The Presidency of John Adams 1797 1801 President

The Presidency of John Adams 1797 -1801 President John Adams by John Singleton Copley

A Contentious Beginning… • Political parties had developed into powerful forces in the states – States control electoral college, electors in each state cast two votes each for a presidential candidate • According to the Constitution: – The candidate with the highest number of electoral votes becomes President of the United States – The candidate with the second highest number of electoral votes becomes the Vice President of the United States • What potential problems (flaws) can you foresee happening with this selection process?

Election of 1796: Meet the Candidates John Adams Federalist Thomas Jefferson Democratic-Republican

On this week’s episode of Desperate Founding Fathers… • Electoral College Results: – Adams— 71 votes – Jefferson— 68 votes • The Constitution Says… – Two candidates with the most votes become President and Vice President! So…. . • President Adams and Vice President Jefferson are from different political parties • This is changed by Amendment XII (1804) • Predictions?

The Twelfth Amendment (1804) • Amendment XII (1804) – Required presidential electors to vote separately for president & vice president

President Adams • The Goods: – Age: 62 (stuffy figure) – Stats: 5 foot 7 inches – Sharp figure, bald • Personality: – He was a man of stern principles who did his duty with stubborn devotion. – Educated, tactless, prickly intellectual aristocrat – No appeal to the masses (the common people) • Adams had Huge Shoes to Fill! – No successor could hope to fill Washington’s shoes, as he was perhaps the greatest man alive at the time.

Adams’ Bitter Rival: Alexander Hamilton • He served at the Secretary of the Treasury in Washington’s Cabinet – Hamilton resigned in 1795 • He hated John Adams – He headed the faction of the Federalist party known as the “High Federalists” – Secretly plotted with certain members of Adams’ cabinet against the president • Adams on Hamilton – He regarded Hamilton as: • “the most ruthless, impatient, artful, indefatigable and unprincipled intriguer in the United States, if not the world. ”

Can Adams & Jefferson Work Together? • It almost works at first – Adams and Jefferson have a lot of mutual respect from Revolutionary days – Adams states support for republican government, respect for French, offers Madison high position as envoy to France • But Federalist cabinet (mostly Washington loyalists) protests and wins. – Doesn’t take control of cabinet until last year of his presidency • Beginning of the end of support for Adams

Unofficial Fighting with France The French furious with Jay’s treaty • They saw the treaty as a flagrant violation of the Franco. American Treaty of 1778 • French believed the U. S. was moving close to creating an alliance with Britain, France’s perpetual foe. • In retaliation, the French began seizing defenseless American merchant ships (about 300 total by mid-1797) • French refused to receive the American envoy (ambassador) and threatened to arrest him.

Unofficial Fighting with France • Adams reacts: – Adams keeps his cool & follows Washington’s policy to steer clear of war at all costs – He tried to keep the peace between the United States and France at all costs • He appointed a diplomatic commission of three men (including future Chief Justice John Marshall) to head to France for peace negotiations

The XYZ Affair • • Charles Maurice Talleyrand Adams’s envoys reach Paris in 1797 hoping to meet Talleyrand, the crafty French foreign minister American envoys secretly approached by three gobetweens, later referred to as X, Y, and Z in the public dispatches (records/newspapers)

The XYZ Affair: The Bribe • French spokesmen demanded that in order to merely “talk” with Talleyrand, they had to: – Provide them with an unneutral loan of 32 million florins – A bribe of about $250, 000 • American Envoys reaction: – Believed these terms were intolerable – While knowing European diplomacy usually involved bribes, they gagged at the possibility of handing over a quarter of a million dollars – There were no assurances that the diplomats would even talk to Talleyrand, let alone no assurances for a peace agreement – John Marshall returned to the United States to brief the President

Public Opinion toward France Shifts Britain looking on from on high 5 members of the Directory in France Rest of the world looking on The XYZ affair - Maiden America ravaged by the French

