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The Frontier Republic: Ideology and Politics in The Ohio Country, 1780-1825
Conflict invariably characterizes the period following any revolution, and post-revolutionary America was no exception. After the unity inspired by opposition to a common enemy dissipates, revolutionary movements generally splinter into different groups that compete with each other for the right to shape the values and structures of the new society. The Frontier Republic examines the form these conflicts took in the settlement of the Ohio Country, as thousands of Americans streamed onto the lands west of the Appalachians. These settlers had experienced revolution and now the process of creating new communities and a new state in the Northwest Territory forced them to deliberate on, and define, what these upheavals had accomplished. At issue was the very nature of human society and the role of government in it. Jeffersonian Republican ideals of individual liberty and local sovereignty were at odds with the Federalist vision of a well-ordered society and political control on the national level. Disagreements arose over such topics as rights of squatters, establishment of authority of the national government, the statehood movement, and the location of the new state’s capital. The effects of the Panic of 1819 and the need for internal improvements changed the early focus on individualism to an understanding of Ohio’s place in an interdependent society. Although this first generation of settlers failed to resolve their disputes completely, they ensured that the ideological foundation of nineteenth-century Ohio would be a synthesis of their conflicting revolutionary visions of the future of the United States.
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First published October 31, 1986
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November 12, 2019
This influential if slightly dated study of politics in early-national Ohio finds that the two political parties who initially struggled for control of the region, the Federalists and Republicans, each lacked a realistic vision of development for a pluralistic society. The Federalists, residing on the Ohio Company tract around Marietta, sought to turn Ohio into a model of orderly settlements and steady habits, supported by a diverse economy that included commerce and manufacturing. Their Republican rivals, who drew their support from the 30,000 Virginians living on the Scioto and Miami Rivers, championed individual independence, local interests, and small land-holdings. They chafed under regulations imposed in the 1790s by Federalist governor Arthur Saint Clair, whom Republican leaders finally had deposed in 1802.
Individualism and localism subsequently became Ohio Republicans' bane, however, when internal divisions - namely, factional splits and disputes with the national government - threatened their party's cohesion and legitimacy. One internal split, over the Embargo of 1807-09, even helped the Federalists briefly return to power. After the War of 1812, politics in Ohio remained divisive (with banking and currency the most contentious issues), but Republican Party members now generally agreed on the need for strong public institutions like canals and schools. Buckeyes thus settled on a compromise between Federalist and Republican ideologies: democratic politics, but also strong institutions to mobilize individual energies.
As Cayton himself has acknowledged, this is an old-fashioned book in some ways, with little to say about slavery or Indian policy (both divisive political issues in Ohio) or the contested meanings of the word "frontier." THE FRONTIER REPUBLIC does help explain, however, why despite its western location and Southern population, Ohio had by the time of the Civil War acquired many features (urbanization, public education) more typical of New England.
Individualism and localism subsequently became Ohio Republicans' bane, however, when internal divisions - namely, factional splits and disputes with the national government - threatened their party's cohesion and legitimacy. One internal split, over the Embargo of 1807-09, even helped the Federalists briefly return to power. After the War of 1812, politics in Ohio remained divisive (with banking and currency the most contentious issues), but Republican Party members now generally agreed on the need for strong public institutions like canals and schools. Buckeyes thus settled on a compromise between Federalist and Republican ideologies: democratic politics, but also strong institutions to mobilize individual energies.
As Cayton himself has acknowledged, this is an old-fashioned book in some ways, with little to say about slavery or Indian policy (both divisive political issues in Ohio) or the contested meanings of the word "frontier." THE FRONTIER REPUBLIC does help explain, however, why despite its western location and Southern population, Ohio had by the time of the Civil War acquired many features (urbanization, public education) more typical of New England.
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July 12, 2022Well, the end bit about opposition to the Second Bank of the United States interested me. I wonder if there are some lessons buried in work like this for contemporary US politics, but it is too far outside my current wheelhouse. Scholars of economic development might find the stuff about state-society relevant. The work's theme is the tension between a frontier as a place of possibility and the fact that settlement and development of a frontier entails centralization that undermines the autonomy that settlers sought by living in a frontier zone. Clayton shows how those who are miffed by the process eventually buy into greater integration, i.e. statehood, to protect their rights (at least as I read the story).
February 8, 2009
Topic and scope of the book:
The Frontier Republic examines the early political history of the portion of the Northwest Territory that would eventually become the state of Ohio, and, particularly, ideological clashes between two distinct factions.
