light of his burning effigies. By the time the uproar was over, the dueling factions centered on Hamilton and Jefferson had coalesced into full-blown, nationally operating, and deeply adversarial political parties. And things were only to get much worse. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand,

lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still a virgin. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn.

When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Dracula, the ancient vampire who terrorises Victorian London. Blood and garlic, bats and crucifixes. Even if you haven't read the book, you think you know the story.

One of the incredible things about Dracula is that not only is it this wonderful snapshot of the 19th century, but it also has so much resonance today. The vampire doesn't cast a reflection in a mirror. So when we look in the mirror, the only thing we see is our own monstrous abilities. From the host and producer of American History Tellers and History Daily comes the new podcast, The Real History of Dracula. We'll reveal how author Bram Stoker raided ancient folklore, exploited Victorian fears around sex, science, and religion, and how even today we remain enthralled

to his strange creatures of the night. You can binge all episodes of The Real History of Dracula exclusively with Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus and The Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. George Washington was deeply disturbed by the advent of partisan politics. Although he had mostly supported the agenda of Hamilton and the Federalists, he worried about what this new political divide would mean for the country he had devoted his life to. In the last months of his tenure as America's first president,

he published a farewell letter in newspapers across the nation, tackling the subject head-on. He wrote, The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, is itself a frightful despotism. The spirit of party agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms and kindles the animosity of one part against another. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.

In time, Washington warned, parties would become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men subvert the power of the people. He saw political parties as a fire that, instead of warming a home, utterly consumes it. Washington's letter was published so widely that virtually all Americans either read it or had it read to them. But his warning would quickly be forgotten as the country turned to the next administration. Washington's vice president, John Adams, was elected president in 1796. A Federalist through and through, Adams' name would quickly become synonymous with the term. During his tenure under Washington, Adams had gained a reputation for haughtiness and stubbornness. During early debates over how to address the President, Adams had infamously favored both

Your Highness and Protector of Their Liberties. His preference for lofty titles, together with his short, plump physique, earned him the nickname His Rotundity. In this era before nominating conventions, congressional factions each put forth their own candidate for the 1796 election. The Federalists chose John Adams and Thomas Pickney. The Republicans picked Thomas Jefferson and New York Senator Aaron Burr. According to the rules in place at the time, the Electoral College voters cast two votes for president. Whoever ended up with the most votes was elected president. The second-place candidate became vice president. In this first contested presidential election,

many electors were still independently minded enough to give their second vote to someone other than the party's hand-picked candidates. And as a result, Adams won the presidency, but his running mate, Pickney, finished third. It was his opponent, Jefferson, who came in second. Adams became the only president in U.S. history to have a vice president from a different political party. Adams and Jefferson had a long history together. Well acquainted since the mid-1770s, they had been good friends during the Revolutionary period. But their relationship had soured during Washington's time in office, as each man moved in a different direction politically. Still, at the start of his term, Adams went against his own cabinet's advice and offered to bury the hatchet. He suggested he

and Jefferson work together in policymaking. Jefferson declined, deciding his purposes would better be served acting as the leader of the opposition. From that point forward, the split between the two was complete. The major issue during Adams' time in office was a brewing war with France, which was still at war with Great Britain. Though Adams and the Federalists remained partial to Great Britain, most Americans, including Jefferson, were still sympathetic to their old ally, France. Unfortunately, as retaliation against the Jay Treaty, France had begun capturing American merchant ships that were trading with Great Britain. Adams sent a peace commission to France to solve the problem, but he simultaneously called

for a military buildup in case of war. Republicans were outraged. How could his rotundity even hint at going to war with America's oldest and most trustworthy ally, France? Unbeknownst to Adams, Vice President Jefferson met secretly with a French minister in Philadelphia. He was gravely concerned that Adams was going to ruin everything with the French. Jefferson had spent five years as minister to France in the 1780s and viewed himself as the real power broker there. He called Adams vain, suspicious, and stubborn and told the French minister Adams would never win a second term. In the meantime, he encouraged the French to stall on negotiations with Adams' Peace Commission in order to achieve more favorable terms. The French were only too

willing to comply with Jefferson's suggestions. After treating the American commissioners poorly, the French refused to negotiate at all unless a large bribe was paid. The Americans eventually returned with no deal at all. This was neither what Adams nor Jefferson had hoped. From the standpoint of the Republicans, things got even worse when word got out about how the French had treated the American diplomats. Public opinion suddenly swayed heavily towards Adams and the Federalists. Popular support for France began to wane. And so Adams began preparing for war with France, building a land army as well as a navy. He enlisted George Washington to lead the army, with Alexander