Fallout from XYZ Affair • War hysteria swept through the United States • Many Americans (mostly Federalists) calling for war with France – Hamilton, others thought U. S. could gain land – Slogan of the hour: “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!” • The United States Prepares for War? – Navy Department was created (three ship navy expanded) – United States Marine Corps was reestablished (created in 1775, but was disbanded after the Revolutionary War) – New Army of 10, 000 men was authorized (but not fully raised)

The U. S. & France: Undeclared Hostilities (1798 -1800) • Fighting took place mostly on the high seas (mostly in the West Indies) – American privateers, men-of-war, and the new navy captured over 80 French vessels – Several Hundred American ships were lost to the French • While American public opinion was clamoring for war, President Adams felt that U. S. Army and Navy were not strong enough to fight a major power – Sends new ministers instead • Unpopular move, but…. ?

Adams: Peace Talks, Take 2… • Talleyrand agrees to receive a new American envoy and treat with respect & dignity • While Adams contemplated going to war with France, he decided to avoid war at all costs – Adams initially felt a war with France (like Hamilton) could have been lucrative: gaining land (Spanish Florida & Louisiana) and possibility lining himself up for reelection for a second term – Adams ultimately kept in line with Washington’s policy of neutrality and keeping out of European wars • When he announced to the Senate he was going to send a new minister to France… – Hamilton was furious (he wanted to go to war with France) – Reasonable Federalists and Jeffersonians were receptive, agreeing that avoiding war was the best course of action

Napoleon Bonaparte • Seized dictatorial control of France, thus ending the French Revolution • Had designs on creating a “New World Empire” in Louisiana • Napoleon met with American envoys in 1800: – Treaty of Convention of 1800 (signed in Paris) • France agreed to annul the Franco. American Treaty (1778) • American government agreed to pay the damage claims of American shippers • Ended American entanglements in Europe during a time of peace Napoleon Bonaparte

Significance of the Convention of 1800 • Adams avoided the hazards of war with France. • Laid the groundwork for the future purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France (1803) • If the U. S. had engaged in a war against France, Napoleon probably wouldn’t have sold the U. S. Louisiana

Federalists Take Control • Public anger with France strengthens Federalists in Congress – Win majority of both houses in 1798 – Enacted laws that were restrictive to Democratic. Republican rivals • What did Washington warn about again?

Naturalization Act What did it do? • Increases from five to fourteen number of years required to qualify for U. S. citizenship Why would it favor the Federalists? • Most immigrants voted with the Democratic-Republicans

Alien Acts What did it do? • Authorized the president to deport any aliens considered to be dangerous • Authorized the president to detain any enemy aliens in a time of war Why would it favor the Federalists? • Democratic-Republicans sympathetic to the French Revolution

Sedition Act What did it do? • Makes it illegal for newspapers to criticize the president or Congress • Imposed heavy penalties for editors who violated the new law – Fines – Imprisonment Why would it favor the Federalists? • Are you kidding? Representative Matthew Lyon of Vermont, arrested under the Sedition Act of 1798, attacking a fellow congressman

Responses to Alien and Sedition Acts • Republicans say that they violate First Amendment – Judicial Review not yet established, so no Supreme Court case • Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions – Written, respectively, by Jefferson and Madison • Argument: Since states had entered into the compact (Constitution), they can nullify a federal law that breaks the agreement. Try to get other state legislatures enact “nullification” laws. They didn’t.

The Crisis Fades • Federalists, due to the unpopularity of these laws, lose their majority in the election of 1800 – Republicans allow the Alien and Sedition Acts to expire or repeal parts of them – Under John Marshall, Supreme Court will establish role as the last resort in determining if a law is constitutional • News of a new peace with France doesn’t make it to the U. S. until after the election

Judging Adams Dislike for the Federalist Congress and the Alien and Sedition Acts cost Adams his reelection and gave control of Congress to the Republicans. But in weighing his presidency, we have to consider the negative along with the positive: • Relationship with France damaged • New taxes imposed • Party politics become entrenched • Keeps U. S. out of war, preserves neutrality • Strengthens the Navy • Peaceful transfer of power to opposing political party in 1800