She was opposed to the War of 1812, but was overruled to her hurt by the South.

In these circumstances New England went for correcting the inequalities of the original basis of the Union, which gave to the South its undue preponderance in shaping national laws and policies.

This was the purpose of the Hartford Convention, which proposed the abrogation of the slave representation clause of the Constitution, and the imposition of a check upon the admission of new States into the Union.

The second proposition did not say "new slave States," but new slave States was, nevertheless, intended by the Convention.

Here in point of time and magnitude, was the first distinct collision of the two sets of ideas and interests of the Republic.
Following the Treaty of Ghent other and imperious questions engaged the public attention--questions of the tariff, of finance, internal improvements, national defence, a new navy, forts and fortifications.
Hard times, too, engrossed an enormous share of this attention.