As we are inundated with negative and false news regarding President Trump and his 2016 election campaign, I kept thinking of how Thomas Jefferson was similarly assaulted by Richmond reporter, James Callender, and other members of the press.
I so respect the Research & Collections department of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. They do amazing work on all research regarding Thomas Jefferson. I wanted to share their article on James Callender with you. I could never have done a better, more thorough job. Here it is to share, as well as comments of mine.
Monticello Research: James Thomson Callender (1758-1803), well known in his time as a political writer and newspaper editor, is remembered today chiefly for his series of newspaper articles alleging that Thomas Jefferson had children with Sally Hemings. Born in Scotland, Callender wrote The Political Press Progress of Britain, that attacked British institutions. The document was outlawed in January 1793 and thus, he fled to America, arriving in the States in May 1793.
Callender criticized elements of the Constitution which he believed were undemocratic, such as the election of the president through the Electoral College. He said that the Senate was flagrantly unrepresentative because it was not directly elected by the people, and blasted George Washington, who had "debauched" and "deceived" the nation by promoting himself as a popular idol. An advocate of an unfettered press, Callender declared, "The more that a nation knows about the mode of conducting its business, the better chance has that business of being properly conducted." Throughout Callender's career his writings were rabidly partisan.
When Callender lost his job as the congressional reporter for the Philadelphia Gazette he turned to writing pamphlets supporting the Republican party cause, but he was continually in debt. Jefferson helped his journalist ally by securing him a position on the Republican paper,The Aurora, and provided him with money off and on for several years.[1] Jefferson understood the power of the printed word to reach people and he did not stop Callender in his attacks against Federalist leaders.
In order to curb Alexander Hamilton's influence, Callender published in his work, History of the United States for 1796 (1797), a report of the affair between Alexander Hamilton and Maria Reynolds, a married woman. The day before the Alien and Sedition Acts became law on July 13, 1798, Callender fled to Virginia to the home of Senator Stevens Thomson Mason of Loudoun County. Then, in 1799, he moved to Richmond where he wrote for the Richmond Recorder. His anti-Federalist pamphlet, The Prospect Before Us, led to his prosecution under the Sedition Act. He was sentenced on May 24, 1800, to nine months in jail and a $200 fine.
When he got out of jail in the spring of 1801 Callender expected President Jefferson to reward him for his work and his loyalty. He wanted the Richmond postmaster job but he did not get it. In the president's view, Callender was now too radical, and in an attempt to foster reconciliation after the difficult election, Jefferson did not include the more militant or radical Republicans. As Jefferson writes, "I am really mortified at the base ingratitude of Callender. It presents human nature in a hideous form." [2] In February 1802, Callender joined with Federalist newspaper editor Henry Pace and began to attack both parties, but even more so against the Republicans and Jefferson in particular. In a series of articles beginning on September 1, 1802, Callender alleged that Jefferson had several children by a slave concubine, Sally Hemings. [3]
Jayne Cox: This is quoted from Dumas Malone's Jefferson The President First Term 1801-1805, Chapter XIII Freedom and Licentiousness :
"Considering the extent and severity of the attacks on Jefferson's morals during his presidency, his apparent ability to brush them off is remarkable. No doubt his progressive disillusionment with the press during his administration was, in part at least, a reflection of his resentment of the outrageous charges against him as a person..."
Shortly before reaching the halfway point in his first term, Jefferson expressed himself in a letter to a man of learning in Europe, M. Pictet, February 5,1803, "Our newspapers, for the most part, present only the caricatures of disaffected minds. Indeed, the abuses of the freedom of the press have been carried to a length never before known or borne by any civilized nation."
Another attack on President Jefferson was by Harry Croswell, editor of the sheet called The Wasp in Hudson, New York- a paper which "became a symbol of unrestrained scurrility"- was not an attack on the principles of the existing federal government, but on President Jefferson himself. On September 9, 1802, this paper said, "Jefferson paid Callender for calling Washington a traitor, a robber, and a perjurer, for calling Adams a hoary-headed incendiary; and for most grossly slandering the private characters of men whom he well knew were virtuous. These charges, not a democratic editor has yet dared, or ever will dare, to meet in an open and manly discussion."
In Jefferson's second inaugural address, Jefferson clearly justified in asserting that the "artillery of the press" had been directed against his administration.
Monticello Research: Callender's life quickly began to disintegrate, in large part due to his bitterness and alcoholism. On December 20, 1802, George Hay, Callender's past defense lawyer, beat Callender for threatening to publish stories about him. Callender continued to drink heavily and ended up breaking off his partnership with Pace. Callender was seen in a drunken stupor on July 17, 1803, and later that day, he drowned in the James River. He wrote a letter before his death that was published afterwards that tried to make amends for his past. In particular, the letter was about editorial exchanges dealing with the Skelton Jones' and Armistead Selden duel that set off a series of bitter newspaper attacks. However, it did not address most of the past, including the attacks on Jefferson.
References
- Jefferson helped Callender financially in three ways. He helped him find work, he bought his pamphlets, and he gave money outright to him. The first payment to Callender made by Jefferson was for $15.14 for multiple copies of Callender's series of pamphlets History of the United States for 1796. See MB, 2: 963, 975, 980, 1002, 1005, 1018, 1028, and 1042 which covers the years 1797 to 1801.
- Jefferson to James Monroe, July 15, 1802. Bergh, 10:330. It is in this letter among others, he says Callender was a charity case of his regardless of political affiliation.
- Richmond Recorder, September 1 1802.
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