‘A Spirit of Faction’: The Essex Junto and the Decline of the Federalist Party

Authors

Julia Brown, George Washington University

Abstract

Early American politics was largely characterized by fear, distrust, and blatant propaganda. There is perhaps no political faction that more fully embodies this fact than the Essex Junto. This essay delves into the history of this secretive faction from Essex County, Massachusetts and their impact on the post-Revolutionary period. Through analysis of both primary and secondary source material, this study seeks to decipher the true nature of the Junto, whether they wielded significant political influence or merely functioned as a useful propaganda tool for opportunistic Jeffersonians. This paper also examines the existing scholarship on this topic, mainly works created by scholars David H. Fischer and Dinah Mayo-Bobee, offering a comprehensive analysis of the true nature of the Essex Junto, the extent of their influence on political discourse, and their overall importance to the arc of American history.

First Page

1

Last Page

16

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Brown, Julia (2019) "‘A Spirit of Faction’: The Essex Junto and the Decline of the Federalist Party," Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 1.
DOI: 10.20429/aujh.2019.090101
Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/aujh/vol9/iss1/1