On Fri, 6 Oct 2000, Randy Cabell wrote: > 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? It depends ultimately on your point of view and how you measure degrees of "badness." The song refers to the events and political climate of the late 1790s (chiefly)--in particular government measures like the Alien & Sedition Acts and less formal intimidation and suppression of radical & democratic tendencies. Recent works that emphasize the "badness" of these actions more than your average American history text (or specialized monograph on the period) might are: larry Tise, The American Counterrevolution: A Retreat from Liberty (1999); and Richard Rosenfeld, American Aurora (1998). Doug Deal History/SUNY-Oswego To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html.