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Political Mobilization in Pennsylvania, 1783-1808

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Political Mobilization in Pennsylvania, 1783-1808 City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 5-2015 "To organize the sovereign people": Political Mobilization in Pennsylvania, 1783-1808 David William Houpt Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/977 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] “To Organize the Sovereign People”: Political Mobilization in Pennsylvania, 1783-1808 By David W. Houpt A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2015 © 2015 David W. Houpt All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for thy Graduate Faculty in History in satisfaction of the Dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Andrew W. Robertson Date Chair of Examining Committee Helena Rosenblatt Date Executive Officer David Waldstreicher Jonathan Sassi Martin Burke Andrew Shankman Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract “To organize the sovereign people”: Political Mobilization in Pennsylvania, 1783-1808 By David W. Houpt Adviser: Andrew W. Robertson Political mobilization is the connective tissue between the people and their government. Whether through petitions, voting, parades or even riots, it is the tool political actors use to engage in the deliberative process. Scholars have explored a variety of facets of the political culture of the early American republic and have noted the importance of certain forms of political mobilization such as parades and fêtes. These studies have not, however, fully explained how elections emerged as the primary means for citizens to express their will and the boundaries of political expression changed accordingly. This dissertation explains the evolution of Americans’ engagement with their government by charting the trajectory of different forms of political mobilization in early national Pennsylvania. By focusing on the ways in which Americans organized and participated in the political process, this project presents a new way of thinking about democracy in the early republic and shows that, while citizens lost the ability to engage directly in the deliberative process, the rise of political parties and their emphasis on elections offered the public an effective means of securing change. iv Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of numerous people who have supported, guided and directed me through the twists and turns of life as a graduate student. I have been fortunate to work with talented scholars who have offered keen insights at critical phases. In particular, I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, Andrew W. Robertson, David Waldstreicher, Martin Burke, Jonathan Sassi and Andrew Shankman, for taking the time to read the manuscript and giving me constructive and incredibly helpful suggestions for the next phase of this process. I also want to thank the members of the CUNY Early American Republic Seminar (EARS) for helping to foster a creative and collegial environment and for making this process much more enjoyable. Most of all, I want to thank my family for sticking by me, supporting me (in every sense of the word) and believing in me. v Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Petitions and Town Meetings ........................................................................................... 25 Format of Town Meetings................................................................................................................... 29 Disloyalty, Debt, and Duty: Town Meetings in the Age of Democracy ............................................. 30 The Burden of Debt: Town Meetings and the Economy .................................................................... 37 Town Meetings in the Early 1790s ..................................................................................................... 41 The Neutrality Proclamation and Rise of the Partisan Town Meeting ............................................... 44 Town Meetings and the Jay Treaty ..................................................................................................... 51 The Jay Treaty and Petition Drives ..................................................................................................... 60 XYZ Affair and Republican Response to Town Meetings ................................................................. 65 Chapter 2: Celebratory Politics ........................................................................................................... 77 Celebratory Politics in the 1780s ........................................................................................................ 81 The Society of the Cincinnati and the Origins of Federalist Popular Culture ..................................... 83 The Celebration of Washington and the Republican Court ................................................................ 89 Republicans and the Construction of a Counter-Culture .................................................................... 96 Republican Mobilization: Liberty and Order .................................................................................... 104 Popular Politics in Conflict: The Fourth of July ............................................................................... 106 Volunteer Militia Companies and the Federalist Cultural Offensive ................................................ 115 Chapter 3: Popular Uprisings ............................................................................................................ 128 Mobbing During the Revolutionary War: Fort Wilson’s Riot .......................................................... 132 Crowd Action after the Revolution ................................................................................................... 134 Crowd Action in the West ................................................................................................................. 140 The Constitution and Carlisle Riot .................................................................................................... 144 Rural Violence in the 1790s: The Whiskey Rebellion ...................................................................... 148 Triangulation and the Republican Response ..................................................................................... 157 Partisan Violence .............................................................................................................................. 161 Federalist Repression and Popular Reaction ..................................................................................... 168 Chapter 4: Elections and Electioneering .......................................................................................... 181 Voting and Electioneering in Colonial Pennsylvania ....................................................................... 184 Electioneering in Revolutionary Pennsylvania 1783-1786 ............................................................... 186 Federalists and the Constitution 1787-1789 ...................................................................................... 192 Elections in the Early 1790s.............................................................................................................. 200 vi The Elections of 1794 and 1795 ....................................................................................................... 210 The Election of 1796: Electioneering Old and New ......................................................................... 220 Electioneering and Party Development 1797-1798 .......................................................................... 230 The Election of 1799 ......................................................................................................................... 240 Chapter 5: Party Schism and Political Mobilization, 1801-1808 .................................................... 246 The Republican Honeymoon and Stirrings of Discontent ................................................................ 248 The Schism ........................................................................................................................................ 251 Constitutional Reform ....................................................................................................................... 260 Election of 1805 ................................................................................................................................ 266 Decline of Quids and Democratic Divisions, 1806-1807 ................................................................. 275 Election of 1808 ................................................................................................................................ 282 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 292 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................
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