THE WASHINGTON FEDERALIST ATTACKS THOMAS PAINE
A copy of the Washington Federalist for Monday, Dec. 13, 1802, 4pp. folio. Still reeling from their rout by Jefferson, the Federalist mouthpiece for Washington sarcastically revels in the return of the now notorious Thomas Paine from France. Since Paine's involvement with the Revolution in France, he fell out of favor with American conservatives. The comments, which appear on the third page, read in part: "...Mr. Paine has come over to this country, upon the invitation of our illustrious President, to reach the thousands who have grown up to manhood, since he went away, that the term federalist as nothing to do with the federal constitution, and of course that there never were any such persons as anti-federalists. It would therefore be perfectly federal to make a new constitution a-la-mode de Paris..." Other snippets include: "...It was once the fashion for the monarchs of Europe to have fools or buffoons to make sport for them: Paine unites the two characters of political buffoon and prose-laureate for king Thomas..." Paper also includes foreign news as well as an advertisement for several large tracts of land from the estate of George Washington including lots in the City of Washington, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Kentucky. Much more including an account of a corn husking competition gone very wrong. Margins ragged a few tears repaired with tape, otherwise very good.