FP - John Adams (Lesson)

John Adams

 

A brief resume of John Adams:

• First Continental Congress representative from Massachusetts
• Member of the Committee of Five to draft the Declaration of Independence
• American diplomat to secure French assistance and alliance (and later a British alliance) during the American Revolutionary War
• Helped negotiate the 1783 Treaty of Paris to end the American Revolution
• First Vice President of the United States
• Second President of the United States

Election of 1796

George Washington established numerous precedents during his time in office since he basically created the job description as he went along. One precedent that was upheld by nearly all presidents (and eventually became law) was the precedent of serving only two terms in office. At the time, however, Washington’s decision not to run for a third term was a surprise. In the Election of 1796, Washington’s Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican party, ran against Washington’s vice-president, John Adams of the Federalist party. Washington had warned in his farewell address about the divisiveness of political parties; the Election of 1796 exemplified Washington’s argument.

As the Constitution was written, the winner of the Electoral College would become president, while the runner-up would become vice-president. Adams won the electoral vote; Jefferson became Adams’ vice president. Thus, a Federalist was president and a Democratic-Republican was vice-president. (Imagine a president and vice-president being members of two different parties today!) Later, this issue was resolved; however for the time being, the outcome of the Election of 1796 presented obstacles for Adams’ presidency.

Alien and Sedition Acts

In 1794 the United States and Great Britain signed an unauthorized treaty to settle issues that still remained from the Revolutionary War. While the treaty perhaps settled some issues with Great Britain, it only increased tension with France who had assisted and aligned with the United States during the Revolutionary War. Following the treaty, tension increased between France and the United States to a point in which the United States engaged in an undeclared naval war with our former allies. With this conflict, many Americans did not trust the French nor the many French immigrants to the United States.

Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans supported the rights of the immigrants and, as a result, many immigrants supported the Democratic-Republican party. In response to this relationship, Adams and the Federalists passed the Alien Act which increased the citizenship requirements from 4 years’ residence in the United States to 14 years’ residence, including increasing the requirements for immigrants to gain voting rights in the United States. Furthermore, the federal government had an increased authority to deport immigrants. Viewing this as an attack on the opposition party, many Democratic-Republicans spoke out against the Federalists’ Alien Act. The Federalists passed legislation known as the Sedition Acts which would jail or fine anyone who openly opposed the government or elected officials.

In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Democratic-Republicans passed the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions which called the Alien and Sedition Acts violation of the Constitution. With these resolutions, the Democratic-Republicans presented the concept of nullification. Under this concept, power rests within the states who can void, or ignore, federal legislation the state deems as unfair or unconstitutional.

What do you think?

Review the Alien and Sedition document linked here Links to an external site.. Then consider the following questions:

• Does the government have the authority to limit free speech?
• Can the government limit immigration?
• Were the Alien and Sedition Acts constitutional? Why or why not?

PORTRAIT OF JOHN ADAMS BY GILBERT STUART, PUBLIC DOMAIN, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS