CONTENTS From the adoption of the United States Constitution to the general elec- THE STATE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE STATE OF NEW-YORK, AT THE TIME OF THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. DURING the contest for American Independence, the existence of political parties, according to the present notions we entertain of those associations, may be said to have been unknown in the United States. There were indeed in each of the states, a few families who,, either from motives of interest, or considerations of duty, retained their attachment to the British Government; and perhaps the state of New-York, in proportion to its population, contained a greater number of adherents to the King of England, than any other of the American Colonies. This was probably partly if not entirely owing to the great number of offices held in the then colony of New-York, under the Crown. But an immense majority of the people, as well in this as in the other colonies, at an early stage of the controversy with the mother country, resolved at any and every hazard, to resist what they deemed to be the unconstitutional laws enacted by the Imperial ParliaAfter the commencement of hostilities, those who supported the claims of Great Britain, and who were called tories, were regarded by the great mass of the people, and even treated by the temporary governments which were organized, rather as alien enemies than citizens of this country. A decided conviction that the acts of the British Government were an encroachment on their rights as freemen, a fixed and settled determination to maintain those rights, an ardent desire to establish a free government independent of all foreign control, and a sense of common danger, constituted a strong bond of union of the friends of American liberty and independence ;-and though personal jealousies, avarice, rivalship and ambition no doubt existed, and occasionally produced combinations of individuals and consequently cabals; in general all selfish views, pursuits and interests were absorbed in the contemplation of the most effectual means of resistance to unconstitutional and oppressive laws, a resolution to defend the principle of equal rights, and a determination to establish an independent government. But no sooner had Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States, and the treaty of peace of 1783 been ratified, than men began to speculate on and form different and adverse theories respecting the form of government best adapted to preserve personal liberty, promote the general welfare, and secure the union of the States. Leading and influential individuals also began to deliberate upon the most effectual means of advancing the separate interests of the states of which they respectively were inhabitants, and it is probable that combinations. having in view the gratification of individual interests and ambition, were early formed and organized. It required little reasoning to convince all intelligent men, that the plan of government, or rather union, contained in the Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1777, was not competent to preserve the Union, and at the same time regulate the commerce of the American nation, and |