LIARS; Coswell V Jefferson

 

I believe the vitriolic newspaper man Harry Croswell may be best understood by a story he told about himself. One of his victims, a physically huge politician named Hagedorn, spotted the young muckraker crossing the street in the river port boom-town of Hudson, New York (above). 

Brandishing his whip, Hagedorn leaped from his wagon and accused the unprepared Croswell of slandering him in his newspaper.  As a crowd quickly gathered.  Harry calmly responded that he did not believe that Hagedorn would “whip” him. 

The offended justice exploded in a stream of profanity and then remounted his carriage and whipped his “poor horse” instead. As the angry man disappeared down the street a witness asked Harry how he could have been so certain Hagedorn would not have used the horse whip on him, to which Harry replied, “Mainly because I planned to run away.”

Harry lived in a world not so different from our own. True, he never experienced the joys of indoor plumbing, nor the miracles of modern medicine, but his America was a land bitterly divided, plagued by partisanship, confused by conspiracy theories right and left, and afflicted with a media that fanned the flames of discord in the name of profit. Of course, the American republic of Harry Croswell’s day had a valid excuse for its childish behavior; it was little more than a child itself.

First, Congress had passed the Naturalization Act, of 18 June, 1798. Openly supported by outgoing President George Washington, (above), this law required anyone applying for citizenship first be a resident for at least 14 years. (At this point it had only been 22 years since the Declaration of Independence) and just 11 years since the Constitution was ratified.

Then there was the Alien Friends Act, of 25 June, which authorized incoming President John Adams (above) to deport any resident alien whom he personally considered dangerous. This was followed by the Alien Enemies Act of 6 July,  which allowed the President to deport any alien whose original nation was currently at war with the United States. And finally, there was the Sedition Act of 14 July, 1798. This made it a crime to publish anything “false, scandalous, and malicious” about the government or its officials. Taken together these were the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The acts were the intellectual creation of the Federalist President John Adams, and his Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton (above).

And few in the country had any doubt the laws were intended to be used against the friends and allies of Vice President Thomas Jefferson (above).

To oversimplify the situation, the Federalists were in favor of a strong central government, while Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans were in favor of strong states. The contest between the two philosophies seemed to have been decided in 1800 when Jefferson was swept into office, succeeding the one term Adams. But as soon as President Jefferson had the reins of power in his hands he began to beat the same horse President Adams had.

In fact most of this flailing was started by 22 year old Republican attack dog James Callender,  With Jefferson’s personal approval Callender had actually called the father of the American republic, George Washington,  a traitor.  It was Callendar's job to spread filth and conspiracy theories about any person Jefferson wanted to destroy.  In self defense the Federalists promoted their own liars and frauds. 

The “tall, and manly” Harry Crosswell, was the son of a Connecticut preacher. His tutor had been the old Federalists, Noah Webster, of the dictionary fame. Harry began his career as an assistant editor on "The "Balance" a Hudson, New York Federalist newspaper. 

But in 1802 when Hudson Republicans started an attack sheet called “The Bee”, Harry convinced his publisher to fund a Federalist four page attack sheet in response, called “The Wasp”. He wrote under the pen-name of “Robert Rusticoat”, and pledged that “Wherever the Bee ranges, the Wasp will follow…the Wasp will only strive to displease, vex and torment his enemies .” And boy, did he.

But the worst attacks on Jefferson which  Crosswell printed came appeared after 1801, after President  Jefferson refused to name James Callender Postmaster for Virginia.  Feeling betrayed, Callender turned on his one-time master.  In his own Virginia newspaper, Callander detailed how Jefferson had fed him word for word the vile attacks upon Washington. And it was Callander who first printed the story of Jefferson’s liaisons with his slave, Sally Hemings, and their many offspring. And Harry Crosswell reprinted every one of the salacious details in The Wasp.

In January of 1803, Harry Croswell was dragged before three part-time Republican judges and charged with “... being a malicious and seditious man, and of depraved mind and wicked and diabolical disposition, and also deceitfully, wickedly and maliciously devising, contriving and intending, toward Thomas Jefferson, Esquire, President of the United States of America, to detract from, scandalize, traduce and vilify, and to represent him… as unworthy of the confidence, respect and attachment of the people of the said United States…”
Now this was nothing new for Harry Crosswell.  He was constantly being confronted by his targets such as the angry Mister Hagedorn, either on the street or in court.  But this time the Jeffersonians were determined to bring the full weight of their political power to bear. Harry’s defense lawyers requested copies of the indictments; denied. They requested a delay to bring James Callender up from Virginia, to testify; denied. They requested a change of venue; denied. 

After six months of denials, the case was finally went to the jury, and imperious Chief Justice Morgan Lewis’ (above) instructions sealed Harry’s fate. “The law is settled", said Justice Lewis. "The truth of the matter published cannot be given in evidence.”

This was old English Common Law, the standard still in use in the America. And under its rules, the jury retired at sunset, and at 8 A.M. the next morning convicted Harry Coswell.  His lawyers immediately filed an appeal for a new trial, and while that was heard, at least Harry was out of jail. 

That did not seem to help much because over the summer his primary witness for the defense, James Callender, scorned confidant of Thomas Jefferson, and life-long alcoholic, fell into mud flats along the James River in Richmond, and drowned.

Speaking for Harry's defense before the New York state Supreme Court, on 13 February, 1804, was Jefferson's nemeses, Alexander Hamilton himself. He argued that the only restraint on publishers should reside not with the government and politicians, but with the “occasional and fluctuating group of common citizens” sitting on juries. Only if a charge was untrue, and only if the writer had reason to know it was untrue, should it be considered slander or libel; or so argued Alexander Hamilton.

Amazingly the New York State Supreme Court agreed. They overturned Harry’s conviction and ordered a new trial. But by then the political winds had shifted. Public opinion had not taken kindly to Republican politicians arguing they should be exempt from public criticism. The New York Legislature even re-wrote their libel and slander laws. But, Thomas Jefferson as not willing to take "no" for an answer, and Harry was brought up on new charges. And he was convicted again. But this time the jury awarded the plaintiff exactly six cents, which wasn’t a lot of money, even in 1804.

Harry Croswell was now made senior editor of "The Balance". But the fire had also gone out of the Federalists cause, and the paper foundered financially. In 1811, having served a short term in debtor’s prison, 

Harry Crosswell (above) not only quickly moved beyond the reach of the New York courts , but he also retired from politics. He never even voted again. Instead, he became an Episcopal Minister and eventually was assigned to the Trinity Church in New Haven, Connecticut. He preached there for 43 years. Said one of his flock of the man, “He was not a great preacher, but he had an extraordinary knowledge of human nature, and could ingratiate himself into every man's heart.”

Thus, having applied his talents in a more productive way than politics, Harry Crosswell,  died on 13 March , 1858, at 80 years old.  His life could be divided in two. In the first phrase, he made history. In the second phrase, he made a real difference in people's lives.

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