A group of foreign liars: Republican propagandists and the campaign against the Federalists, 1789-1801

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is to examine the lives and writings of five Republican propagandists: Philip Freneau, William Duane, Matthew Lyon, Thomas Cooper, and James Thomson Callender. In 1801, Federalist John Adams, recently ousted from the presidency, blamed this "group of foreign liars" for his party's downfall. This dissertation is composed of an introduction and ten chapters. The introduction discusses Federalist reaction to their defeat in 1800, provides some basic information on the five Republican penmen, and considers the repressive Sedition Law, which was intended to silence the troublesome journalists. Biographical studies of the polemicists comprise chapters one through five. Chapter six investigates their attack on the monarchical trappings of the Washington administration. The following chapter explores the Republican editors' campaign against Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton's fiscal program. Chapter eight reviews their assault on Federalist foreign policy. The subsequent chapter examines the propagandists' attempt to defame their political foes. Chapter ten consists of conclusions.