"If They Fired Thro' His Arse" - Luther Baldwin Insults President Adams
Luther Baldwin was a relative unknown who made a joke in bad taste, got arrested and changed the course of American history.
Luther Baldwin
Not much is known about the early life of Luther Baldwin.
We do know that he was a Continental Army veteran and that he was a supporter of the Democratic-Republican Party.
We also know that on a sunny day in July of 1798, he was in Newark, New Jersey drinking at a tavern owned by John Burnet.
That is when the President came to town…
Presidential Reprieve
President John Adams had recently passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in an effort to win the Quasi-War with France.
This was a very unpopular act and several journalists were arrested for speaking ill of Adams.
John and Abigail decided to return to Massachusetts for a vacation, stopping at several towns along the way.
As with most of these stops, the villages through which the Adams Family passed held celebrations in his honor.
“Thro’ His Arse”
When Newark celebrated the President’s arrival, part of the festivities included the firing of cannons.
Hearing this, one of Luther Baldwin’s friends joked that they were firing at Adams.
Baldwin responded by saying that he “did not care if they fired thro’ his arse.”
Sedition
Luther seems to have been piggy backing off his friend’s joke, but others did not see it that way.
The tavern’s owner, John Burnet (and several Federalists who were present), accused Baldwin of sedition.
Luther was tried and convicted. He was fined $150 and sat in jail for two months.
Fallout
Baldwin’s arrest was a turning point in American politics.
Journalists getting arrested was bad enough, but having everyday citizens thrown behind bars was just too big an attack on freedom of speech.
Articles were published throughout the United States condemning the arrest and the Sedition Act in general.
Furthermore, the story of Luther Baldwin was one of the important influences on public opinion that led to the election of Thomas Jefferson as President just a year and a half later.
Most of the people arrested under the Sedition Act were more influential within society.
Here are a few examples:
The Spitting Matthew Lyon - From Congress to Jail and Back
Writing Wrongs - Anthony Haswell’s Divisive Content
The Sedition of Benjamin Franklin Bache
The Sedition Act was the first in a long train of attacks on free speech in US history.
‘Perilous Times’ starts with the Sedition Act and goes almost all the way to modern times. While that falls outside of this website’s purview, I really enjoyed this book and thought a reader of this article might also.
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