ABSTRACT
Into the complacent little Boston of Fisher Ames and Robert Treat Paine came the Embargo, the War of 1812, and the industrial revolution to upset its static order and destroy its snug provincialism. The old Federalism with its Hartford Convention and plans for New England secession went the way of mortality, carrying with it to the grave the old pessimism and the old spleen. The Embargo had proved a major disaster to New England shipping; and the Boston merchants, counting their losses from idle and dismasted ships, water-logging at the wharves, found just cause for hating the policy of the administration. Webster had no message for the conscience of New England, neither had he any for the intelligence of New England. It was the singular ill fortune of Webster to have been born too late to profit from the old mercantile Federalism to which his affections were always attached.