Thesis:
Cayton argues that the eventual form of Ohio politics took shape as a synthesis of the two initially dominant political powers. The Federalist-allied territorial government, with its ground of support in Marietta and the Muskingum River valley, operated under a system of political patronage, and often engaged in conflict with a diverse localist faction made up of earlier settlers and squatters and later, largely Virginia-derived, settlers of the Cincinnati area. Under the territorial government, the Federalists, whose power was substantially derivative of the national government, held sway. With the election of 1800 and Ohio’s accession to the union in 1803, however, the balance of power shifted radically toward the Republicans, with whom the bulk of the localists had allied. As early as 1810, the Republican governor and legislature were tending toward greater state involvement in the economy. This early shift met with substantial resistance, but after the panic of 1819, however, the localist domination began to give way in favor of a lasting synthetic approach, which favored democratic political structures, but an economic policy of commercial development.
Author’s point of view:
Cayton betrays obvious sympathies to the Federalists; Ohio, he argues, was part of a larger, even international, economic reality. No amount of local political control could change this. What was necessary for Ohio to be governed properly was to combine a political system democratic enough to satisfy the populace with an economic policy geared toward greater participation in the national and international economy. What this meant, essentially, was to adopt the Federalist outlook toward the western economy, which Cayton argues was not colonial but industrial, envisioning the west as processing its own goods and exporting manufactured products.
Use of evidence:
Cayton draws the bulk of his material from letters written by various notable figures in Ohio politics. The remainder of his material is largely made up of newspaper sources and public documents. He includes a bibliographic essay that, while now over twenty years old, is still a useful introduction to sources in the field.
Contribution to knowledge:
Cayton’s contribution is rather limited; as his work deals primarily with the political machinations and ideological commitments of major figures in early Ohio politics, he has comparatively little to say about shifts in the political tendencies of the electorate. He does occasionally venture into such territory, particularly with his discussion of the role of Methodism in the Cincinnati area and his treatment of the elections of 1824 and 1828; however, he does not provide adequate context to offer a comprehensive picture of ideology in Ohio politics. What he does offer is a rather comprehensive study of shifts in the presented ideologies of various parties in Ohio politics in his selected period. As an example of this more narrow sort of political history, The Frontier Republic works quite well. The narrow scope of the book, however, limits (but certainly does not eliminate) its utility for any broader study of the role of political ideology in the early republic.
The Frontier Republic examines the early political history of the portion of the Northwest Territory that would eventually become the state of Ohio, and, particularly, ideological clashes between two distinct factions.
Thesis:
Cayton argues that the eventual form of Ohio politics took shape as a synthesis of the two initially dominant political powers. The Federalist-allied territorial government, with its ground of support in Marietta and the Muskingum River valley, operated under a system of political patronage, and often engaged in conflict with a diverse localist faction made up of earlier settlers and squatters and later, largely Virginia-derived, settlers of the Cincinnati area. Under the territorial government, the Federalists, whose power was substantially derivative of the national government, held sway. With the election of 1800 and Ohio’s accession to the union in 1803, however, the balance of power shifted radically toward the Republicans, with whom the bulk of the localists had allied. As early as 1810, the Republican governor and legislature were tending toward greater state involvement in the economy. This early shift met with substantial resistance, but after the panic of 1819, however, the localist domination began to give way in favor of a lasting synthetic approach, which favored democratic political structures, but an economic policy of commercial development.
Author’s point of view:
Cayton betrays obvious sympathies to the Federalists; Ohio, he argues, was part of a larger, even international, economic reality. No amount of local political control could change this. What was necessary for Ohio to be governed properly was to combine a political system democratic enough to satisfy the populace with an economic policy geared toward greater participation in the national and international economy. What this meant, essentially, was to adopt the Federalist outlook toward the western economy, which Cayton argues was not colonial but industrial, envisioning the west as processing its own goods and exporting manufactured products.
Use of evidence:
Cayton draws the bulk of his material from letters written by various notable figures in Ohio politics. The remainder of his material is largely made up of newspaper sources and public documents. He includes a bibliographic essay that, while now over twenty years old, is still a useful introduction to sources in the field.
Contribution to knowledge:
Cayton’s contribution is rather limited; as his work deals primarily with the political machinations and ideological commitments of major figures in early Ohio politics, he has comparatively little to say about shifts in the political tendencies of the electorate. He does occasionally venture into such territory, particularly with his discussion of the role of Methodism in the Cincinnati area and his treatment of the elections of 1824 and 1828; however, he does not provide adequate context to offer a comprehensive picture of ideology in Ohio politics. What he does offer is a rather comprehensive study of shifts in the presented ideologies of various parties in Ohio politics in his selected period. As an example of this more narrow sort of political history, The Frontier Republic works quite well. The narrow scope of the book, however, limits (but certainly does not eliminate) its utility for any broader study of the role of political ideology in the early republic.
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