1. JJ refers to TP’s reply of 22 Sept. 1798 to a memorial sent to JA by the people of Prince Edward County, Va., which was widely printed. See, for example, Gazette of the United States and Porcupine’s Gazette (both Philadelphia), 9 Oct.; Daily Advertiser (New York) and New-York Gazette, both 12 Oct. 1798. Of TP’s reply, JA wrote “I however think the Answer excellent, and wish you had to answer all the saucy Addresses I have recd.” JA to TP, 15 Oct. 1798, ALS, MHi: Pickering. See Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism description begins Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism (New York and Oxford, 1993) description ends , 613. The address TP sent was Alexander Addison, Liberty of speech, and of the press. A charge to the grand juries of the County Courts of the Fifth Circuit of the state of Pennsylvania (Washington, D.C., 1798; Early Am. Imprints description begins Early American Imprints, series 1: Evans, 1639–1800 [microform; digital collection], edited by American Antiquarian Society, published by Readex, a division of News-bank, Inc. Accessed: Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 2006–19, http://infoweb.newsbank.com/ Early American Imprints, series 2: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801–1819 [microform; digital collection], edited by American Antiquarian Society, published by Readex, a division of Newsbank, Inc. Accessed: Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 2006–19, http://infoweb.newsbank.com/ description ends , series 1, no. 33267). In it, Addison defends the right of government under the Sedition Act to define strictures on free speech in order to prevent “licentiousness” which he regarded as the enemy of liberty. Scottish-born Addison (1758–1807) was the first president judge of the 5th Judicial District of Pennsylvania, located in the western portion of that state.

2. The Society of United Irishmen was formed in 1791 under the leadership of Theobald Wolfe Tone, Thomas Russell, and James Napper Tandy. Rooted in the Whig parliamentary reform movement of the 1780s, and influenced by Thomas Paine’s 1791 Rights of Man and the French Revolution, the Society sought a more independent Irish parliament and the emancipation of the Catholics. Its membership was drawn from both Catholics and Protestants (mainly Presbyterians). British suppression after the declaration of war with France in 1793 led to the movement going underground and growing more radical, seeking independence for Ireland. The society solicited French military aid, and in 1796 and 1797, two French invasions were thwarted. In 1798, with the hope of further French aid, a rebellion initially involving thousands rose, particularly in County Wexford. However, the primary leadership was arrested, and French aid proved minimal, causing the collapse of the rebellion. While some revolutionaries were executed, others were offered jail terms, amnesty, or emigration (both forced and voluntary). RK, as the minister to Great Britain, worked quickly to prevent the majority of the group’s leadership from going to the United States. He believed, as did many Federalists, they would spread France’s influence and bolster the support of Republicans.

However, many of the Society’s followers had already emigrated to the U.S., beginning in the early 1790s. These were largely Presbyterians, many of the merchant class, who became involved in Republican politics. It is estimated that over sixty thousand Irish immigrants came to the U.S. during this decade, settling in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, and Charleston, as well as the countryside. While older Irish immigrants, including Catholics, tended to be Federalists, these new immigrants joined the Republicans, and would eventually be a force in TJ’s election. In the summer of 1797, the American Society of United Irishmen was formed. Its leaders were James Reynolds, William Duane, and John Daley Burk. While never great in number, the Society soon attracted the attention of Federalists, who feared the Society’s connections with revolutionary France and their support for the Republicans. Philadelphia-based William Cobbett (1763–1835), the pro-British pamphleteer and editor of Porcupine’s Gazette (1797–99) who wrote under the pseudonym “Peter Porcupine,” and John Ward Fenno, also of Philadelphia, who edited the Federalist paper Gazette of the United States, stirred up alarm against the Society. In 1798, Cobbett published the purported “Declaration and Constitution of the American Society of United Irishmen” Porcupine’s Gazette (Philadelphia), 8 May 1798, and Detection of a conspiracy, formed by the United Irishmen, with the evident intention of aiding the tyrants of France in subverting the government of the United States (Philadelphia, 1798; Early Am. Imprints description begins Early American Imprints, series 1: Evans, 1639–1800 [microform; digital collection], edited by American Antiquarian Society, published by Readex, a division of News-bank, Inc. Accessed: Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 2006–19, http://infoweb.newsbank.com/ Early American Imprints, series 2: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801–1819 [microform; digital collection], edited by American Antiquarian Society, published by Readex, a division of Newsbank, Inc. Accessed: Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 2006–19, http://infoweb.newsbank.com/ description ends , series 1, no. 48395). By December 1798, the Albany Centinel (14 Dec. 1798), a Federalist newspaper, was commenting “We learn that meetings of United Irishmen are holding in the various capitals of the United States. Government ought to keep a vigilant eye on them.” See David A. Wilson, United Irishmen, United States: Immigrant Radicals in the Early Republic (Ithaca, 1998), 1–3, 40–50. For JJ’s concerns that the United Irishmen would infiltrate the state militia, see the editorial note “Militia Matters in New York State,” above.