Hamilton as his second-in-command. But with Washington already in a second retirement and unlikely to serve as more than a figurehead, Hamilton was clearly the real leader. Republicans couldn't take it anymore. They were already suspicious of standing armies as the favored tool of kings and tyrants, and now, not only had Adams called up a large military force, but all its leaders were prominent Federalists. At this point, they began a concerted effort to undermine Adams and his presidency. Republican newspapers began demonizing Adams and his administration. They accused him of harboring secret hopes of establishing an American monarchy

and becoming its first king. Some called for secession or suggested that the government should be overthrown. This, in turn, led Federalist newspapers to suggest that the Republicans, with the help of French immigrants, were planning on starting their own reign of terror in the United States, complete with guillotines to perform public executions. Adams and the Federalists responded to this heightened rhetoric in the press with the highly controversial Alien and Sedition Acts. The acts were aimed largely at immigrants, who the Federalists believed were stirring up discord.

And, in a move aimed at Republican newspapers, the acts also made it a crime to criticize the government falsely. The Republican response was swift and predictable. Jefferson himself, together with his old ally James Madison, anonymously penned the so-called Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. They called for the rights of the states to nullify any federal law that they deemed unconstitutional. It was a controversial response to an already controversial piece of legislation. In the end, no other states adopted nullification resolutions, but they became foundational documents in the upcoming fight for states' rights. The notion of nullification would come around again a few decades later.

In the meantime, the U.S. fell into a period of open hostility with France. American and French ships engaged at sea, increasing tensions that didn't end until the Adams administration finally negotiated a lasting treaty with the new government of Napoleon in 1800. That year, with the country still up in arms about the naval war with France and the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, the Republicans took control of both the House and the Senate, and Adams lost the presidency. But identifying the new president wasn't so simple. Thomas Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, tied in the Electoral College vote. It would fall to the House of Representatives to decide who would become the next commander-in-chief.

Imagine it's February 17, 1801. It's a frigid winter day in Washington, D.C., about a quarter to one in the afternoon. You're a congressman from South Carolina. You're seated at a table in the drafty new Congressional Chamber with the rest of your state's delegation. Now, you're a Federalman from South Carolina. You're seated at a table in the drafty new congressional chamber with the rest of your state's delegation. Now, you're a Federalist to the core, but you're being forced to participate in the runoff election between two Republicans you despise, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.

The whole thing has been a disaster. For the last week, neither man has managed to win a majority. About an hour ago, the 35th ballot was taken, and again, there was no winner. You rub your frozen hands together and lean over to your fellow lawmaker, John Rutledge. The people chose Jefferson. There's no doubt about that. But I just can't bring myself to vote for him. Burr's only moderately better, but I'll take him over Jefferson no matter what Hamilton says. Alexander Hamilton, the architect of your party, just came by to urge you and the

other South Carolina representatives to vote for Jefferson. He dislikes Jefferson as much as you do, of course, but he hates Burr even more. There's obviously some sort of personal issue between them. You know it's just blatant revenge-seeking, but you really like the idea of Jefferson having his presidency taken away from him. It would serve him right for backstabbing the president during the whole France affair. But Rutledge sighs and shrugs. He looks tired. It's a choice between the devil himself or one of his demons. In the end, the results will be the same, I'm afraid. You're not thinking of voting for Jefferson, are you?

