REPUBLICANS, ATTEND!
[Ontario County NY: 1809]. Printed broadside, 10-1/4" x 12," supporting the candidacy of Philetus Swift. Bold type faces. Light foxing, a couple of closed margin tears [no loss]. One pinhole at a fold intersection, nearly touching the "S" in Philetus's name. Matted at top edge. Good+.
[offered with] TO THE ELECTORS OF ONTARIO. Printed broadside, 10-1/4" x 12," a Federalist broadside opposing Philetus Swift. Bold type faces. Chipped along the inner blank margin, and at the corners. Lightly foxed. Matted at top edge. Good+. Signed in type at the end by "AN ELECTOR."
These rare, evidently unrecorded broadsides illustrate the Federalist-Jeffersonian animus in early New York State politics. Philetus Swift, a New York State Democratic - Republican Assemblyman, was elected to the State Senate from its Western District, beginning his service in 1810. These broadsides are from his 1809 campaign for the Senate.
Armed with an affidavit from one James Piatt, Federalists charged [in the second listed broadside] that Swift had said "HE HAD RATHER BONAPARTE SHOULD GOVERN THIS COUNTY THAN THE LEADING FEDERALISTS." According to the broadside, signed by "AN ELECTOR," Piatt swore that William Rogers and Abraham Gallop had also heard Swift make the statement. The charge, reflecting "the existence of FRENCH INFLUENCE in this country," suggested that Democratic-Republicans supported the dangerous doctrines of the French Revolution.
The Democratic-Republicans countered with their own broadside and affidavit: Rogers and Gallop swear "that we have no recollection of his ever making any such expression." Long-time acquaintances of Swift, they "have never heard him express any more partiality for Bonaparte than George the Third, or any other Foreign Despot."
Neither broadside located in American Imprints, Sabin, or on OCLC or online sites of AAS, NYPL, NYHS as of December 2022. Item #38986
Price: $1,000.00