"So Palpably in the Teeth of the Constitution as to Shew They Mean to Pay no Respect to It": How the Oft Overlooked Republican Response to the Sedition Act Effected the Election of 1800
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2015
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Haverford College. Department of History
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
This thesis examines the often overlooked local Republican newspaper network in the aftermath of the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts and the buildup to the election of 1800. Most newspapers in the Early Republic were Federalist, but after the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts, Republican newspapers began to spring up in greater numbers and with choicer words for various Federalist injustices. Most historians tend to ignore local newspapers and instead focus on national newspapers and national trends, but this thesis looks at regional newspapers across Pennsylvania to examine the various methods they used the keep the Sedition Act firmly in the minds of their readers. These newspapers often used pieces of "communal literature," such as petitions and editorials aimed at their readership to establish "imagined communities" among their subscribers. For instance, a certain newspaper in Philadelphia printed several petitions against the Sedition Act from neighborhoods and towns surrounding Philadelphia over a period of several months, in order to establish that Republicans in the area were strong and united in their opposition to the Sedition Act. Petitions were not the only piece of communal literature -there were also editorials aimed at local populations, as well as toasts and elegies to Republican heroes. In this way, the newspapers were able to establish "imagined communities," to strengthen the local Republicans. This dissatisfaction with the Alien and Sedition Act extended, in various stages, from their initial passing in June and July of 1798 all the way to the election of 1800. The first stage appeared to end with the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions -the disastrous documents that represented a nadir for national Republicans in general. Yet, after the Resolutions, local Republican newspapers began to shift attention away from them and back to the Alien and Sedition Acts. In the year and several months between the Resolutions and the trial of Thomas Cooper, a printer from Northumberland, Pennsylvania indicted under the Sedition Act, local Republican newspapers rallied and fomented anger against the Alien and Sedition Acts. Again, this included petitions, editorials, and memorials, some of which were oriented towards the important gubernatorial elections of 1799. Finally, the trial of Thomas Cooper in April of 1800 re-galvanized Republican anger towards the Sedition Act, and this momentum carried over into the election of 1800. The Cooper trial offered Republican newspapers an opportunity to rehash the unconstitutionality and immorality of the Sedition Act. In the summer months after the trial, Republican newspapers tended to offer analysis of the illegal and immoral nature of the trial and the Sedition Act in general. By election season, this gave way to articles pinning the blame on the Sedition Act and unconstitutional trials on Adams, and vindicating Cooper, Jefferson, and other Republicans as the defenders of freedom. Republican newspapers used the Sedition Act and its prosecutions to inflame the electorate and make potential voters concerned over the state of their rights. The Sedition Act has a momentous effect on the Republican calculus heading into the election of 1800.