Board 8 > B8 Elects - The Election of 1816 - James Monroe (R) vs Rufus King (F)

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Eddv
06/03/20 3:49:27 AM
#1:


B8's Choice:
1788/1792 - The Federalists took the House and Senate with 100% of the vote
1796 - John Adams (F) d. Thomas Jefferson (DR) with 73.6% of the vote
1800 - John Adams (F) d. Thomas Jefferson (DR) with 80% of the vote
1804 - Thomas Jefferson (DR) d. Charles Pinckney (F) with 66% of the vote
1808 - James Madison (R) d. Charles Pincknet (F) and George Clinton (DR) with 42% of the vote
1812 - DeWitt Clinton (Anti-War) d. James Madison (R) with 90% of the vote.

Hey all welcome to Board 8 Elects! a topic series in which we discuss each historical election from the perspective of the year it took place in!

The idea here is to re-litigate each election from the perspective of when it took place. I will be providing each candidates platform (where possible) so the merits of the election can be discussed and voted on. If possible lets speak of the issues in the present tense.

I am going to ask you vote via BOLDING the name of the candidate rather than providing a poll because I feel the poll encourages gut voting and I would really like to see some discussion.

Topics will be live for 3 or 4 days - basically until I make the next topic voting will be active in this one.

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Welcome to the Election of 1816. The War of 1812 is over - with the British victorious in their war with France they had no need to continue prosecuting a war with what they regarded as a minor ally of the french and settled the war status quo antebellum in order to put the incident behind them. This likely would have been regarded as an enormous failure of Democratic-Republic policy as Madison's War was fruitless (aside from the murder of Tecumseh and the shattering of his confederation of Natives) if not for an 11th hour victory achieved after peace was negotiated but before it was announced. At the Battle of New Orleans where troops under General Andrew Jackson scored a major victory over the British which has been successfully spun as restoring American pride and honor. It even has many spinning the war as an american victory!

Federalists got nearly wiped out during the mid-term elections as their opposition to the war has allowed the Republicans to paint the Federalists as being unpatriotic. The party is on its last legs and desperately needs a big victory in 1816 to stay alive.

Meet the Candidates

The Republicans have nominated the 58-year-old James Monroe of Virginia is a founding father, signer of the constitution and former ambassador and most recently Secretary of War under Madison. His running mate is the current Governor of New York, Daniel Tompkins.

The Federalists have nominated 61-year-old Senator from New York Rufus King on the basis of his support of the War of 1812 in an attempt to stanch the bleeding. His

