Who mastered the new politics –Jeffersonians or Hamiltonians?
Thesis Framework
“In essence, Jefferson’s ‘Anas’ reveals that beneath the political superstructure created by the Constitution, a subterranean politics of intrigue flourished, fueld by political gossip.” –Freeman, p. 66
Discussion Questions
- Why was gossip so central to the new politics of the early republic?
- Were there unwritten rules or expectations about political gossip?
- What were gossip circles and how did they evolve into political parties?
- Compare and contrast the the nature of gossip by Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians?
- Why was Jefferson’s unpublished Anas such a revealing source for understanding politics in the 1790s?
Three Key Events
- 1790 // Jefferson hosts dealmaking dinner with Hamilton and Madison
- 1793 // Citizen Genet affair challenges the Washington administration
- 1797 // Alexander Hamilton admits to earlier affair with Maria Reynolds
Jeffersonian Gossip Circles: The Trio in Charge
Jeffersonian Salons: The Meaning of “Pell-Mell”
“The political intentions of Jefferson’s dinner parties reveal that the seemingly aloof Virginian was a skilled politician. Jefferson subtly set his dinner table as a political stage, inviting the proper mix of persuaded and persuadable guests, plying them with fine wines and deploying conversational props to direct the conversation.” –Freeman, p. 86
“Outraged when received by the president in a tattered bathrobe and slippers and forced at a presidential dinner to conform to ‘pell-mell’ seating arrangements respecting of rank, the British minister to Washington, Anthony Merry, bitterly protested the affront suffered at the president’s table. Jefferson no doubt privately chuckled at the arrogant Englishman’s discomfiture, but his subsequent codification of republican practices into established procedures betrayed a larger purpose.” –George Herring, From Colony to Superpower, p. 96
- In 2007, writing for The Atlantic magazine, novelist Tom Wolfe went so far as to claim that “the idea of America” was actually born at that moment, Friday evening, December 2, 1803, when the British ambassador Merry first confronted “pell-mell.” Read more about it here.
Memory & Meaning
Video depicting the Jefferson and Hamilton “feud” by Weird History
2015 Lecture by Joanne Freeman on Affairs of Honor