Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, serving from 1801 until 1809.
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Thomas Jefferson was elected President of the United States in the election of 1800 and was inaugurated in March of 1801. As in all elections, some citizens look forward to the new administration, while others predict that the nation is doomed because of the policies of the new President.
Jefferson was a member of the DemocraticRepublican party , the fore-runner of today's Democratic Party. He strongly favored individual rights, admired the French Revolution, and opposed the Alien and Sedition Laws of the Federalist party.
The following article appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette on 20 March, 1801, describing the celebration in Beaver Co. of Jefferson's inauguration. It is obvious that the author of the piece was a Federalist. At the time the newspapers made no attempt to remain politically neutral and continually published derogatory and insulting articles about their opponents.
From a Correspondent of Beaver Town.
"Wednesday, the 4th of March being the day appointed by law for the inauguration of the chief magistrate of the United States, a number of the friends of anarchy and confusion, commonly called Democrats, from the town of Beaver and vicinity, assembled at the house of Jesse Hart, at Brady's.Run and did then and there erect a whiskey alias sedition pole, to testify their joy on the occasion, on the top of which was hung a white (or nearly white) pendant, supposed to be part of an old table cloth or shirt. After performing many Indian dances, and singing the favorite Jacobin songs 'Ca Ira' and 'Carmignole,'and recounting the many wonderful achievements and hairbreadth escapes they had made during the Revolutionary War (by the Bye there was but one who had ever pulled a trigger in the cause) and after settling the affairs of the nation and enjoying the loaves and fishes in imagination and reprobating the hateful alien and sedition laws, the scourge of such renowned patriots, they took a very plentiful dose of the juice of the grain, and reeled home to recount to their wives and children, the wonderful exploits of the day. "