On July 4, 1798, Timothy Dwight, president of Yale University and one of the most powerful men in New England, delivered a sermon at his college titled, The Duty of Americans at the Present Crisis. The present crisis, he explained, was a new and terrifying threat to the young democracy: the Illuminati. Fears of the secret society had been growing for the past year, and Dwight now warned the “ultimate objects” of this group were nothing less than “the overthrow of religion, government, and human society civil and domestic. These they pronounce to be so good, that murder, butchery and war, however extended and dreadful, are declared by them to be completely justifiable, if necessary for these great purposes.”Dwight, a Federalist, was hardly alone. Among the others sounding the alarm on the Illuminati were other well-known Federalists, including his brother, Theodore, a prominent lawyer, and pastor and geographer Jedidiah Morse (known as the “father of American geography,” as well as the father of telegraph inventor Samuel Morse), who authored a sermon in 1798 warning that the Illuminati sought to “root out and abolish Christianity, and overthrow all civil government.” Jedidiah Morse’s text, in turn, received supportive letters from both George Washington and former chief justice and governor of New York John Jay for his efforts in bringing light to the subject.
Morse, the Dwight brothers, and their allies were soon mobilizing opposition against Republican candidate Thomas Jefferson, calling him the candidate of none other than the Illuminati. But they couldn’t have anticipated what came next: Their conspiracy theory, once unleashed in the world, was turned back on them, upending the 1800 election and demonstrating the unique vulnerability of American democracy to conspiracy theories—especially during times of pitched cultural and ideological warfare.
Conspiracy theories will almost surely play a role in the 2020 presidential election—look no further than those that thrived in the immediate aftermath of the bungled Iowa caucuses and those that are now either causing panic or threatening to undo a coordinated public response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. One recent text message convinced untold numbers of people across the country that the president was just hours away from shutting down all businesses, including grocery stores—a story that spread like wildfire without support from any mainstream news or government source.
The promulgation of conspiracy theories can feel new—a by-product of social media, Russian disinformation campaigns and a demagogic president who built a political identity on birtherism. But from almost the beginning of American democracy, wild, unproven theories have flourished, often even coming to be embraced by influential leaders. And the 1800 election shows just how those theories thrive and can even shift elections, long before Twitter, fake news and viral text messages.