"In a vicious cycle, the Federalists became obstructionists because the Republicans cast any opposition as treasonous. Rejecting the concept of the two-party system, the Republicans insisted that they alone expressed the will of the people. Thomas Jefferson explained to William Duane, 'I will not say our party, the term is false and degrading, but our nation will be undone. For the Republicans are the nation.' If the Republicans were the nation, then the Federalists were traitors.
"While urging unitred support for the war, the Republicans gave the Federalists scant reason to cooperate."
Alan Taylor, "The Civil War of 1812" (2010), p. 180.
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