The presidency of John Adams

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Read about the major events of John Adams's presidency.

Overview
John Adams, a Federalist, was the second president of the United States.
He served from 1797-1801.

John Adams's presidency was marked by conflicts between the two

newly-formed political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-
Republicans.

The conflicts between the two political parties centered on foreign policy
and the balance of power between the federal government and the states'
governments.

Adams's presidency
The second person to take up the mantle of the presidency was John
Adams, who had served as Vice President under George Washington.
Adams was the nation’s first official Federalist president (although
Washington had been aligned with the ideas of the Federalists, as president
he had frowned on political parties and attempted to remain above partisan
squabbling).
 Portrait of John Adams, painted by John Trumbull, c. 1793. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

During Adams's one-term presidency, the first two American political parties
emerged and relations with France began to sour.
Rise of the Federalists and the Democratic-
Republicans
During the Constitutional Convention, factions emerged almost immediately.
These factions ended up forming the first two political parties in American
history: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.

On one side, there were the Federalists. Generally, Federalists lived along
eastern seaboard and were wealthy merchants or well-educated people who
lived in the city. They supported a stronger central government and a loose
interpretation of the Constitution: the idea that what the Constitution didn't
explicitly forbid, it allowed. The Federalists also supported fixing the
relationship between the United States and Britain for trade reasons.

On the other side were the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-

Republicans frequently hailed from western regions and were more likely to
be farmers than merchants. The Democratic-Republicans favored a weaker
central government in favor of stronger state governments. They believed in
a strict interpretation of the Constitution: the idea that the federal
government couldn't do anything the Constitution didn't explicitly permit. They
also preferred a foreign alliance with France, as the French had supported
the United States in the Revolutionary War.

Check your understanding: Can you fill in the missing information in the
chart below?

Beliefs Federalists Democratic-

Republicans
The federal government should Strong Weak
be:

State governments should be: Weak

The United States should ally with: France

 Beliefs Federalists Democratic-
Republicans
The Constitution should be Loosely
interpreted:
[Check your answer]

The XYZ Affair

In 1794, George Washington sent John Jay, the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, to negotiate a treaty with the British that removed British forts from the
Northwest Territory of the United States. He also hoped to negotiate free
trade between the United States and the portion of the West Indies which was
occupied by the British. In exchange, the United States agreed to settle
colonial debts that were owed to British merchants.

Known as Jay's Treaty, the pro-British agreement angered the government

of France, which had supported the United States in the American
Revolution. In response, the French navy began attacking American
merchant ships. In 1797, President Adams sent diplomats to create a treaty
between the United States and France.
 Political cartoon satirizing the XYZ Affair, showing a group of French men attempting to steal
money from an allegorical figure of America. In the background, figures representing other
nations look on and laugh. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Upon arrival, three French diplomats, nicknamed “X”, “Y”, and “Z”, proceeded
to ask for bribes in order to start negotiations. The story eventually made its
way to the American public, inciting many Americans to write letters to
Adams, pushing for an armed conflict with the French.

Over the next two years, the United States carried on an undeclared naval
war with France.

The Alien and Sedition Acts

Fear of opposition to the war within the United States prompted many
Federalists to call for a way to punish dissidents, chiefly those in the Anti-
Federalist Party. This took the form of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
“Alien” refers to someone who is not from the country, and the Alien Act was
created to allow the federal government to deport non-citizens who were a
threat to national security. Sedition means to write or speak in a way as to get
people to rebel against the authority of a government. The Sedition Act,
however, was created as a way to punish American citizens who criticized the
American government during the war with the intent to harm the
government’s position.

Under the Sedition Act, the government charged and prosecuted several
printers who spoke against the United States and the war. Even Matthew
Lyon, a Democratic-Republican Congress member, was jailed for criticizing
President Adams in a Republican newspaper.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

What amendment to the Constitution did the Sedition Act potentially

violate? Why?
Choose 1 answer:

A
The First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech and freedom
of the press.
B
The Second Amendment, which guarantees the right of citizens to bear
arms.
C
The Tenth Amendment, which states that any power not guaranteed to
the federal government are then guaranteed to the states.

Check

Explain

The Kentucky and Virginia resolutions

The Federalist Party supported the Alien and Sedition Acts, but the
Democratic-Republican Party criticized them. They argued that the Alien and
Sedition Acts gave too much power to the federal government.
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, leading Democratic-Republicans,
each wrote a resolution that were later adopted by Kentucky and Virginia,
respectively. These resolutions pushed for a strict interpretation of the
Constitution when it came to powers granted to the federal government. They
also claimed that states had the power to ignore and disregard federal laws if
they considered them outside of the bounds of their powers as described in
the Constitution.

Debate about the balance between federal and state power would continue
until the Civil War, remerging in issues like the Nullification crisis.

Adams's midnight appointments

Arguably, Adams’ most influential act as president happened as he was
leaving office. In his last moments as president, the night before his
successor (Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican) took office, Adams
attempted to appoint as many Federalists as possible into empty positions as
justices of the peace. These "midnight judges" were a ploy to stack the courts
against the incoming Democratic-Republican party.

Although Adams signed the judicial appointments, he failed to make sure they
were delivered on time. When Jefferson took office, he refused to arrange for
the delivery of the remaining appointments. One of the disappointed would-be
judges, William Marbury, sued for his appointment. The Supreme Court case
that followed, Marbury v. Madison, established the principle of judicial
review: that the Supreme Court has the power to strike down laws if it judges
that those laws violate the Constitution.

What do you think?

Why did the Adams administration pass the Alien and Sedition Acts?
What was the most important issue dividing the Federalists and the
Democratic Republicans?

[Notes and attributions]

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