Moreover, the radical American democrats were doing much to deserve the misgivings of the Federalists.

Their ideas were narrow, impracticable, and hazardous; and they were opposed to the essential political need of the time--viz.

the constitution of an efficient Federal government.

The Federalists may have misinterpreted and perverted the proper purpose of American national organization, but they could have avoided such misinterpretation only by an extraordinary display of political insight and a heroic superiority to natural prejudice.

Their error sinks into insignificance compared with the enormous service which they rendered to the American people and the American cause.