Following the Annual Meeting of the Williamstown Historical Museum, favorite lecturer, Dustin Griffin, presented an illustrated talk he has entitled “Enemies of the People: Political Divisions in Early Williamstown.” In today’s overheated political climate it’s common for newspapers on one side of the political divide to denounce the other side in vehemently polemical terms, and even to hear the phrase “enemy of the people” thrown around quite deliberately. Surely, we say, such extreme language is “unAmerican.” In fact, it was commonplace in 18th-century America. Our speaker looked at two moments of intense political division with a narrowly local focus on Williamstown, to show that even this little country town was the scene of bitter recrimination. In 1775 it was Patriots vs. Loyalists. In 1800 it was Federalists vs. Republicans.