Never. But I am thinking an abstention is a reasonable solution. We maintain our principles while giving this damnable deadlock a chance to be broken. Conferring with your fellow congressmen, you finally agree as a group to abstain from the next vote. It will mean Burr loses the state, but at least Jefferson won't gain anything in return. And then, precisely at 1 p.m., the Speaker of the House, Theodore Sedgwick, gavels the chamber to attention. The agreed-upon

time having come to pass, the state shall proceed to the 36th ballot. As each congressman turns in his ballot, you hold your breath in anticipation. Sedgwick begins to read off the results as the papers are handed to him. The delegation from New Jersey votes 3 to 2 for Mr. Jefferson. The delegation from Massachusetts votes 11 to 3 for Mr. Burr. Both your state of South Carolina and the delegation from Delaware have opted to abstain this time around. Burr's total is down to four states, but Jefferson is still one state shy of a majority. Then the Maryland results come in. On the state's previous votes, the delegation had tied 4-4, effectively canceling out their ballot.

The delegation from Maryland has four votes for Mr. Jefferson and four abstentions. The ballot goes to Mr. Jefferson. The Republicans erupt to their feet, congratulating one another and embracing with joy. Even you feel a small sense of relief that the bickering and debating and uncertainty is finally over. But as you watch the Republicans celebrate their victory, you wonder just how the Federalists are ever going to survive all this.

In reality, the Federalists never did recover from the disastrous elections of 1800. The Alien and Sedition Acts had virtually erased the broad-based support the Federalist Party enjoyed up to that time. They would never see another Federalist president or hold a majority in either chamber of Congress. After the election, Hamilton's feud with Burr only intensified, culminating in a famous duel in New Jersey in 1804. Hamilton shot first. Some say he missed on purpose. But taking careful aim, Burr then made his shot, mortally wounding the founder of the Federalist Party and maybe the party itself. On the national stage, Jefferson and the Republicans quickly consolidated their power, taking steps to make Jefferson's agrarian society a reality. Federalist tax policies and laws were either repealed or allowed

to expire. Tariffs became the main way for government to raise revenue. After two terms, Jefferson was followed into office by his longtime Republican ally, James Madison. During Madison's tenure, relations with the old Republican nemesis Great Britain finally strained to the breaking point with the War of 1812. The war was ultimately about the impressment of British American sailors into the British Navy, one of the outstanding issues that had not been resolved by the unpopular Jay Treaty. There was widespread agreement that this practice should stop, but despite that, the war itself proved unpopular. This was especially true in the Northeast, the old home turf of the Federalists. By August 1814, opposition to what people were calling Mr. Madison's War was at its

peak. In the Northeast, old Federalist passions had exploded. Due to a naval blockade, the nation's economy was in tatters, and the country was nearly bankrupt. There were rumors of secession and armed resistance to the government. And following the disastrous Battle of Bladensburg, American officials fled as the British swept into Washington and burned the White House to the ground. There was a fear that the federal government was about to collapse. Even as American forces began to make gains through September, war wariness began to set in. There was a general sense that a stalemate had been reached, and lives were being lost needlessly. Then, Federalists became incensed when Madison requested a conscription bill from Congress for more troops.

The following month, the Federalists called a convention in Hartford, Connecticut, to suggest constitutional amendments to protect their interests from what they saw as a hostile administration. This was the last hope of the Federalist Party. They knew that the Republican Congress would never agree to their demands, but they hoped to win over the public at a time when Madison and his administration were vulnerable. Meeting for three weeks in December and January, the Federalists adopted a number of resolutions aimed directly at limiting the actions of Republican leaders. Their efforts ultimately failed, largely because of lousy timing. Just as the Hartford Convention was wrapping up and its commissioners were arriving in Washington to discuss their proposals,

word came of a fabulous victory over the British in New Orleans. Right on the heels of that came word that a peace treaty had been signed. The war was over. These developments left the Federalists in a very bad spot. With the country celebrating an end to war and a great victory over a hated foe, the Hartford Resolutions seemed petty and even disloyal. The Federalists' murmurs

of secession now seemed treasonous. The Hartford Commissioners went back home with their tails between their legs. The Federalist Party was ruined for good.

