This is not my period, but I suspect the driving forces were the sharp partisanship
which had developed by 1800 between Federalists and Jeffersonians, and the stark
attack on liberties that Jeffersonians (and some Federalists) saw in
the Alien and particularly the Sedition Act. Freedom of the press
as protected in the First Amendment was never undermined again
so seriously as under the Sedition Act, until the Wilson
Administration forced through the Espionage Act of 1917.
Harold S. Forsythe
History & Black Studies
Fairfield University
Date sent: Fri, 06 Oct 2000 08:42:16 -0400
From: Randy Cabell <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: "The reign of terror is no more."
To: [log in to unmask]
Send reply to: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
<[log in to unmask]>
> In digging through some old presidential campaign songs, I ran across
> "Jefferson and Liberty" which I understand was used not only in his 1800
> campaign, but was the song of his party for the next 20 years or so. My
> American (and Virginia) history is not what it should be, and I wonder to
> what the words which continually recur are referring. For example:
>
> "The gloomy night before us flies,
> THE REIGN OF TERROR IS NO MORE,
> No GAGS, INQUISITORS, or SPIES,
> Its HORDES OF HARPIES are no more."
>
> Is this a throw-back to some 25 years before at the beginning of the
> Revolution, or were things really (perceived) THAT bad under John
> Adams? Actually, neither this verse nor the others have much really to
> say about Mr. Jefferson. He appears in the Chorus:
>
> "Rejoice, Columbia's Sons Rejoice, To Tyrannts never bend the knee,
> But join with heart and soul and voice, with Jefferson and Liberty."
>
> Randy Cabell
>
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