Comments on: The Election of 1800: The Birth of Negative Campaigning in the U.S.

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:47:08 +0000

Jefferson’s last words were remembered as “Jefferson lives” (no questionmark, no anguish) but apparently only the word “Jefferson” was clearly intelligible. Adams’ final statement was probably one of his self-conscious observations on history and the role he and Jefferson played — at that point, they were two of the only three surviving signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Claire also has some details wrong. Though initially Jefferson had been warned about Adams by Madison and approached him with caution/prejudice, they came to admire each other greatly in their time spent drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1775 all the way through the several years they spent together as ambassadors in Europe. They disagreed on some basic points of government philosopy, but both were dedicated to American independence and respected each other in that regard. Jefferson was a close family friend of the Adamses, particularly close to Abigail Adams. The Adamses even fostered Jefferson’s daughter for a short time.

It wasn’t until the start of the French Revolution and their differing opinions on how involved America should be that the two began sniping at each other in ernest.

By: PartiallyDeflected

PartiallyDeflected — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:25:37 +0000

But now all you have to do is point out some candidates’ voting records and they scream “Negative Attack!”

By: Tania

Tania — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:15:11 +0000

The more things change…

Had there been cable news in the day, I could see Keith Olbermann and Sean Hannity working themselves up into a tizzy, hurling each side’s talking points at the other.

By: wes

wes — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:07:44 +0000

Great article! I’d love to see a post on James Callendar.

By: Claire

Claire — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:41:45 +0000

TJ and Adams were hardly friends at the beginning either. They each had a drastically different view of how the new government should be run, and were bitter political enemies. Also, when TJ ran for President, it wasn’t the dramataic scene we would picture today. TJ was only VP because he came in second place in the previous election, not because Adams and TJ were alligned in any way.