Thursday, July 07, 2016

What if the North Seceded?

Northern Secessionist
Timothy Pickering

Decades before the American Civil War, New England contemplated seceding from the Union.  The so called Essex Junto, a group of businessmen and politicians based in Essex County, Massachusetts spearheaded a secessionist movement in the early 1800s, fearing the diminished influence of New England after the Louisiana Purchase. Timothy Pickering, who had served Secretary of State under George Washington, was one of the key figures of the movement. Pickering envisioned a new republic comprised of New England, New York, New Jersey, and Canada. The Essex Junto approached Alexander Hamilton, who was horrified by the plan.

The push for secession came primarily from the younger generation of Federalist leaders, who believed they needed to defend the principles of states' rights and self-government from an overbearing federal government. The northern secessionists believed that the South was gaining too much wealth, power, and influence, and was using that influence against New England politically.

The northern secessionists believed strongly that homogeneity of race, and “ethnic purity,” were essential ingredients of a successful republic. The New Englanders thought of themselves as “choice offspring of the choicest people, unpolluted by foreign blood.”


In 1860, disgruntled secessionists in the deep North rebel against the central government and plunge America into Civil War. Will the Kingdom survive? The land will run red with blood before peace comes again.