Negative Campaigning

I didn't realize how far back it went. Not a modern innovation at all. [Link]

When did negative campaigning and attack ads start? The television era? Maybe when radio became a national media? In fact, negative campaigning has a long history, as long as the Republic itself. Edward Larson wrote a book about the first contested, partisan election in American history, one that featured two giants of the American Revolution, and how their campaigns painted each other as traitors and atheists:

Since the time of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, successful politicians have sought to sanctify their candidate and demonize their opponent. After three largely nonpartisan elections, the first campaign for president, in 1800, pitted Adams against Jefferson. Patriots in the best sense of the word, both men were brilliant, successful lawyers who stood out among the surviving heroes of the American Revolution. Devoted family men, they had served their states and country during the war and held high positions in George Washington’s administration.

No finer Americans ever faced off for the presidency, yet partisans on both sides immediately went negative. The two best-known authors of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, morphed into opposing party leaders slinging the mud.