Two Hundred and Nine years and four days ago in Philadelphia

In 1798, president John Adams sought to start a trumped up war with the Revolutionaries in France and along the way use the phony war as an excuse to smother the young American democracy. His noxious Alien and Sedition Acts were used to fire up racist hatred of the Irish and at the same time silence his critics by prosecuting them, deporting them or putting them in prison. Even someone who dared utter an unflattering appraisal of his Rotundity within earshot of one of his partisans could find themselves behind bars and loaded down with a hefty fine.

One paper in the nation's capital, the Philadelphia Aurora, was particularly active in its denunciations of Adams. The Editor, William Duane, frequently had visits from Adam's rough neck supporters who busted up his press, beat him in front of his family and arrested him for what he published.

Upon taking the job of Editor of the Aurora after the death of Benjamin Franklin Bache in 1798, who died in during that year's yellow fever epidemic, Duane very quickly gained the attention of the highest levels of the US government.

July 24, 1799

Secretary of State Timothy Pickering writes to president John Adams:

"There is in the Aurora of the city an uninterrupted stream of slander on the American government. I enclose the paper of this morning. It is not the first time that the editor has suggested that you had asserted the influence of the British government in affairs of our own and insinuated that it was obtained through bribery. The general readers of the Aurora will believe both. I shall give the paper to Mr. Rawle, and, if he thinks it libelous, desire him to prosecute the editor . . .

The Editor of the Aurora, William Duane, pretends he is an American citizen, saying he was born in Vermont, but was when a child, taken back with his parents to Ireland, where he was educated. But I understand the facts to be, that he went from American prior to our revolution, remained in the British dominions till after peace, went to the British East Indies, where he committed or was charged with some crime, and returned to Great Britain, from whence, within three or four years past, he came to this country to stir up sedition and work other mischief.

I presume, therefore, that he is really a British subject and, as an alien, liable to be banished from the United States. He has lately set himself up to be the captain of a company of volunteers, whose distinguished badges are a plume of cock-neck feathers and a small black cockade and a large eagle. He is doubtless a United Irishman, and the company probably formed to oppose the authority of the government; and, in case of war and invasion by the French, to join them."

Duane attacked and beaten:

On Wednesday, May 15, 1799, William Duane was attacked in his office by a contingent of Federal troops from the city's volunteer Calvary unhappy about an article he had written about them the day before. They demanded to know who the source of his story was but he would not divulge the name. He was grabbed by the leader of the group of about thirty toughs out of his chair and dragged down the stairs and into Franklin Court where he was mercilessly beaten in front of his young son and then, as a final humiliation, whipped.

Mere minutes after the assault he wrote this:

"If any circumstance could more deeply impress on his mind . . . to guard, with vigilance of republican jealousy, against the artifices, the intrigues and injustice of arbitrary men; -- this conduct would only more and more attack him to his principles -- but he has never slackened since he has had the honor to hold his present situation -- and while he holds it, his hand must perish or his vital principles must be suspended by the hand of some of those assassins before he will shrink from exposing villains and crimes to public obloquy."

Vice-president Thomas Jefferson writes:

"[T]hese friends of order, these enemies of disorganization, assemble a second time to pull down the printing office of the young and amiable widow of the grandson of Benjamin Franklin. On the other hand, a body of real republicans, of men who are real friends of order, assemble in arms, and . . . mounted guard to protect the office of this widow, the person of the Editor, of his journeymen, his apprentices and his son. "

Dedication and mission of this blog:

Such bravery and dedication to the freedom of the press and the right to express one's opinions, no matter how unpalatable to vain men in power, were displayed in the streets and printing presses of Philadelphia. If it hadn't been for the sacrifice of the likes of Benjamin Franklin Bache, his widow Peggy Markoe Bache, William Duane and his readers we would be living in very different country today. Only continual vigilance and renewed dedication to the principles they fought for can save the country we all grew up in from disappearing under the boot of unchecked Bushism.

This blog is dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, his grandson Benjamin Franklin Bache and William Duane.

The mission of this blog is to expose villains and crimes to public obloquy.