Bartlett Library educates on the beginnings of presidential campaigns

On Thursday, Oct. 14, Bartlett Library patrons were thrust into many of the early 1800-1900 presidential political campaigns, and learned that political campaigns have actually gotten more civil over the years at the "Mudslinging, Muckraking and Apple Pie: Presidential Campaigns, the Great America" program.

The program started with presenter Terry Lynch commenting on the current state of the presidential campaign. He asked the audience if Clinton and Trump should have run for president like when presidential campaigns first started.

"They should be more like the Founding Fathers, right?" Lynch asked. "No! They were pretty bad themselves."

Turns out, there was a lot of hostility even in the early stages of campaigns.

When the first president of the U.S., George Washington, ended his presidency, he told congress it was a pleasure, honor and treat to be president of the country. He gave them some advice, one point being to get rid of political parties; he said this in the hopes that the people could vote for the person they wanted to be president, rather than focusing on having to vote for a party. This was back in 1796, Lynch mentioned, and they haven't listened to the advice since it was brought up.

For finding the second president of the U.S., the voting consisted of people putting in two ballets. These were blank, giving the people the chance to write down a single name on each sheet. How it worked back then was the person with the most votes became president, and then the person with the second most votes would be the vice president.

Now when John Adams became the second president, (he was Washington's vice president), Thomas Jefferson became his vice president. This led to a lot of contention as Adams was president and a federalist, and Jefferson was an anti-federalist who was upset that he didn't become the president.

Lynch froze the presentation here to ask the audience if they could imagine how this worked.

"It would be like if Clinton became president and Trump became the vice president," Lynch said. "How well do you think that would work?"

His question was met with laughter from those in attendance.

Lynch went back to the program as he explained that the tension kept up throughout Adams' presidency as Jefferson did everything in his power to go against what he said and did. And when it came time for Adams to run for a second term, Jefferson became the first and only vice president to beat out the current president.

It was then that the voting evolved so people could vote for a specific president and specific vice president. No more of when the person with the second most amount of votes became the vice president. So, it still wasn't to the point where the president got to choose a running mate. And it wasn't until much later that this became a trend with the presidential campaigns.

Lynch finished up the program by explaining some fun facts on how the democrats became the donkey and the republicans became the elephant.

The donkey came from Andrew Jackson, when his opponents would call him a not so nice name synonymous with a donkey. It stuck, so today the Democratic Party is the donkey, considered to be smart and brave.

The elephant came from Abraham Lincoln's presidency. During the civil war, soldiers were saying that they went up against an elephant when they went up against a large group of opposing soldiers. It meant that the elephant was strong and hard to go up against. Lincoln liked that, so he tied in the elephant with his Republican Party.

An upcoming Adult Services program is "Relaxation Through Meditation" at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Join Michael Ribet, long time meditator and international speaker, as he discusses how meditation can evoke a deeper state of relaxation and more peace within. He will also present a powerful meditation technique that can enrich one's life on all levels. The audience will have a chance to practice this simple meditation that can help you in all aspects of your life.

For more information and a complete listing of scheduled programs, call (630) 837-2855 or visit www.bartlettlibrary.org.