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Ah! I cannot believe it. Whoo! Buy It Now. Stream free on Freeview and Prime Video. By the time the presidential election of 1816 rolled around, the Federalist Party was on its last leg. Republicans in Congress had chosen popular Secretary of State James Monroe as their candidate. Congressional Federalists didn't even bother to make an official nomination. Instead, they informally threw their support behind New York Senator Rufus King. Monroe won in a landslide, earning nearly 70% of the popular vote. The Republican Party was firmly in control

of all levels of government. With no opposition to speak of, the party even stopped meeting in caucus and ceased official operations. George Washington's dream of a non-partisan federal government finally began to seem like a reality. This new harmony had as much to do with James Monroe's unifying presence as with the collapse of the Federalist Party. Monroe was a familiar figure to most Americans. A veteran of the Revolution and involved in national politics since the 1780s, he was a throwback to the old days. With more and more founding fathers dying off each year, Monroe seemed like the last of the breed. Shunning the fashion of the day, he preferred old-style knee breeches and powdered hair tied into a braid at the back of the head,

just like he wore in the Revolution. Instead of staying quietly in the White House and working behind the scenes, he toured the nation to promote unity and national trust. On a stop in Boston, even a local Federalist newspaper heralded his arrival as the start of an era of good feelings. The slogan stuck. To continue fostering unity, Monroe carefully courted former Federalists by supporting their old economic platforms, including a national banking system and tariffs to protect manufacturing. He proved so popular, even the nation's first economic depression in 1819 didn't change people's favorable opinion of him. He ran for re-election in 1820, unopposed, the only person besides George Washington to do so.

But in that same year of 1820, the first cracks began to appear in the era of good feelings. A new battle was brewing across the nation, one that would increasingly occupy the American consciousness in the coming decades. The issue was slavery. Imagine it's June, 1822, a muggy evening in early summer in Charleston, South Carolina. You're one of several thousand free people of color in Charleston. A shoemaker by trade, you're sitting at a small table in your kitchen. In the dim light of a single candle, you can see the faces of the other men at the table around you. Sweat glistens on their brows, and everyone's eyes are furtive and cautious. It's the man at the head of the table everyone is here to listen to.

Denmark Vesey. He's one of the leaders at the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He's a well-educated man who bought his own freedom years earlier. You've been attending his church for several years, but this is the first time he's been to your home. Tonight, he's not here to talk about God. He's here to talk about rebellion. The events of the last years in Washington prove that the movement against slavery is building. Even though they compromise in the end, there was talk of secession, even civil war. More and more people have decided that slavery must end. Veazey is talking, of course, about the Great Missouri Compromise of two summers ago. The Missouri Territory had applied for statehood as a slave state, but New York Congressman Talmadge had proposed restricting slavery there. His proposal caused a big ruckus, especially here

in the South. They ended up letting Missouri keep its slaves, but they banned slavery in all the rest of the Western territories. Their compromise solved a pressing political dispute, but it won't hold forever. We must keep the pressure on to find a solution for our brothers and sisters who are still enslaved. So, what are you suggesting? We've heard rumors that you're planning a slave rebellion. Well, the rumors you hear are correct. But if we are to free these slaves, we must have the help of free men of color like yourselves.

How, exactly, do you propose to free these slaves? Vesey explains that he spent the last 18 months spreading the word along a network of associates throughout the coastal plantations. On July 14th, he plans to raid the Charleston Arsenal, then commandeer three ships in the harbor. My Haitian associates will provide the sailors. And that's where you plan to take us, to Haiti? Vesey nods. To the place where the word freedom actually means something. Every person of color in South Carolina knows about Haiti. The slaves there revolted 20 years ago and eventually won their freedom. Now they are the

ones in charge. You look around at the other faces at the table again. What if we don't want to go to Haiti? You don't have to. We only need your help in coordinating. The knock at the front door paralyzes everyone. No one moves or speaks. Then the knock comes again more urgently. Denmark easy. We know you're in there. We're coming in. The door flies open, the cheap lock bar shattering. A dozen white militiamen storm into the room, shouting commands for everyone to get up. You stumble out of your chair and a soldier shoves you up against the wall. You feel the tip of his musket against the back of your neck

