As grounds for impeachment, Bache published a series of forged documents leaked by British officials during the war in order to undermine Washington’s authority. The documents rather preposterously claimed that Washington had been a covert British spy who fully intended to betray the cause but was beaten to the punch by Benedict Arnold. It is difficult to know whether Bache or anybody else believed such lunacies, but they accurately reflected the fanatical partisanship currently at play. What has come to be called “fake news” had just entered the political and diplomatic equation.
