| Episodes |
Callender's Motives
Raquel Santos
[1] James Thomson Callender is a well-known muckraker. He had a muckraking history even before he came to America. He is labeled as a self-pitying, pessimistic, political radical who was run out of Scotland for speaking so offensively about the British government. When he arrived in America, he began working for Jefferson as a political writer. Callender published various anti-Federalist accounts, one of which was a book called History of the Year 1796. In this account Callender stirred up a controversy about Alexander Hamilton that made Hamilton publicly admit to a love affair. Soon after this victory, Callender wrote another anti-Federalist book, The Prospect before Us, that violated the Sedition Act of 1798. Callender was charged a fine of $200 and thrown in the Richmond jail. Despite Jefferson's promise to pardon Callender free and repay him for the fine, Callender failed to get his money for a long time, one of the reasons Callender would eventually attack Jefferson (Jellison 63).
[2] Not only did Jefferson fail to pay him in timely fashion, he denied ever having told Callender to write this account, saying in a letter to James Monroe he "gave him from time to time such aids . . . merely as a man of genius suffering from persecution and not as a writer in our politics." Callender was infuriated by Jefferson's betrayal after he had worked so hard to help his campaign and confided in him as a friend. He claimed Jefferson was ungracious and deserved everything he had coming at him. Callender published articles about Jefferson's oppositions to his own laws and his support of Callender's attacks on the Adams administration, along with the Sally Hemings issue. He also disproves Jefferson's claim of not being aware of the kind of book Callender was writing. This account brings us to Callender's first motivation for attacking Jefferson -- revenge.
[3] Vengeance seems to be Callender's most prevalent motive for his writings on Jefferson. As previously mentioned, Callender feels he was wronged and that the president owed him. In his September 1, 1802, issue of the Recorder, Callender states Jefferson's ingratitude towards people who have worked for him and the public while Jefferson sat back and did nothing, although he could have been much more convincing given his position. It is quite obvious from the tone in which he writes that Callender is aiming for revenge. Callender clearly states in his opening articles that he is not sexually squeamish and that he is not writing this for the purpose of moral corruption. He tries to win over the public by providing as much solid proof for his readers as he can obtain.
[4] Although Callender seems mainly concerned with his first motive, hidden among his articles in the Recorder are two other motivations. The second motive is to help the democratic-republican party. In his September 22, 1802, issue, Callender mentions the denial of this party in Jefferson's affairs with Sally Hemings. Some members of the party are just silent when the matter is mentioned, which seems suspicious. He claims to want to save the democratic-republican party from being called the "mulatto party" and to give them a chance to "desert their chieftain, and to rally round the standard of a more decent leader." This motive is referred to with great aggression in order to convince the party to avoid denying and ignoring the charge, but is this just another way to bring Jefferson down? Some may believe Callender's reference to this motive is tied in with his first, vengeance.
[5] The third motive is to inform the public before they vote in the election. This last motive ought to be the most important one, but Callender only briefly mentions it. The public depends on journalists to dig up information and reveal things in order for them to make a good decision when elections come around because political parties often put out propaganda in order to manipulate the public. We need to be lead in the right direction with reliable sources of information.
[6] These last two motives are both very noble, but readers may question whether they are false motivations for the purpose of gaining the public's trust or whether they are genuine. They are not very clear, but Callender briefly mentions them in the September 1, 1802 issue of the Recorder when he writes, "having taken my pen to write, from no motive of interest, but from a feeling heart, that wishes its country well." He somewhat goes into depth with this statement later in his articles when he mentions these other motives, but he foregrounds his revenge motive much more strongly than his democratic-republican party or public motivations.
[7] Michael Durey states that Callender's purpose was "appealing over the politicians to the people, to convince them that behind the façade of public duty, politicians wallow in private vice" (163). He wanted the public to realize that politicians could not be characterized by their behavior under public vigilance. The best way to judge a politician was to take a look at his private life. Unfortunately, Callender's accusations did not affect the election. President Jefferson was reelected with little competition shortly after.
