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From Thomas's MASSACHUSETTS SPY.
Miser printer i wish you would be kind
enow to print dis.
ALL de federalists voted for miser adams for predident but i tink he id not
a good man becaude he tent over to a country i tink day call england to get
a whole cargo of dem tings to waar on de head* and to make all de negers tlaves
but tank fortune we have got miser jefferson for predident who is a good men
becaud he likes the french becaud they fight for ebery body and give ebery body
liberty and day would come here and give dis country liberty if de federalists
would let dem mote all de negers voted for miser jefferson and i hope de french
will come over here and help de negers and jacobins to duck de federalists now
i tink ont i will tell what good men de jacobins are cuffe told me his friend
miser lyon tent mister adams a very smart letter becaud de put him in jail for
telling de truth
POMPEY.
*Crowns. |
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Although this piece appears to have been written by an African American, it was much more likely anonymously composed by a white Federalist, complete with a stereotyped version of African American speech. In 1801 when this piece appeared in the Greenfield Gazette and Isaiah Thomas's Massachusetts Spy, the Federalists feared that President Thomas Jefferson wanted to level society to the point where African Americans would be on an equal par with whites in all ways. They remembered Jefferson's, in their minds, overly enthusiastic support of the French during their revolution. Although Federalists may have agreed that Blacks deserved more freedoms, they believed that Jefferson supported a complete leveling of society that went well beyond what they saw as reasonable. These attitudes are revealed in this satire. The fact that this creator chose an African American voice through which to speak is a telling indicator of white northern perceptions of African Americans in this period.
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Article by Pompey on President Jefferson in the Greenfield Gazette reprinted from the Massachusetts Spy newspaper
publisher Greenfield Gazette |
creator Pompey |
date May 4, 1801 |
location Greenfield, Massachusetts |
height 6.5" |
width 3.75" |
process/materials printed paper, ink |
item type Periodicals/Newspaper |
accession # #L12.007 |
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