Summary Of Address To New York Electors 1814

962 Words4 Pages

In the “Address to New York Electors 1814”, the Democratic-Republican members of the Legislature of New York addressed citizens with a call to future electors. The meaning of the address is to call electors in New York to vote Democratic-Republican, support the war and discourage and criticize opposition to the war. There are four main significant aspects of the address in regards to the political culture of the era. One being Democratic-Republicans supported the war and the government’s choice to be involved in it because it suited their interests. Second, it is important to note the Democratic-Republicans focused part of their argument on how the stability of the union is more important than disagreements against the government, while utilizing …show more content…

The authors claimed opposition “unnerves the aim of government” and “aids the enemy”, which is Great Britain in this case . By their statement that opposition in turn benefitted the British, the representatives called dissent as essentially against United States’ interests. The authors associate opposition as a threat to the union and thus, concludes opposition “will finally end in anarchy and rebellion” . The Democratic-Republican representatives cite European history as proof that opposition and division creates disunion, animosity and “distrust when confidence is required”. Additionally, they focus on Federalist opposition specifically and even state Federalists contradict themselves in a way that “Federalists called aloud for war and abused the government for not declaring it…but now...you are told the war is unjust” . The Hartford Convention is a prime example of the deteriorating opinion of Federalists. Even before the Hartford Convention, the minority Federalists did not hold high public opinion. Then after the Hartford Convention, Federalists were viewed to be tainted with disloyalty from their pleas to negotiate the Constitution with seven amendments and could not recover their credibility or status in the political atmosphere …show more content…

The significance of the address is centralized around the agenda of the Democratic-Republican Party to keep majority power, the ideology of unity in the States is more important than individual ability to dissent, the Federalist opposition to the party threatened American interests and the duty of Americans is to support with zeal “the struggle for freedom and independence” from their oppressors across the