-Caveat Lector- From: Conspiracy in American Politics, 1787-1815 J. Wendell Knox�1972 Arno Press A New York Times Company NY 1972 ISBN 0-405-04155-1 326 pps ---- The more things change, the more . . . Om K ---- CHAPTER X CONSPIRACY IN AMERICAN POLITICS American political thinkers in the era of 1787-1815 called anything a conspiracy which caused a man to seek some lesser goal--money, fame, power, love of section--at the expense of his allegiance to the Constitution, written to establish the harmonious Union of brothers. In 1788 when the Constitution was approved, conspiracy was regarded as a coup d'etat designed to replace the constitutional administration with a despotic usurper. Soon, however, the term was applied to a filibuster against European colonies because filibusters usually sought foreign aid for their expeditions. The cardinal sin in the United States was to consider co-operating with aliens for any purpose, but especially for a military enterprise. It was assumed that an association with foreigners predisposed the American to desire his own country's destruction, and on the other hand, that any American hoping for the downfall of the United States would consort with aliens. To say exactly what "union" meant to the men of 1787-1815 is difficult; but above all, it described the republican brethren huddling together for protection from the alien, monarchical Europeans. Surrounded by foes, Americans believed they could only survive by having a close alliance based on a uniformity of political behavior. As a republican, Jefferson naturally suspected his enemies were in the service of European kings because the national ideology did not provide for two kinds of republicans or, in fact, two versions of any political dogma. Conversely, Federalists knew that they were not foreign agents; therefore, Jeffersonians had to be dangerous subversives. To both factions the idea of two political parties was repugnant because any division among the republican brethren seemed perilous. Americans looked on their republic as similar to the Roman and Greek varieties in which politicians had often subverted their government. Americans were also influenced by the example of England, where an opposition party was automatically considered disloyal. To citizens of the United States, ardently craving union, any factionalism was dubious, but an opposition party was doubly suspect because it would be tempted to seek foreign aid to obtain power. As factions evolved in America in the 1790's, party philosophers had to explain why republicans voted for obviously seditious politicians. It had long been an article of faith in the country that the vast majority of Americans making their living on the farms were virtuous yeomen who always sought the national good. But as party leaders found that propaganda directed at the yeomen was useful in winning elections, they quickly came to fear that their opponents would abuse the naive farmer's trust. Politicians decided the surest way to subvert the government and the Union was to put a newspaper filled with clever lies in the hands of the people. Jefferson, in opposition, looked on the press as a God-given method of en-lightening the populace, but when he was in power, a crit-ical journal seemed the offspring of the devil. The universal fear of propagandists engendered the Sedition Iaw to protect the virtuous yeomen from the wiles of evil men. The myth that American farmers remained pure until tempted imbued the conspirators bending over their writing tables with the qualities of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. Hamilton and his allies of the 1790's must be stigmatized as traitors in order to preserve the virtue of New Englanders, New Yorkers, and North Carolinians who voted for the Federalists. Jeffersonian dogmatists preferred to assume that enemy politicians betrayed the people rather than to admit that many northern farmers disliked Jefferson. The reverse was also true; Hamiltonians could place all the onus of anarchism on "Virginian" aristocrats in order to rescue southern yeomen from the charge of hating government. In 1796 with the rise of separatist feeling in New England, the theory that political conspirators continually deceived their followers was easily transferred to the sectional strife which had been bared. Vrom then until long after the Civil War, it was fashionable to place all blame for disunion sentiment on a few disloyal party leaders. Aaron Burr was the scapegoat for western secessionism just as the Hartford Convention and the Essex junto were for New England's disunionism. When it became necessary, the nation found sacrificial victims to atone for the South's rebellion. it is an interesting, though peripheral, question whether there was ever technically a conspiracy in the period. Some filibustering expeditions were planned, and one or two took place, but attacks on Spanish America were not plots against the American government. Disunion talk abounded from time to time in all sections, but much of it was speculation about the future--few people thought a continental republic could stay united forever. A few romanticists also theorized that a king would be necessary for America when "he virtue of the yeomen declined. Significantly, nearly all the conspiracies uncovered were found in speeches, books, or newspaper articles. If the most essential feature of a conspiracy is secrecy, Americans were incapable of being conspirators. It was apparently impossible for leaders of the era to keep any secrets; everybody knew everybody else's business. Individuals involved in Blount's, Burr's, and the Spanish conspiracies immediately published the intentions of the principals in the newspapers. Then Burr made a change of plans, his decision was instantly reported to an anxious nation. In November 1806 Jefferson was as well-informed on Burr's multiple objectives as is the modern historian. Subsequent research has only confirmed the rumors extant before the "American Cataline" left on his adventure. The fact that Americans were so ready to divulge all their secrets invested the few projects which were slightly mysterious with magnificently Machiavellian properties. Due to Burr's thoroughly disguising his real intentions by making known several conflicting aims, his confused contemporaries hastily assumed something sinister was afoot. A similar fate awaited the Hartford Convention. Because it met in secret and because no member ever said the Convention had plotted something horrible, Americans were confident a terrible deed had been contemplated. Burr's escapade and the Hartford Convention were commentaries on the other affairs called conspiracies; if a serious conspiratorial intrigue was not concealed, it became absurd. No one of common sense could be worried about "honest John Adams'" conspiracies when he would write and publish his innermost thoughts with the slightest encouragement. Conspiracy tales were chiefly useful as ammunition for party polemicists. The repetitious charge that Hamilton was a British monarchist destroyed his political career long before Burr's bullet killed him. Later when America drifted into war with France, the Jeffersonian party suffered great losses for its friendship with aliens. But the nation's fear of British agents outweighed its dread of French spies. From 1799 on, the stigma Federalists could not remove was that they followed the Essex junto blindly toward the British Empire. The final disappearance of the Federalist Party was a triumph for the ideal of a homogeneous Unions but it was also a victory for the myth that conspirators were omnipresent. Americans of the twentieth century who see Communist conspirators everywhere can not afford to be too supercilious in their evaluation of conspiracy in American politics of 1787-1815. Suffice it to say that the ready acceptance of a conspiratorial interpretation of events, which was common in the early history of the republic and is not rare today, interferes with a realistic appraisal of issues. American society may become so chaotic that half a dozen ruthless plotters can summon a few thousand misguided souls to depose the elected statesmen. But it was not possible in 1787-1815 and is still unlikely now. pps. 316-321 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. 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