I'm on mobile, so I can't go into as much detail yet. Suffice it to say, as soon as elections were closely contested they became pretty vicious. Both Federalists and Jeffersonians were convinced that victory of the other side in 1800 meant the destruction of the country. Patriotism meant loyalty to the party. Jefferson, or Addams, was a devil. Jefferson was Jacobin revolutionary! Addams was a monarchist ready to turn the country over to King George! Newspapers, openly partisan mouthpieces, ran propaganda and malicious gossip. It was as bad or worse than anything we see today.

http://www.ushistory.org/us/20a.asp http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1800