[Izulde]

Philip J Schuyler's attempt to get a Cotton Excise Tax approved that had the blessing of Wall Street was blocked by the chair, so in response, the Finance Federalists angrily voted against all legislation. What ultimately ended up getting signed and passed by President Jefferson:

S.1 (Packaged) Subsidize Construction of a Canal from Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware River (Sen Page)

Establish National Newspaper (Sen Monroe)

S.2 Increase the size of the army (Sen Armstrong Jr) *Crisis Bill*

S.4 Ban Slavery in the Territories north of the 36-30 parallel (Sen Smith, S)

H.R.1 Increase the size of the navy (Sec Livingston) *Crisis Bill*

H.R.4 (Packaged) Set the Number of Supreme Court Justices to 5 (Rep Hiester, D)

Allow President to Deport Immigrants Deemed Dangerous to National Security (Rep Randolph) *Crisis Bill*

Why was there a crisis? The War of 1808 (Ed. Note: The War of 1812 four years early) and the Invasion of Canada simultaneously occurring. Both early fronts fared poorly for the United States, the country losing every single land and sea engagement.

Overall, not a happy time for the faction, as Wall Street was enraged at many of the bills being passed, though the composite faction saw them fare not the worst overall or even in the Federalists.

1808 Election Runup
With his newfound Command, Philip van Cortlandt put his name forward as a Minor candidate, though whomever the Federalists elected was sure to be slaughtered by President Jefferson, who was running for a third term and extremely popular across the country despite the military crisis.

The Finance Federalists also put forth their slate of candidates for Governor and the House:

Joseph Kent - MD Gov (if eligible - attempted)
Winthrop Sargent - MS Gov (Incumbent)
John Bayard - NJ Gov
Martin Chittenden - VT Gov (If eligible - Attempted)

CT-1: Theodore Dwight (Incumbent)
MA-2: Peleg Coffin Jr
MD-1: George Dent
NC-2: Gabriel Holmes
NJ-2: Richard Stockton
NY-1: Silas Wood
NY-3: Philip van Cortlandt (if Presidential candidacy fails)
NY-4: Philip J Schuyler (Incumbent)
OH-1: Jacob Burnet
PA-2: Amos Slaymaker (Incumbent)
RI-1: Asher Robbins
VT-1: Dudley Chase

Notes: By universal Federalist agreement, none of the incumbents were challenged in either the gubernatorial nor the House races. Peleg Coffin Jr switched seats from MA-4 to MA-2 and Silas Wood, having failed to capture the New York statehouse two years ago, ran for the House in NY-1, thereby putting a Finance Federalist in every New York seat they were eligible for (NY-2 was held by another faction's incumbent). Schuyler and Slaymaker were considered as having two of the safest seats of any the Federalists held.

On the governor side of things, John Bayard winning the statehouse would be a huge boon if it somehow happened, as New Jersey had just switched to 4-year terms. Winthrop Sargent was going to have to hope for a lack of challengers, as Mississippi was deeply Democratic-Republican. By and large, it promised to be a fairly quiet gubernatorial election for the faction, as they invested themselves heavily in trying to expand their influence in the House.