February 6, 2007
by Don Lake
1798 AND 'THE OTHER' PATRIOT ACTS
The Presidential Election of 1796 was a water shed in American politics. George Washington historically declined to run for a third term. The two internal factions which had been struggling to gain the upper hand during his Presidency now developed into full-fledged, if Non Constitutional, political parties.
The Federalists were led by former gunnery officer Alexander Hamilton of New York City ---the first national capitol. Washington's Vice President John Adams of Boston was the Federalists' front man. The so called Democratic-Republicans were led by Virginian Thomas Jefferson. TJ was an intimate of the Declaration and Confederation and Constitution process. Fellow Virginians (and other future presidents) James Madison and James Monroe, were insider Jefferson's philosophical and political allies.
President Elect Adams and Vice President Elect Jefferson, war time allies and peace time enemies, fought a love -hate battle behind the scenes (1792) and on the campaign trail (1796) two centuries before Boss Ross Perot's fight against their later day Duopoly!
Adams, the first Presidential parent of a later President, won the states' votes in a tight Electoral College. But the Democratic-Republicans gained strength steadily as the 1700s came to a close. Domestically, the economic issues of the times (especially taxation) were the 'talking points' of the town square. In the larger cities and among the bigger land owners (as the informal beginnings American Aristocracy and corporate power) were keeping an eye on the 'Other' high profile Revolution.
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In Paris and Pre-Napoleon France of 1789, the mob activities of French small town folk and urban down trodden had not irritated that many Jefferson -Madison -Monroe followers. How ever, on Wall Street (where Hamilton had an office until killed by the Dick Cheney of his day (Vice President Aaron Burr), in 1801) the Post Colonial American high rollers were very alarmed by the "excesses" of the European revolutionaries.
Fearing that the 'virus' of French radicalism would invade the United States, the early American establishment passed the Sedition Act of 1798. Giving a precident for George W's 21st Century abuses, Sedition provided that anyone who criticized American government officials might be imprisoned. It's nearly identical twin, the Alien Act, authorized the Unconstitutional deportation of "dangerous" foreigners by the powers that be.
Federalists Adams and Hamilton and other power brokers viewed these acts as a necessary wall of protection against a second, bloody revolution against a new, vulnerable, home grown American government. But the Democratic-Republicans considered them unconstitutional violations on par the current abominations of the so called Patriot Act. When the new, new French political establishment (including military officer and future Emporior Bonaparte) turned in a conservative direction, [such as making peaceful overtures to other countries], the possibly of a French military adventure in North America [and it's accompanying Radical Revolution fever] evaporated.
Into that political vacuum a massive grass roots reaction against the Alien and Sedition Acts flowed. The Jeffersonians won the White House again and again and then evolved into the Andrew Jackson type of Democrats. The more establishment Federalists morphed into Whigs and then 'died' during the Civil War. After placement on nickels and Washington DC's capitol mall and Mount Rushmore, Jefferson was grabbed as a political icon (fee free ----as a public domain!) by the Libertarian Party in the early 1970s.
RESULTS: 1796: "Stand with Washington." Federalists [and other Northerners associated with Boston's John Adams] used this slogan to rally support for their programs in the name of Virginian George Washington!
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Don Lake [send him email] works with Citizens For A Better Veterans Home, which is a West Coast populist group formed at the 'worst veterans care campus on the planet.' Visit their website at http://www.calvets.blogspot.com/
