Calendar on Adams in 1800...
"Ye will judge without regard to the prattle of a president, the prattle of that strange compound of ignorance and ferocity, of deceit and weakness; without regard to that hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."
That's just one example of many quotes from that time. There was some wildly vitriolic mud slinging in early American politics.
I don't remember where I saw or heard it, but when I was younger I came across an interview with some of the other cast of TNG talking about how Patrick Stewart originally came in this very disciplined classic Shakespearean actor and how he really started loosening up after a couple of years.