George Washington once used a cabinet meeting to rage at length about "that rascal Freneau." "He makes no regret that I had passed up an opportunity to resign the presidency," Washington said. "By God, he makes me wish that I was in my grave rather than in my present situation. How can he charge me with wanting to be a king? I'd rather be on my farm than emperor of the world. And besides all that," Washington added, "Freneau sends me not one but three of his newspapers every day--as if I would distribute them for him. He does it only to insult me."

The man who had sparked Washington's anger was Philip Freneau, editor of the National Gazette and one of the best journalists of his day. In the rough-and-tumble world of journalism during the first decade of the Constitution, Freneau was a leading voice against monarchy...