and wonder frantically if this is really how it's going to end. Tie them together and bring them all outside. Someone grabs both your hands and jerks them behind your back. Within moments, you and the others are tied in a line and being hustled out the door. The rebellion you weren't even a part of

is apparently over before it even got started. Denmark Vesey and 34 of his conspirators were tried and executed in the summer of 1822. They had been betrayed by two local slaves who were opposed to their plans. Vesey's attempted rebellion had formed in the aftermath of the contentious debate over the statehood of Missouri. The Union had been divided evenly between slave states and free states, but Missouri's request for admission as a slave state threatened to upend that delicate balance. The resulting Compromise of 1820 established a famous geographical line moving westward along the southern border of Missouri. Slavery would be permitted in any new state south

of that line. In territories to the north, with the exception of Missouri itself, slavery would be outlawed. The Compromise patched the problem for the time being, but the disagreement showed that the era of good feelings was in many ways a facade. With no political party operation in place to unify politicians of similar stripes, differences became more and more pronounced. Factions began to arise among former colleagues. The delicate balance finally toppled during the election of 1824. That year, four different former Republicans emerged as presidential candidates, including John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Jackson won the popular vote, and he won more electoral college votes than anyone else,

but not a majority, as required by the Constitution. As a result, the race was sent again to the House of Representatives to decide. Jackson had every reason to believe he would be chosen as the next president, but fellow candidate Henry Clay detested Jackson. He viewed him as an overly ambitious soldier with no real qualifications for politics. Clay once stated, If Jackson's brain could be was no longer a candidate, but as Speaker of the House, he had a huge amount of influence over the voting process. Everyone feared a protracted runoff battle, much like the one that occurred in 1801,

when it had taken 36 ballots to choose between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Instead, Congress shocked everyone by choosing John Quincy Adams on the very first ballot. Jackson and his supporters were furious. Within weeks, rumors were spreading that Clay had worked behind the scenes to undermine Jackson's election. Clay was even accused of selling his support to Adams in exchange for a cozy cabinet position. And when Adams later named Clay as his Secretary of State, this seemed to confirm the accusations swirling against them. In the end, no investigation took place, but the event left a sense of distrust in the hearts of many voters, especially Jackson's supporters. A vague feeling persisted that Congress had overstepped its boundaries in choosing someone other than the winner of the most votes. Jackson would use this

popular distrust to his advantage in the years to come. He and his supporters would give rise to one of the most controversial eras in American politics, and the most partisan. On the next episode of American History Tellers, we'll move into the era of Jacksonian democracy. We'll see the rise of the Democratic Party, as well as newcomers like the Anti-Masonic Party and the Whig Party. And we'll delve into the Mexican-American War and see how it turned the smoldering issue of slavery into a full-bl on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. From Wondery, this is American History Tellers. If you're listening on a smartphone, tap or swipe over the cover art of this podcast. You'll find the episode notes, including some details you may have missed. And if you do like this show, one of the best ways

you can show your appreciation is to give us a five-star rating and leave a review. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship. Sound design by Derek Behrens. This episode is written by B. Scott Christmas, edited and produced by Jenny Lauer, produced by George Lavender. Our executive producer is Marshall Louis, created by Hernán López for Wondery. I'm Tristan Redmond, and as a journalist, I've never believed in ghosts. But when I discovered that my wife's great-grandmother was murdered in the house next door to where I grew up, I started wondering about the inexplicable things that happened in my childhood bedroom. When I tried to find out more, I discovered that someone who slept in my room after me, someone I'd never met, was visited by the ghost of a

faceless woman. So I started digging into the murder in my wife's family, and I unearthed family secrets nobody could have imagined. Ghost Story won Best Documentary Podcast at the 2024 Ambees and is a Best True Crime nominee at the British Podcast Awards 2024. Ghost Story is now the first ever Apple Podcast Series Essential. Each month, Apple Podcast editors spotlight one series that has captivated listeners with masterful storytelling, creative excellence, and a unique creative voice and vision. To recognize Ghost Story being chosen as the first series essential, Wondery has made it ad-free for a limited time only on Apple Podcasts. If you haven't listened yet, head over to Apple Podcasts to hear for yourself.