The Issues
  • Things have changed in regards to national policy debates. Madison, armed with his suddenly percieved victory in a War with the British was able to establish a 2nd National Bank, which James Monroe played a major part in and is full-throatedly endorsing, robbing the Federalists of their signature policy dispute. Monroe faced a vicious challenge for the nomination from other Republicans who opposed the bank but defeated his opponents soundly.
  • Likewise, the resolution of the war left Madison freely able to establish trade relations with both Britain and France without offending or alienating either thus ending the great Britain vs France debate.
  • The Hartford Convention is the scandal of the day but its merits are still being actively discussed. The Federalists held a convention in Hartford Connecticut where the party attempted to forge a new national identity in the face of their Anti-War identity growing the party. Remnant Anti-Federalist Democratic-Republicans and Federalists from New England had open debate on a number of issues, mainly channeling fury at the disproportionate power held by the Southern states. Scandalously some members wished to expel the western states (complaining the Louisiana Purchase was unjust) or even to threaten to have New England secede from the union if their demands were unmet, though both ideas were in the end not adopted by the convention.
  • The proposal that WERE enacted were as follows:
  1. No Trade Embargos lasting over 60 days
  2. Any use of force, offensive war, admission of a new state or interdiction of foreign commerce should require a 2/3 majority of Congress
  3. Remove the 3/5ths compromise from the Constitution, forcing the South to end slavery if they wanted to increase their political power
  4. Limit Future Presidents to a single term
  5. Require each President to be from a different state than his predecessor
  • Federalists went to deliver the results of this convention and negotiate with Madison and congressional Republicans over what portions of it could be adopted when all at once Monroe's successful negotiation of the Treaty of Ghent and word of Jackson's overwhelming military victory in New Orleans hit and rendered their entire bargaining position moot. Republicans have seized upon the poorly-timed convention to portray the Federalists as un-loyal secessionists who relished the prospect of the country losing a war for their political benefit.
The Campaign
  • Rufus King has a solid reputation as well-respected by almost everyone. He was one of Alexander Hamilton's proteges and an architect of the first National Bank and is a lion for the second, though he wishes to create an even stronger central bank than Madison ended up with.
  • As a supporter of the war King is also clean of any accusations of disloyalty that have been swelling up as a result of the war's unexpectedly triumphant conclusion.
  • Rufus King is an ardent abolitionist and with the Federalist Party robbed of other bones of contention he has made that abolitionism a central pillar of his campaign, appealing to both New York and the West's distaste for the economic and political advantage it provides to the Southern States as well as his own personal humanitarian and ethical objections to the practice. Monroe, notably, owns a very large number of slaves and unlike Jefferson and Madison has never expressed ethical concerns about the practice.
  • James Monroe meanwhile is more or less the hero of the war from the Madison administration, effectively replacing Madison as the face of his own war. As both Secretary of War and Secretary of State for most of the conflict and with Madison's lack of skill and guile as a military commander it was Monroe who positioned the nation to weather the storm of the British onslaught, who carefully split apart the alliance of Natives into squabbling ancient factions and who put General Jackson in the position to win his stunning victory, all the while he got the British to end the war without seeking highly damaging reparations that would have crippled the nation going forward. Among the political elites, it is recognized that Monroe likely saved the country from total annihilation.
  • Monroe supports a national bank, the establishment of direct taxes and recognizes that the nation needs a large standing army to defend itself in case of any future major foreign encroachments on American Sovreignty, fearing the War of 1812 exposed the nations weakness to foreign actors, especially Spain who opportunistically joined the war towards the end.


Are the Federalists Traitors? Do we finally have a good Republican candidate for President?

Does anything besides the fact that Rufus King is an abolitionist matter to b8?

Let's Vote!

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Anagram
06/03/20 12:39:23 PM
#2:


Rufus King

I don't like all of the Federalists' proposals, but none of them are complete deal breakers, and King's opposition to slavery is appealing. Monroe clearly doesn't feel strongly about it or actively supports it. Both support the national bank, which is fine, and I don't see much of a problem expanding it.

I'm not seeing any significant advantages to Monroe's policies here other than supporting a standing army, which at this point looks like a necessity.

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Maniac64
06/03/20 1:29:10 PM
#3:


Munroe is definitely the best candidate the Republicans have ever put forth. He is also a near opposite of Jefferson Republicans on many big issues.

But he he saved the country from Madisons disastrous choices so he gets credit for that.

Not sure I actually want him to be president though, especially with a abolitionist against him.

King seems like a good candidate as well and the Federalists arent campaigning on any real bad stuff atm.

Going to think on this one but leaning King.

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Eddv
06/03/20 5:57:46 PM
#4:


Up we go

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Paratroopa1
06/03/20 6:08:42 PM
#5:


Eddv posted...
Does anything besides the fact that Rufus King is an abolitionist matter to b8?
Nope!

Rufus King
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Eddv
06/04/20 5:39:54 PM
#6:


Let's hear some more thoughts on King and Monroe.


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Maniac64
06/04/20 6:01:21 PM
#7:


Guess I'm leaning King

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Keltiq
06/05/20 3:46:34 PM
#8:


I joked about not voting because I'm canadian on discord, but I'll come out and vote King because abolition is very important

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