Editing Federalist Party (section)

===Decline (1816–28)===
The Federalists fielded their last presidential candidate, [[Rufus King]] in [[U.S. presidential election, 1816|1816]]. With the party's passing, partisan hatreds and newspaper feuds declined and the nation entered the "[[Era of Good Feelings]]". Federalism in states like Massachusetts gradually blended into the conservative wing of the Democratic-Republicans. In the [[1824 United States presidential election|1824 presidential election]], New Englanders from both parties supported Adams, a native of the region. However, a few old Federalist leaders, who never forgave Adams for abandoning them, formed a ticket of [[unpledged elector]]s with [[Tertium quids|radical Democratic-Republicans]]. This ticket was overwhelmingly defeated and likely would have voted for [[William H. Crawford|Crawford]].<ref name=":Morison">{{Cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |title=Harrison Gray Otis, 1765-1848: The Urbane Federalist |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1969 |isbn=9780395080238 |pages=443–446}}</ref>

Following 1824, no Federalist ran for governor of any state and most left for the [[National Republican Party|National Republicans]]. After the dissolution of the [[18th United States Congress|final Federalist congressional caucus]] in 1825, the last traces of Federalist activity came in Delaware and Massachusetts local politics in the late 1820s. In other states there still technically existed Federalists (for example [[James Buchanan]]) but they were engaged in patronage with either Jackson or Adams. In Massachusetts, the Federalist Party ceased to function as a state organization in 1825, surviving only as a local Boston group for the next three years.<ref name=":Morison" /> In Delaware, the Federalist Party lasted until 1826 and controlled the [[Delaware House of Representatives]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dubin |first=Michael J. |title=Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures: A Year by Year Summary, 1796-2006 |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2007 |isbn=9780786429141 |pages=39}}</ref> When [[Daniel Webster]], representative of Boston, resigned in 1827 to [[1826–27 United States Senate elections|run for U.S. Senator]], a caucus of Federalists met in Boston to nominate his replacement. A young [[William Lloyd Garrison]] persuaded the caucus to choose the Federalist [[Harrison Gray Otis (politician)|Harrison Gray Otis]], who ultimately declined. The caucus then nominated the [[National Republican Party|Anti-Jacksonian]] [[Benjamin Gorham]], their original choice.<ref name=":Morison" />

In the [[1828 United States presidential election|1828 presidential election]], the Federalists were used as a scapegoat in Boston. The [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] Boston ''Statesman'' accused Adams of being a secret Hartford Federalist attempting to revive the "reign of terror" under his father. Adams responded by accusing the old Hartford Federalists of treason and attempting to dissolve the union to form their own confederation. The ''Jackson Republican'', an ally of the Statesman and founded by former Federalist [[Theodore Lyman II]], implicated Webster among the old Federalists Adams intended to impugn, leading to a libel suit. As a protest against Adams, several "Federal young men" who had been supporting Adams nominated a Federalist ticket of presidential electors. This ticket, headed by Otis and [[William Prescott Jr.]] and including three other members of the Hartford Convention, garnered a pitiful 156 votes in Boston and none elsewhere in the state. As with the previous election, Adams swept the city and state.<ref name=":Morison" />

That ticket, according to the best of knowledge of [[Samuel Eliot Morison]], was "the last ticket ever voted for that bore the name of the once powerful party of Washington and Hamilton."<ref name=":Morison" />