![]() ![]() Reproduced above is the broadside “Ode to the Mammoth Cheese. 29, 1801, and Leland himself was on hand to present it, pointing out – somewhat uncomfortably to slave-owning Jefferson – that the cheese “was produced by the personal labor of freeborn farmers and with the voluntary and cheerful aid of their wives and daughters, without the assistance of a single slave.” Engraved with the patriotic motto “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God,” the cheese was shipped to Washington via sleigh (hauled by six oxen), sloop, and wagon. When finished, it measured four feet across and 17 inches high, and weighed, once cured, 1,235 pounds. It was made from the milk of 900 impeccably Republican cows and pressed in an outsized cider press. ![]() The cheese was the idea of Baptist Elder John Leland, a Jefferson supporter in the fraught election of 1800 in which Jefferson (a Republican) defeated John Adams (a Federalist). The tradition began in 1802, when President Thomas Jefferson was given a gift of a giant cheese from the citizens of Cheshire, Mass. Historically, however, they’ve also been paired with – yes, really – large wheels of cheese. ![]() American presidents are traditionally associated with Air Force One, the State of the Union, “Hail to the Chief,” and the West Wing. ![]()
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