Finding Phocion: The Federalist Campaign of 1796 and the Nationalization of Proslavery Politics.

Beckley was likely the author of the 29October letter to Fenno rebutting Phocion's depiction ofJefferson's conduct as governor of Virginia (seeaccompanying footnote in "Depositions Taken in 1796respecting Jefferson's Conduct during Arnold's Invasion,"Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 4:271-73). With Smith, however,Phocion's entire strategy for 1796 depended uponpresenting a strident defense of slavery as an intendedsafeguard against Jefferson's philosophicalindulgences.37 The execution of the Federalists' intended electoralvote-parsing maneuver finds support well beyond itsimplicit place in Phocion's text. Based on the electoralobjectives of the Federalists, this discussion wasprecisely the type of section aligned second-guessingthat Phocion intended to foment among Jefferson'sRepublicans.11 To build their case, Phocion's letters offered aremarkable and often biting commentary on Jefferson'spersonal relations to slavery. [Extracted from the article]