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In “The Cheese and the Words”, Jeffrey L. Pasley, argued that the period of the early 1800s during the Jeffersonian era elicited the greatest example of democratic representation what with the unique culture and mass participation. The Cheese presented by a small contingency of Jefferson’s supporters was just the beginning of an era where people who had felt marginalized by society beforehand (not able to freely practice religion in some areas), expressed their admiration for their leader who always seemed to empathize with the common folk and further their cause, to the chagrin of the elitist Federalists. It is easy to see how Jefferson manipulated the political realm at the time to fit his interests, as he appealed to all the necessary political demographics by representing their ideas in Washington but also by using his “Mammoth” press to his advantage and making the Federalists appear to be the outliers hoping to criticize anything that came out of the Democratic-Republican camp. Politics at this point often boiled down to whoever could subtly, or outlandishly, satirize their opponent to the best appearance of their own faction.
As Price stated earlier about the American populace, “the rich and the poor have separate interpretations of the word ‘equality’, and how it ought to be applied to politically, socially, and of course, economically, in American government.” I think this has been an element of many societies for a long period of time but I believe that America was really united to a certain extent at this time, at least within party lines. Newspapers began to pop up throughout the country in about 1798 fostering an ability for, as Alexis de Tocqueville stated, “some means of talking every day without seeing one another and of acting together without meeting.” Newspapers were the perfect antidote to a problem fueled by the rural nature of much of America and created a much tighter community where a speech that had once reached maybe 100 people could now infiltrate many counties and possibly disseminated throughout a whole region, as many political newspapers, like Phinehas Allen’s Sun, soon learned. These works of literature educated people about topics and politicians they never heard about, and forced people to form an opinion. These new resources and the excitement provided by the “People’s President”, fostered an excitement in politics never before seen in the United States, as record voting numbers were represented in the polls. This new medium of expression did not only benefit white property-holding men, but also women and disenfranchised men (African-Americans, Native Americans), whose cause could be documented within special interest newspapers. Even though this segment of the population was denied the right to vote they still impacted politics, by “developing strong and partisan political interests and politics.” These newly powerful political actors were not lost on the later elections as the Federalists, who alienated too many “common people”, lost the presidency. Newspapers were the quintessential symbol of the birth of organized politics and democracy.