[EL] Query -- mudslinging in early elections

Tue Jan 21 09:09:37 PST 2020

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/12487/adams-vs-jefferson-birth-negative-campaigning-us
"Jefferson's camp accused President Adams of having a "hideous
hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a
man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman." In return, Adams' men
called Vice President Jefferson "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son
of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father." As the
slurs piled on, Adams was labeled a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal, and a
tyrant, while Jefferson was branded a weakling, an atheist, a libertine,
and a coward. Even Martha Washington succumbed to the propaganda, telling a
clergyman that Jefferson was "one of the most detestable of mankind."

Many more examples from other early elections here:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/are-presidential-campaigns-getting-nastier-not-really/bastard-brat-of-a-scotch-pedler

On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 2:48 PM Svoboda, Brian (Perkins Coie) <
BSvoboda at perkinscoie.com> wrote:

> For the Founders’ era, I might suggest Michael Durey’s “With The Hammer of
> Truth: James Thomas Callender and America’s Early National Heroes,” a
> biography of the Jefferson acolyte who turned on his leader and became the
> most visible proponent of the Sally Hemings charges. That book’s
> doppelganger is “Peter Porcupine in America: Pamphlets on Republicanism and
> Revolution,” an anthology of William Cobbett’s broadsides. And then there
> is William Safire’s “Scandalmonger,” the rollicking novel which introduced
> me to both of these books.
>
>
>
> =B.
>
> *Brian G. Svoboda*  *|*  *Perkins Coie* *LLP*
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>
> *From:* Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> *On
> Behalf Of *Smith, Bradley
> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 21, 2020 9:25 AM
> *To:* Gardner, James <jgard at buffalo.edu>; Election Law Listserv <
> law-election at uci.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [EL] Query -- mudslinging in early elections
>
>
>
> See if your library has a copy of Kerwin Swint, Mudslingers: The 25
> Dirtiest Political Campaigns of All Time.
>
> David McCullough has some good tidbits and quotes from the campaign of
> 1800 in his Adams biography.
>
>
>
> The Johny-Cake Papers, published in 1879,  quote one anti-Jeffersonian
> describing TJ as "nothing but a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of
> a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father, as was well
> known in the neighborhood where he was raised, wholly on hoe-cake (made of
> course-ground Southern corn), bacon, and hominy, with an occasional change
> of fricasseed bullfrog, for which abominable reptiles he had acquired a
> taste during his residence among the French in Paris, to whom there could
> be no question he would sell his country at the first offer made to him
> cash down, should he be elected to fill the Presidential chair." However,
> the Monticello
> Society has not been able to find contemporary reports of this alleged
> speech.
>
>
>
> *Bradley A. Smith*
>
> *Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault*
>
> *   Professor of Law*
>
> *Capital University Law School*
>
> *303 E. Broad St.*
>
> *Columbus, OH 43215*
>
> *614.236.6317*
>
> *http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__law.capital.edu_faculty_bios_bsmith.aspx&d=DwMF-g&c=XRWvQHnpdBDRh-yzrHjqLpXuHNC_9nanQc6pPG_SpT0&r=liAVgWK_6sjbUg6EC0f0khf6MyboEmFwaqEV2P3ukag&m=ddglheBLekIcysIiFnriN6-AWjmZE8HyOJde6TuoqRw&s=GMglBld4_BhsQa7A17qX0edwtQtKQHxtzMaaSveGN88&e=>*
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* Law-election [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on
> behalf of Gardner, James [jgard at buffalo.edu]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 21, 2020 8:53 AM
> *To:* Election Law Listserv
> *Subject:* [EL] Query -- mudslinging in early elections
>
>    ** [ This email originated outside of Capital University ] **
>
> Dear Colleagues:
>
>
>
> I’d like to acquaint my students as vividly as possible with the fact that
> mudslinging and character destruction were common tactics in the early
> history of the republic.  Can anyone point me to a source that lays out
> some of the juicy details?  I’m not looking for a historical source that *
> describes* these elections as dirty; I want the actual insults!
>
>
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
>
>
> Jim
>
> ___________________________
> James A. Gardner
>
> Bridget and Thomas Black SUNY Distinguished Professor of Law
>
> Research Professor of Political Science
>
> University at Buffalo School of Law
>
> The State University of New York
>
> Room 514, O'Brian Hall
>
> Buffalo, NY 14260-1100
>
> voice: 716-645-3607
>
> fax: 716-645-2064
>
> e-mail: jgard at buffalo.edu
>
> Faculty page:
> https://www.law.buffalo.edu/faculty/facultyDirectory/GardnerJames.html
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__linkprotect.cudasvc.com_url-3Fa-3Dhttps-253a-252f-252fwww.law.buffalo.edu-252ffaculty-252ffacultyDirectory-252fGardnerJames.html-26c-3DE-2C1-2CEHB87OTX2ZhXsnrTkgy7-2DXdILEYr5olpAnRkkDSkHHqTIO5JL8z70Bg1BOxBBz1QLRyoYNOv5MCkrU36Gsq9JNykqE3p-2Dil-2DkGISQyUo-26typo-3D1&d=DwMF-g&c=XRWvQHnpdBDRh-yzrHjqLpXuHNC_9nanQc6pPG_SpT0&r=liAVgWK_6sjbUg6EC0f0khf6MyboEmFwaqEV2P3ukag&m=ddglheBLekIcysIiFnriN6-AWjmZE8HyOJde6TuoqRw&s=oC7LXGMd3Lzqc-GSOrvNGptbjBNFXBGj634FXb3l9co&e=>
>
> Papers at http://ssrn.com/author=40126
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__linkprotect.cudasvc.com_url-3Fa-3Dhttp-253a-252f-252fssrn.com-252fauthor-253d40126-26c-3DE-2C1-2CAMmi6IcEp93-5F8Pe2EBkdzlEDNbwsiJAKIiwHosAKPyRGRN4mGsGYaG9W84XtR39UmcYrPzJKjQm6xFvZfyO6XLabZ3WIUOANx6JxBCvSkKMopRA-5FSGK1Ug-2C-2C-26typo-3D1&d=DwMF-g&c=XRWvQHnpdBDRh-yzrHjqLpXuHNC_9nanQc6pPG_SpT0&r=liAVgWK_6sjbUg6EC0f0khf6MyboEmFwaqEV2P3ukag&m=ddglheBLekIcysIiFnriN6-AWjmZE8HyOJde6TuoqRw&s=9lLh6_8oNVabhCblVCB1NPWDNS3_d3k4TifUCT6CuEs&e=>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
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