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A Peep into the Antifederal Club, 1793.
Credit: The Granger Collection, New York.
This contemporary satire of an Anti-Federalist Club reflects the Federalists" belief that their political opponents were members of atheistic secret societies that promoted revolution and mob rule. The cartoon depicts Thomas Jefferson, a founder and leader of the Democratic-Republicans, standing on a table as he rallies the devil, an obese drunkard damning the Federal Government, an African American named "Citizen Mungo," New York anti-Federalists Governor DeWitt Clinton and Commodore Livingston, French minister Edmond Genet, and Philadelphian David Rittenhouse peering through his telescope at a satire of the "Creed of the Democratic Party."