=314. Reasons for New England’s Attitude.=—This attitude seems at first wholly indefensible, but we must remember both at this juncture and in dealing later with the secession of the South, that the idea of national unison was one of very slow growth, and that threats of secession or of violent resistance to the Union had been heard already from Southern, Western, and Middle states. States were still jealous of their prestige, and the language of the Constitution lent itself to interpretations that reduced the power of the nation to a minimum. Besides, New England had suffered greatly from the enforced idleness of its shipping during the Embargo and from the captures made by the British. Consequently, just as men are always inclined to do, they held the national government responsible for matters that often lay beyond its control. Their pro-British sympathies, although certainly carried beyond the bounds of decency, may be partly extenuated for these reasons. When they went farther, and refused to put the state militia at the service of the Union, they took a dangerous step, but one not entirely indefensible on strict constructionist grounds. It was a sure precursor, however, of more determined and less defensible opposition. =315. The Hartford Convention.=—Success in state elections gave the political solidarity that was needed, and the increasing pressure of hostilities in the year 1814 gave the needed stimulus, for effective opposition to the war on the part of New England. After speeches and resolutions as strenuous as those that nerved Virginia and Kentucky to their resistance of the Alien and Sedition laws, passed half a generation before by the Federalists themselves, a call was issued by Massachusetts for a convention of the New England States. This met at Hartford, Connecticut, on December 15, 1814. After a few weeks of secret debate its members issued a remarkable report. This document asserted the doctrine of states’ rights in its most naked form, suggested amendments to the Constitution of the United States looking to the protection of the interests of minorities, and demanded for the states the right to claim the customs duties collected within their own borders. This last provision would have been of itself enough to destroy the power of the Union, but fortunately there was no need even to discuss it. The commissioners sent to Washington to propose it to Congress found that peace had been declared and that their chief ground of grievance had been removed. They had, therefore, nothing to do but to hasten home in chagrin. The Federalist party did not survive their last attack upon the general government, and for several years after 1815 there was practically only one party in the country. This fact is not surprising when we remember that accession to power had rendered the leading Republicans as desirous of maintaining a fairly strong government as the moderate Federalists were. CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR.