More than two hundred years ago, when the republic was young and republicanism itself was still an untried experiment, American political culture had yet to come to grips with the idea of a loyal opposition. Dissent was confused with conspiracy; disagreement with disloyalty; parties with subversion. Throughout the 1790s, as the republic groped its way toward an uncertain future, political battles had an almost breathtaking ferocity, an intensity grounded on a complete distrust of the motives and integrity of opponents. Otherwise reasonable men believed conservatives were plotting a return to monarchy, republicans to deliver the country to France. Today, with more than two centuries of representative government behind us, it is hard to recapture the fears and passions that led Virginians to toast “A speedy Death to General Washington” or the bitterness that led John Adams to maintain his grudge against Alexander...

 

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