Cornelius Vanderbilt.
The Northern Confederation Council is the legislature of the Northern Confederation. As originally established by the Britannic Design of 1781, the N.C. Council had eight members, one appointed by each of the eight provinces making up the N.C. The Council sent representatives to the other confederations of the C.N.A., and a nonvoting envoy to the British Parliament. Although it was based in the confederation capital of New York City, the N.C. Council would periodically travel to Burgoyne to meet with the other confederation-level legislatures in a body called the Grand Council.
The N.C. Council has the power to levy militia from its individual provinces with the assent of their legislatures. The council could also levy taxes from the individual provinces, and had the power to veto taxes levied by Parliament by a vote of three quarters of its members. A majority vote of the N.C. Council was required to allow militia to serve elsewhere in the British Empire.
Although Sobel does not specifically say so, it is clear that after 1808, the membership of the N.C. Council was increased, although its members were apparently still chosen by the provincial legislatures rather than through direct election. The Design originally limited the size of the confederation councils to twenty members, but this may have been revised later. From 1809 - 1813, most of the delegates to the Council represented the interests of farmers and small merchants. Beginning in 1814, the owners of large industrial concerns such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Malcolm McGregor were able to place their own men on the Council, and these industry-friendly delegates began to push for high tariffs, manufacturing subsidies, and simplified banking regulations.
By 1820, the industrialists had increased the size of their representation on the Council to the point where they were able to organize themselves into a political party, which they called the Liberal Party, most likely named after a similar group in the confederation of Quebec. The following year, the Liberals were able to appoint Daniel Webster of New Hampshire as Governor of the Northern Confederation.
Webster was a skillful politician and master manipulator who was able to gain passage of the Tariff of 1822, the Bank Bill of 1822, the Internal Improvements Bill of 1823, and the Harbors Act of 1823. Webster's crowning achievement during his first term was the creation of the Bank of the Northern Confederation, which was modeled on the Bank of England, with the power to manipulate the currency, usually to the advantage of the industrial class.
Webster's success led to the formation of a rival political party, the Conservative Party, representing the interests of farmers, urban workers, and small businessmen. The interests represented by the Conservatives were more numerous among the N.C.'s electorate than the Liberals, and they were able to use their greater numbers to gain control of the Council in 1825. Webster was replaced as governor by Conservative leader Martin van Buren of New York.
Unfortunately, due to the heterogeneous nature of their membership, the Conservatives were unable to put together a coherent program of their own. Van Buren's manipulation of the banking system was a major cause of the Depression of 1829, which brought the Liberals, and Webster, back to power after 1831.
After losing control of the Council, many Conservative groups abandoned politics. Urban workers formed a labor union called the Grand Consolidated Union which used strikes and other labor actions to agitate for better pay and working conditions. At the same time, the confederation's farmers formed the Freeholders' Alliance to seek currency inflation, anti-creditor laws, and the abolition of the Bank of the Northern Confederation.
A financial crisis in London in late 1835 brought about the Panic of 1836, when a series of bank failures in New York brought an end to the prosperity of the N.C. Unemployment rose in Massachusetts manufacturing centers, Pennsylvania foundries and mines, and the port cities of New York and Philadelphia. The growing hardship, combined with Webster's inability to maintain confidence in the N.C., led to rapid growth by the Grand Consolidated Union. Franz Freund, the founder of the Consolidated, created a political party called the Laborers' Alliance which contested local and provincial elections in the N.C. Although the Liberals suffered several defeats, they were able to maintain their majority, and Webster was able to win a new vote of confidence and remained in office.
The political deadlock in the N.C. Council and continued high unemployment led the Grand Consolidated Union to launch to a massive general strike in the summer of 1840. Several of the confederation's cities were dominated by mobs, as Webster lacked sufficient military strength to put them down. On 4 September 1840, Webster was stabbed by radical labor activist Matthew Hale as he walked home from the Hall of Justice. Webster died of his wounds three days later.
After Webster's death, the Council's Liberal majority chose Henry Gilpin of Pennsylvania to succeed him. Gilpin suspended the Britannic Design's civil liberties guarantees, and encouraged manufacturers to hire private armies to attack Consolidated headquarters throughout the confederation. Gilpin excused the vigilante attacks by saying, "There is no room for violence in the N.C., but the situation is so critical that strong measures are needed." Gilpin also called up the confederation's provincial militias, who joined with the private armies to wipe out the Consolidated and the Laborers' Alliance. By March 1841, both organizations had been destroyed at the cost of over 40,000 killed and 78,000 seriously injured. Gilpin continued to rule the N.C. by emergency decree until 1842, when the Liberals lost their majority on the Council, and John Dix of New York replaced Gilpin. Dix restored civil liberties and pledged an administration of "healing and humanitarianism, in which the rights of all will be protected."
With the adoption of the Second Britannic Design in 1842, the Grand Council was transformed into a directly-elected national legislature, and the power of the N.C. Council and the other confederation councils was reduced, if not completely superceded.