Inspired by the Jacobin clubs of Paris, supporters of the French Revolution and critics of the Washington administration in 1793 and 1794 formed nearly fifty Democratic-Republican societies. The Republican press publicized their meetings, replete with toasts to French and American liberty. The declaration of the Democratic Society of Addison County, Vermont, was typical: “That all men are naturally free, and possess equal rights. That all legitimate government originates in the voluntary social compact of the people.” Federalists saw the societies as another example of how liberty was getting out of hand. The government, not “self-created societies,” declared the president, was the authentic voice of the American people. Forced to justify their existence, the societies developed a defense of the right of the people to debate political issues and organize to affect public policy. To the societies, “free inquiry” and “free communication” formed the first line of defense of “the unalienable rights of free men.” Political liberty meant not simply voting at elections but constant involvement in public affairs. “We make no apology for thus associating ourselves,” declared the Addison County society. “Political freedom” included the right to “exercise watchfulness and inspection, upon the conduct of public officers.” Blamed by Federalists for helping to inspire the Whiskey Rebellion, the societies disappeared by the end of 1795. But much of their organization and outlook was absorbed into the emerging Republican Party. They helped to legitimize the right of “any portion of the people,” regardless of station in life, to express political opinions and take an active role in public life.
From Address of the Democratic-Republican Society of Pennsylvania (December 18, 1794)
The creation of around fifty Democratic-Republican societies in 1793 and 1794 reflected the expansion of the public sphere. The Pennsylvania society issued an address defending itself against critics who questioned its right to criticize the administration of George Washington.
The principles and proceedings of our Association have lately been caluminated [tarred by malicious falsehoods]. We should think ourselves unworthy to be ranked as Freemen, if awed by the name of any man, however he may command the public gratitude for past services, we could suffer in silence so sacred a right, so important a principle, as the freedom of opinion to be infringed, by attack on Societies which stand on that constitutional basis.
Freedom of thought, and a free communication of opinions by speech through the medium of the press, are the safeguards of our Liberties.... By the freedom of opinion, cannot be meant the right of thinking merely; for of this right the greatest Tyrant cannot deprive his meanest slave; but, it is freedom in the communication of sentiments [by] speech or through the press. This liberty is an imprescriptable [unlimitable] right, independent of any Constitution or social compact; it is as complete a right as that which any man has to the enjoyment of his life. These principles are eternal—they are recognized by our Constitution; and that nation is already enslaved that does not acknowledge their truth....
If freedom of opinion, in the sense we understand it, is the right of every Citizen, by what mode of reasoning can that right be denied to an assemblage of Citizens? ... The Society are free to declare that they never were more strongly impressed with ... the importance of associations .. . than at the present time. The germ of an odious Aristocracy is planted among us—it has taken root.... Let us remain firm in attachment to principles.... Let us be particularly watchful to preserve inviolate the freedom of opinion, assured that it is the most effectual weapon for the protection of our liberty.
From Judith Sargent Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes” (1790)
A prominent writer of plays, novels, and poetry, Judith Sargent Murray of Massachusetts was one of the first women to demand equal educational opportunities for women.
Is it upon mature consideration we adopt the idea, that nature is thus partial in her distributions? Is it indeed a fact, that she hath yielded to one half of the human species so unquestionable a mental superiority? I know that to both sexes elevated understandings, and the reverse, are common. But, suffer me to ask, in what the minds of females are so notoriously deficient, or unequal....
Are we deficient in reason? We can only reason from what we know, and if an opportunity of acquiring knowledge hath been denied us, the inferiority of our sex cannot fairly be deduced from thence.... Will it be said that the judgment of a male of two years old, is more sage than that of a female’s of the same age? I believe the reverse is generally observed to be true. But from that period what partiality! How is the one exalted, and the other depressed, by the contrary modes of education which are adopted! The one is taught to aspire, and the other is early confined and limited. As their years increase, the sister must be wholly domesticated, while the brother is led by the hand through all the flowery paths of science. Grant that their minds are by nature equal, yet who shall wonder at the apparent superiority.... At length arrived at womanhood, the uncultivated fair one feels a void, which the employments allotted her are by no means capable of filling.... She herself is most unhappy; she feels the want of a cultivated mind.... Should it... be vociferated, ‘Your domestic employments are sufficient’—I would calmly ask, is it reasonable, that a candidate for immortality, for the joys of heaven, an intelligent being, who is to spend an eternity in contemplating the works of Deity, should at present be so degraded, as to be allowed no other ideas, than those which are suggested by the mechanism of a pudding, or the sewing the seams of a garment? ...
Yes, ye lordly, ye haughty sex, our souls are by nature equal to yours.
QUESTIONS
1. Why does the Democratic-Republican society insist on the centrality of “free communication of opinions” in preserving American liberty?
2. How does Murray answer the argument that offering education to women will lead them to neglect their “domestic employments”?
3. How do these documents reflect expanding ideas about who should enjoy the freedom to express one’s ideas in the early republic?
An engraving from The Lady’s Magazine and Repository of Entertaining Knowledge, published in Philadelphia in 1792. A woman identified as the “Genius of the Ladies Magazine” kneels before Liberty, presenting a petition for the “Rights of Women.” In the foreground are symbols of the arts, science, and literature—knowledge that should be available to women as well as men.
The Republicans also gained support from immigrants from the British Isles, where war with France inspired a severe crackdown on dissent. Thomas Paine had returned to Britain in 1787. Five years later, after publishing The Rights of Man, a defense of the French Revolution and a stirring call for democratic change at home, he was forced to flee to France one step ahead of the law. But his writings inspired the emergence of a mass movement for political and social change, which authorities brutally suppressed. Threatened with arrest for treason, a number of British and Irish radicals emigrated to America. They included journalists like Joseph Gales and John D. Burk, who soon found themselves editing Republican newspapers that condemned social privilege on both sides of the Atlantic and charged the Federalists with attempting to introduce European tyranny in America.