Negative campaigning in the United States can be trace back toJohn Adamsand Thomas Jefferson . Back in 1776 , the dynamic yoke conflate powers to aid arrogate America ’s independence , and they had nothing but love and respect for one another . But by 1800 , party politics had so distanced the dyad that , for the first and last metre in U.S. history , a Chief Executive found himself running against his VP .
Things got ugly fast . Jefferson ’s camp criminate President Adams of take a " hideous hermaphroditical part , which has neither the force and resolve of a man , nor the gentleness and sensibility of a womanhood . " In return , Adams ' men called Vice President Jefferson " a mean - spirited , low - lived blighter , the Logos of a half - multiply Indian squaw , sired by a Virginia mulatto Padre . “ As the slurs piled on , Adams was labeled a fool , a phoney , a felon , and a tyrant , while Jefferson was branded a weakling , an atheist , a debauchee , and a coward . Even Martha Washington knuckle under to the propaganda , telling a reverend that Jefferson was " one of the most abominable of mankind . “
JEFFERSON HIRES A HATCHET MAN
Back then , presidential candidates did n’t actively campaign . In fact , Adams and Jefferson drop much of the election time of year at their respective home base in Massachusetts and Virginia . But the primal dispute between the two politician was that Jefferson hired a tomahawk man constitute James Callendar to do his smearing for him . Adams , on the other hand , considered himself above such tactics . To Jefferson ’s credit , Callendar turn up incredibly effective , convincing many Americans that Adams desperately need to attack France . Although the claim was totally out of true , elector bought it , and Jefferson won the election .
PLAYING THE SALLY HEMINGS CARD
Jefferson paid a Mary Leontyne Price for his dirty drive tactics , though . Callendar service jail time for the slander he save about Adams , and when he emerge from prison in 1801 , he felt Jefferson still owe him . After Jefferson did little to appease him , Callendar broke a story in 1802 that had only been a rumor until then — that the President was possess an affair with one of his slave , Sally Hemings . In a series of article , Callendar claimed that Jefferson had lived with Hemings in France and that she had give birth to five of his children . The story plagued Jefferson for the rest of his calling . And although genesis of historiographer shrugged off the story as part of Callendar ’s propaganda , deoxyribonucleic acid examination in 1998 showed a link between Hemings ' posterity and the Jefferson family .
Just as truth persist , however , so does friendship . Twelve eld after the vicious election of 1800 , Adams and Jefferson began writing letters to each other and became friends again . They remained pen brother for the rest of their lives and passed away on the same Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , July 4 , 1826 . It was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence .
Kerwin Swint is a prof of political science at Kennesaw State University and the author ofMudslingers : The 25 Dirtiest Political Campaigns of All Time .
