Documenting United States History

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images.

Document 4.14 Anti-Jefferson Cartoon, “The Providential

Detection”

1797

In 1793, Jefferson left the Washington administration after his debate with Alexander

Hamilton over the creation of the National Bank, which for Jefferson signaled a shift

in Washington’s policies toward pro-British monarchism. “The Providential Detection”

appeared during the height of the debate between Federalists, who supported Hamilton

and Washington, and Jeffersonian Republicans over the direction of national and

international policy, specifically regarding the ongoing war between Great Britain and the

revolutionary French Republic. In this image, the American eagle takes the Constitution

away from Jefferson before he can burn it on the “Altar to Gallic [French] Despotism.”

Fueling the flames are the works of Thomas Paine and French philosophers, whom

Federalists saw as threats to order. In Jefferson’s right hand is a letter from Jefferson

to the Italian Philip Mazzei (1730–1816), also a supporter of the French Revolution. The

letter supposedly criticized George Washington.

Evaluate: In what ways are the economic and political stakes equally important in

relationships with the British?

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