Sharp Elbows Are Nothing New: Revisiting the Election of 1800

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Sharp Elbows Are Nothing New: Revisiting the Election of 1800

November 4, 2016 by N.M. Buskirk 5 Comments

Just another Sunday at Monticello: A Federalist eagle swoops down on Thomas Jefferson, who is preparing to incinerate the U.S. Constitution on the altar of French despotism.

 

Overwrought commentators warn us about the nasty, destabilizing rhetoric of this presidential campaign. Some claim that the accusations the candidates hurl at each other are a threat to the continued existence of free government. As a high school junior enrolled in AP U.S. History, and fresh off the study of the election of 1800, I can assure you that the rhetoric in this election is nothing new. By some measures, we might even consider it tame.

 

Mudslinging, fiercely partisan political parties, and personal attacks on candidates during campaign season have been with us since the beginning. Some of our most revered Founders knew how to throw a sharp elbow at election time. The genius of our republican system of government is that it was designed to account for the

http://amgreatness.com/2016/11/04/sharp-elbows-nothing-new-revisiting-election-1800/