Jefferson Cuts the Cheese
Part of the "Ain't American History Fun" Series
You’ve survived the sulfurous fumes of Ben Franklin's scientific satire, and you’ve weathered the profane storm of Andrew Jackson’s parrot. Welcome, history lovers, to Volume 3 of our "Historical Gas" collection, where we address the largest, most "mature" political statement ever to hit the Executive Mansion: The Mammoth Cheese. We are heading back to 1802, when President Thomas Jefferson was presented with a 1,235-pound block of cheddar that literally stopped traffic and stank up the East Room for two years.
The Baptist’s Big Idea
The story begins in Cheshire, Massachusetts. The town’s Baptist congregation, led by the eccentric Elder John Leland, adored Jefferson. Leland was a fierce advocate for religious liberty and a die-hard anti-Federalist. He decided that the finest way to show his support for the new president was to make a political statement with an expiration date.
Leland rallied the town’s dairymen. The rule was strict: no Federalist milk allowed. Every cow that contributed to this "Republican Cheese" had to belong to a good Jeffersonian farmer. In July 1801, they gathered 900 cows’ worth of curds and pressed them into a massive, converted cider press. The result was a cheese 4 feet in diameter and weighing as much as a small horse.
A Rolling Stone Gathers No Curds
The logistics of moving a 1,235-pound block of dairy was a monument to absurdity. They had to construct a specialized sleigh to transport it during the winter, and then put it on a boat. The "Mammoth Cheese" (a term coined by the press, much to Leland’s delight, and a brand-new adjective in the English language) rolled slowly from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. It arrived just before New Year's Day, 1802, greeted by massive crowds and a mixture of awe and bewilderment.
Leland presented the cheese to Jefferson as a symbol of "the simple manners and industrious habits of the people."
A Gift That Kept on Giving (and Giving off Fumes)
Thomas Jefferson was famously averse to gifts. He believed that accepting presents while in office smelled of monarchy. He was even more averse to extremely large, perishable items that required a small army to move. He accepted the cheese politely, but only after insisting on paying $200 for it.
His immediate problem was: What on earth do you do with 1,200 pounds of cheese?
It wasn't like he could just put it in the fridge. The Mammoth Cheese was placed in the East Room, which, at the time, was largely unfinished and used for storage. The cheese became a permanent exhibit—a very fragrant permanent exhibit. As the summer months arrived, the cheese, lacking refrigeration, began to "mature" rather rapidly. The sophisticated, wine-loving Jefferson was essentially forced to store a massive, decomposing dairy bomb in the finest room in his house.
The Crudest Cuts
The cheese sat there for two years. Visitors reported that the "cheese room" became an assault on the senses. Finally, around 1804, a guest noted that the Mammoth Cheese was "getting very strong" and that even the President couldn't take it anymore. A small party was organized for the "cutting" of the cheese, where it was served at a reception for Congress. The leftovers (which were still substantial) were reportedly eaten for another year or so.
Leland’s gift was a massive success as a public relations stunt, creating a new word and defining the lengths to which political fervor could go. But for Thomas Jefferson, who preferred delicate French cuisine to massive blocks of cheddar, it was likely two years he was happy to see expire.
Ain't American History fun?
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