A Town In-Between by Ridner Judith;

Author:Ridner, Judith;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2019-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHPTER FIVE

Still In-Between

IT WAS DECEMBER 26, 1787. Another year nearly over, but with little to celebrate. The 1780s were a tough decade in America. The Revolutionary War was won, but victory had costs. In Pennsylvania, these costs included a postwar economic depression that worsened cash scarcity, accelerated declining land prices, gave rise to property foreclosures, and encouraged speculation. Then there was the continuing struggle between radicals, moderates, and conservatives for control of state politics, which remained heated. Still, though, some Carlisle townspeople, particularly its politically cautious leading men, had cause for optimism that winter day. Just weeks before, the state convention had ratified America’s new Constitution; it was only the second state to do so. That gave them hope. The Constitution, they believed, would restore prosperity and order to America. It would also help them claim power from the radicals who had controlled Pennsylvania’s government since the Revolution.

And so, on that late December day, Carlisle’s Federalists busied themselves preparing a parade and ceremony to honor the new Constitution, which was to be held on the public square. They planned to issue several public proclamations, fire a cannon, and light a bonfire.1 These activities seemed innocuous enough. Philadelphia, Lancaster, York, Easton, and nearby Chambersburg had already staged their own peaceful “demonstrations of joy.”2 But Carlisle was unlike these towns. As a town in-between it had a history as a divided, contentious, and sometimes violent place; the Revolution had done nothing to alter that fact. A parade staged here, therefore, had potential to become disorderly. Moreover, the Constitution that Carlisle’s Federalists wished to celebrate was adamantly opposed by most county residents and some of their Carlisle neighbors. Carlisle’s Federalists knew this, but still persisted in their celebration. They would revel in their victory whether their neighbors liked it or not.

The stage was thus set; this would be no ordinary parade. Festivities began at five o’clock that evening when Federalists called their neighbors out of their homes with the ringing of a bell and the beating of a drum. Supporters of the Constitution assembled on the streets. But soon a group of Antifederalist protestors appeared, “armed with bludgeons.” They had also prepared for the occasion. Angered, in particular, by Federalist threats to break the unilluminated windows of all who opposed the Constitution, Antifederalists confronted their neighbors on the square and demanded a halt to the celebrations. Major James Armstrong Wilson, a Continental Army veteran who had served under William Irvine, stepped forward from the cannon he manned to defend his Federalist compatriots. As he noted with irony, he knew a “people so pregnant with liberty … would not wish to hinder their neighbors to show marks of joy.” Antifederalists were in no mood to listen, however. They pelted him with staves and then beat him to the ground (he died several months later, possibly from wounds sustained during this attack). A “general confusion,” or riot, ensued. Federalists hurled insults. Antifederalists attacked several celebrants. Most people ran off, however, frightened by the melée. Afterward,

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