Thomas Jefferson: Negative political ad 1804

[zulchzulu]

Run time: 00:44 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVeS7cf9pi8   Posted on YouTube: October 26, 2010 By YouTube Member: milliniumjoe Views on YouTube: 12   Posted on DU: October 26, 2010 By DU Member: zulchzulu Views on DU: 1464

 
Imagine if Jefferson was running for re-election in 1804. What negative ad would he have to run against?

The script:

Thomas Jefferson

pardoned people who had been imprisoned under the Alien and Sedition Acts

Thomas Jefferson

secretly fathered children by slave Sally Hemings

Thomas Jefferson

thinks there should be a separation of church and state

Thomas Jefferson

thinks that Christianity is full of superstitions and mysticism

Can America afford such a man to be President?

[Politicalboi]

1. If Only

Thomas Jefferson would be a breath of fresh air. LOL! Except of course for the fathering of children by slaves. That is called rape these days.

[SanchoPanza]

2. Jefferson actually did face some of these charges in both 1800 and 1804.

The ones related to religion, especially. In 1800, there was a particularly nasty campaign run by certain Federalist Christian groups, convinced that Jefferson was an atheist and a servant of the devil, that told people that, should Jefferson be elected, they should hide their Bibles to prevent him from taking them away.

The irony is that President Adams, his Federalist opponent in 1800 and a fairly strident Unitarian, was far more hostile to Christian orthodoxy than Jefferson ever was.

[zulchzulu]

3. Yep. It's true. Jefferson was attacked and demonized a lot n/t

[Moonwalk]

4. Actually, this faux ad, amusing as it is, is nothing compared...

...to what Jefferson really faced in three out of the four elections in which he was a candidate (the first was against Washington's re-election, but that was just for show. No one was going to beat George, not even in his second term when voters were less enamored with him). Historians like to point out that Jefferson vs. Adams was one of the ugliest campaigns ever. Many of them think the negativity of it beats out mud-slinging done since, and that what we call negative now is a walk-in-the-park by compare. And, yes, among the many negative things said against Jefferson during these elections were accusations that he'd had sexual relations with Sally and was an atheist (gasp!).

As for the Alien and Sedition act, that was really unpopular with the voters and they quite approved of Jefferson pardoning those imprisoned under it.

And, as John Adams would have been quick to point out, Jefferson's supporters attacked his opponents as ruthlessly as his enemies attacked him. The only difference is that Jefferson would have never admitted to approving of any message on his behalf. It was not considered gentlemanly for the candidate to campaign. His supporters campaigned for him and anything bad they said about the other side was their doing, not his. Nevertheless, some of the things said by Jefferson's "supporters" against Adams (which, it seems, Jefferson did approve at the time), were so awful that Abigail never spoke to or of Mr. Jefferson again in spite of the fact that she and he had been good friends up till then.

[zulchzulu]

5. Thanks for your input. It's true how nasty the campaigns were then n/t