Whig Campaign, 1791 by-elections
The post that carried news of Vermont's admission to the Union also brought to the Whigs of the State the advise of their faction's leader, who urges that no effort be spared to secure the election of their ticket by a large majority in the forthcoming by-election. This directive is followed on the first of September by Adams himself, who in the ensuing four weeks traverses the length of the Green Mountains. Ostensibly, his visit is to see to some personal holdings in Vermont as well as some business with the governor in his capacity as Second Secretary; yet it also serves as an opportunity to encourage the activities of the local Whig organizations and to make his case to the public ahead of the vote. At each Bennington, Winchester, Castleton, and Middlebury he passes two or three days, meeting with tradesmen, editors, proprietors, and leading citizens—representatives of every class and trade likely to be decisive in the election and sympathetic to the Whig message. His meals he takes with friends and allies made on his previous visits to the state, and with other prominent men, to whom he endeavors to make plain his views on trade, the debt, national finance, as well as the rights of the individual states and the role of the central government in promoting liberty. He emphasizes Whig support for the tariff and the Land Act, as measures likely to increase the fill of the nation's coffers, similar support for a stable currency, opposition to onerous taxation in all forms, and the government's efforts to resolve the controversy in Westsylvania with minimal bloodshed. He subtly rebukes the bill recently proposed in Philadelphia to establish a national bank, noting such an institution would be responsible only to its stockholders, and not to the states—or to the people. Above all, he seeks to present himself as a man of balance, desiring neither too much power for the central government, nor too little. Crossing the mountains, he repeats this message at Danville, Newbury, Norwich, Windsor, and Westminster, and in towns along the way. Every opportunity to ingratiate himself with the people of the state, and to make known his views on the issues facing the country, and his personal advocacy for the interests of Vermont, is taken.
Local Whig organizations take up the task of mobilizing their supporters and bringing the people to their banner. Again, no effort is spared: bonfires, demonstrations, public meetings, and speeches by local orators and public officers all seek to persuade all those persuadable. Adams, his personal character, and his public policies are all loudly acclaimed. It is noted that among the deputies of the National Assembly, he is the firmest friend of liberty and the rights of the New England states: his advocacy for the Bill of Rights, his support for the tariff and the Land Act, his opposition to the Bank, and his distinguished role in pacifying Pennsylvania and restoring her relations to the Union, are repeated with vigor. So too are the Hamiltonians denounced: their 'obnoxious' British sympathies, excessive support for centralization at the expense of the states (and by extension the people), and general lack of honor or principle are widely advertised as evidence that they are but one step from Toryism. The Bank is brought forward as the prime evidence of this, both as evidence for the loathing which they bear for the common man, and their zeal to replicate British institutions and traditions in America. The Hamiltonians, it is said, wish to raise the government above the people, desire rule by an elite aristocracy, and so seek to centralize power in the hands of a few ministers in far-off Baltimore. A Bank located hundreds of miles to their south, whose directors are all chosen by and from the financial elites of New York, and totally unaccountable to the votes of the people or the opinions of the states, cannot be expected to represent the wants and interests of the people of Vermont. The Hamiltonians may call themselves democrats, but in truth they are Tories, seeking to place a Caesar on the throne of America and to do away with elections in favor of dictatorship either by the dollar or the sword.
All manner of activity in the press and the distribution of pamphlets are used to emphasize these points.
