Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 21, July, 1859

Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 21,
July, 1859

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Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 21, July, 1859
Author: Various
Release Date: February 20, 2004 [EBook #11196]
Language: English
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THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS.
VOL. IV.--JULY, 1859.--NO. XXI.

THOMAS PAINE'S
SECOND APPEARANCE IN THE UNITED STATES.
"Nay, so far did he carry his obstinacy, that he absolutely invited a
professed Anti-Diluvian from the Gallic Empire, who illuminated the

whole country with his principles and his nose."--Salmagundi.
We lukewarm moderns can hardly conceive the degree of violence and
bitterness reached by party-feeling in the early years of the United
States Constitution. A Mississippi member of Congress listening to a
Freesoil speech is mild in demeanor and expression, if we compare his
ill-nature with the spiteful fury of his predecessors in legislation sixty
years ago. The same temper was visible throughout the land. Nobody
stood aloof. Two hostile camps were pitched over against each other,
and every man in Israel was to be found in his tent. Our great
experiment was a new one; on its success depended the personal
welfare of every citizen, and naturally every citizen was anxious to
train up that experiment in the way which promised to his reason or to
his feelings the best result.
The original Federalists of 1787 were in favor of effacing as much as
possible the boundary-lines of the Thirteen Colonies, and of
consolidating them into a new, united, and powerful people, under a
strong central government. The first Anti-Federalists were made up of
several sects: one branch, sincere republicans, were fearful that the
independence of the States was in danger, and that consolidation would
prepare the way for monarchy; another, small, but influential, still
entertained the wish for reunion with England, or, at least, for the
adoption of the English form of government,--and, hoping that the
dissensions of the old Confederation might lead to some such result,
drank the health of the Bishop of Osnaburg in good Madeira, and
objected to any system which might place matters upon a permanent
republican basis; and a third party, more numerous and noisy than
either, who knew by long experience that the secret of home popularity
was to inspire jealousy of the power of Congress, were unwilling to
risk the loss of personal consequence in this new scheme of
centralization, and took good care not to allow the old local prejudices
and antipathies to slumber. The two latter classes of patriots are well
described by Franklin in his "Comparison of the Ancient Jews with the
Modern Anti-Federalists,"--a humorous allegory, which may have
suggested to the Senator from Ohio his excellent conceit of the Israelite
with Egyptian principles. "Many," wrote Franklin, "still retained an
affection for Egypt, the land of their nativity, and whenever they felt
any inconvenience or hardship, though the natural and unavoidable

effect of their change of situation, exclaimed against their leaders as the
authors of their trouble, and were not only for returning into Egypt, but
for stoning their deliverers.... Many of the chiefs thought the new
Constitution might be injurious to their particular interests,--that the
profitable places would be engrossed by the families and friends of
Moses and Aaron, and others, equally well born, excluded."
Time has decided this first point in favor of the Unionists. None of the
evils prophesied by their opponents have as yet appeared. The
independence of the individual States remains inviolate, and, although
the central executive has grown yearly more powerful, a monarchy
seems as remote as ever. Local distinctions are now little prized in
comparison with federal rank. It is not every man who can recollect the
name of the governor of his own State; very few can tell that of the
chief of the neighboring Commonwealth. The old boundaries have
grown more and more indistinct; and when we look at the present map
of the Union, we see only that broad black line known as Mason and
Dixon's, on one side of which are neatness, thrift, enterprise, and
education,--and on the other, whatever the natives of that region may
please to call it.
After 1789, the old Egypt faction ceased to exist, except as grumblers;
but the States-Rights men, though obliged to acquiesce in the
Constitution, endeavored, by every means of "construction" their
ingenuity could furnish, to weaken