Chapter Five: Filling In the Gaps
To say the states of Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, and South Carolina had it easy after seceding from the Union was inaccurate. The smaller states of Delaware and New Jersey had it particularly bad early on. Their economies were small thanks to their low populations. They did share, however, a small degree of leverage. In September 1790, less than a month after Rhode Island ratified the Consitution to the United States, acting New Jersey governor Elisha Lawrence wrote to Delaware Governor Joshua Clayton to discuss the possibility of forming a federated union between the two states. The governors sent representatives to discuss the prospect of such federation. After negotiations were completed, the union between the states would be held before the end of 1790 with elections the following year. The end goal was a mutual defense against potential hostile states like Pennsylvania and increased economic power which would be seen through the creation of tariffs to pass through the Delaware Bay to or from Philadelphia higher than either state could impose on their own. For the presidential election, there were three possible candidates in addition to the incumbents of each state: George Mitchell, Thomas Montgomery, and William Patterson. Since Patterson was the creator of the failed New Jersey plan, which was still supported by the people of Delaware and New Jersey, the gubernatorial election, which was done by the state legislatures, would ultimately swing in his favor.
The legislature was to be unicameral with each of the two states having an equal number of representatives and, by extension, votes. The Consitution of The Federation of Delaware Bay made it clear that the government was meant to parallel that from under the Articles of Confederation while adding powers to raise revenue and regulate commerce and foreign affairs as intended under the New Jersey Plan such as regulating trade and raising money by taxing foreign goods. Despite its name, the FDB was more of a Confederation than a Federation because of this. Nevertheless, the financial powers given to the new government benefited them greatly as ships from outside the FDB inbound to Philadelphia or outbound from Philadelphia had to pay significant taxes on international goods to pass through the Delaware Bay and the Delaware River. For a little while, they were practically sitting on a throne of money but this caused the whiskey crisis in Pennsylvania to be more widespread outside the western part of the state. The situation had spiraled out of control by the end of 1794 as things heated into a war in all but name, and within a couple more years, things were absolutely untenable for Pennsylvania. The state was bleeding cash and John Adams as president, so the state voted to secede before the election in order to solve the “Delaware River” problem. After declaring independence, it invaded the Federation of Delaware Bay. The FDB was unable to hold out against Pennslyvania and was subsequently annexed.
Unlike Delaware and New Jersey, there was less urgency for Georgia and South Carolina to unify immediately due to their population size and growth rate. South Carolina had more people than Delaware and New Jersey combined in 1790 (about 249,000 with 107,000 as slaves), while Georgia’s nearly doubled between 1790 and 1800 from 83,000 to 163,000. Still, Georgia and South Carolina each shared the same defining trait: Slavery. For much of the eighteenth century, the primary crops grown by slaves were indigo, rice, and (to a lesser extent) cotton. Beginning with the American Revolution, however, ruined indigo fields from the war and falling demand over in Europe in the 1790s caused the Indigo market to crash. Rice, on the other hand, remained dominant over indigo, but it could almost only be grown near the coast. The rice market also became more competitive. Long-staple cotton was limited to coastal areas and labor-intensive, and short-staple was difficult to remove the seeds from. Many in Georgia and South Carolina secretly understood that unless they could find something they could be competitive and profitable with, the future of slavery was bleak and even a few masters freed their slaves. Still, the majority were determined to keep it, and the slave trade, around as long as possible, and their dream would be realized at the beginning of the nineteenth century with the cotton gin. Unification was also around the corner with the Whiskey War threatening to rip apart the United States of America for good.
Georgia and South Carolina saw leverage in merging, aside from the fact that they felt a general unity against everyone else, in order to increase their collective power if the United States was to break up. Discussions about a unification began on October 28, 1783. Unlike with Delaware and New Jersey, several delegates from each Georgia and South Carolina almost walked out due to states’ rights issues. The Consitution allowed for an executive to be elected for a single six-year term and was generally modeled after the Virginia Plan, except slaves were full people for the purpose of representation. The cornerstone of this new government was that slavery was to be preserved indefinitely and the government could not abolish the slave trade without an amendment. The unification was proposed in both states in March 1794, ratified later that summer, and effective on January 1, 1795. The new entity was named the Confederation of Southern America, with Thomas Pinckney, in 1795, elected as its first president. Outsiders (especially in Europe) wondered at first glance how successful a relatively small slave state could be. As soon as incumbent United States President John Adams announced he would run again in the 1796 election, the wave of secession that carried on for a year gave the CSA a fighting chance. Stranded on an island, Tennessee and North Carolina had no choice but to leave as well. Soon, Tennessee voted to join Virginia, while North Carolina voted to join the CSA but not everyone was happy with it.