James Sloan: Renegade or True Republican?

Abstract

This paper examines the political career of James Sloan of Gloucester County, New Jersey. Sloan was instrumental in organizing the Democratic Republican party in Gloucester County, and he represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1803 to 1809. Sloan was born into a Quaker family, but he supported the Whig cause in the American Revolution and faced disciplinary action from his Quaker meeting for doing so. Later, he would gravitate toward Methodism, but he never seemed comfortable in any religious organization. Historian Carl Prince called Sloan an “anomaly” in New Jersey politics. Sloan’s career certainly did manifest anomalous behavior. He criticized his party after it took control of the state legislature in 1801, viewing its implementation of republican principles as insufficiently zealous. As a member of Congress, he broke with the Jefferson administration over the Embargo. After leaving Congress, he coalesced with New Jersey Federalists in opposition to the War of 1812, helping to elect a “peace ticket” in that year. This paper examines Sloan’s role in state and national politics in the very early nineteenth century. Specifically, it points out some of the tensions within the Democratic Republican party, especially among those who were displeased with the domination of the “Virginia Dynasty.” Sloan led efforts to challenge this domination and to offer alternatives to the New Jersey electorate.