Antifederalists

The Noise of Election is over, and I have the Consolation to find that all the States which are foederal have been unanimous for me, and all those in which the Antifederalists were the predominant Party, unanimous against me: from whence my Vanity concludes that both Parties think me decidedly foederal and of Some consequence.

Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 28 December 1792 1792

The outraged losers - called Antifederalists by their opponents - told their story to the nation, stiffening resistance elsewhere.

NYT > Home Page By RICHARD BROOKHISER 2010

The Antifederalists, however, took all the counties north and west of Westchester, as well as Queens and Suffolk Counties on Long Island.79

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

Elsewhere, Antifederalists and Federalists often held separate celebrations, with little or no effort to accommodate the other side.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

In that way, he thought, Antifederalists could “accommodate with the advocates of the constitution” and get them to accept “more substantial amendments.”

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

The Fourth of July toasts of Antifederalists in Kingston and Fredericksburg suggested the same conviction.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

Antifederalists were so eager to get an “impartial paper” in Albany that on January 31 they tried to get Greenleaf to send one of his journeymen to start a new printing office there.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

Finally, on March 23, “despairing of receiving any Aid from New York,” the Albany Antifederalists cancelled their request, having made an alternative arrangement, probably with Charles Webster, the owner or co-owner of both the Albany Gazette and the Albany Journal.53

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

The Antifederalists had won forty-six seats, the Federalists nineteen.

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010

Another Albany Federalist wrote Henry Knox that “the Antifederalists… use every art, & strain every nerve to gain their points,” and warned that if the Federalists did not exert themselves in a similar way “they will be beaten.”

Ratification Pauline Maier 2010