Jefferson's camp accused President Adams of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."
In return, Adams' men called Vice President Jefferson "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."
As the slurs piled on, Adams was labeled a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal, and a tyrant, while Jefferson was branded a weakling, an atheist, a libertine, and a coward.
Even Martha Washington succumbed to the propaganda, telling a clergyman that Jefferson was "one of the most detestable of mankind."
lol! thank you for posting this.....i was aware that the campaigns of that era could be truly, profoundly and fundamentally more vicious than any so called politically correct 'nastiness' today....but those insults literally made me laugh out loud and long for a day when politicians could just put it out there...(chris christie comes close) .....i give the 'win' to jefferson for 'hideous hermaphroditical character', (not that there's anything wrong with that!) for rhetorical slander
until then i guess there is always this:
pangloss.com
so you say it only took TWELVE YEARS before the BFFs started exchanging letters.....guess time really does heal all wounds <gg> |
