During his presidency in the late 1790s, John Adams faced opposition from within his own Federalist party and signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts to avoid war with France and appease Alexander Hamilton. The Acts restricted speech and immigration in ways that contradicted the Bill of Rights. In response, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison authored the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions arguing that states could refuse to uphold unconstitutional federal laws, a precedent that contributed to the Civil War. Adams also had to navigate tensions between Strict and Broad Constructionists over the scope of federal government power.

1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil War
Part 2: John Adams

2. ADAMS’
MAJOR ISSUES
Avoiding war with France
Passing the Alien and Sedition Acts

3. THE QUASI-WAR
In 1798, two years after his
election, John Adams faced the
prospect of a naval war with
France. Most of his actions beyond
this point were directed towards
avoiding entry into this war.

4. THE ALIEN AND
SEDITION ACTS (1798)
• Although John Adams and
Alexander Hamilton were both
members of the Federalist
Party, they were opponents
within the party structure.
• Adams therefore faced criticism
and opposition from within his
own party and from the
Democratic-Republican Party.
• Hamilton favored entering war
with France in order for the
United States to come to the
aid of Great Britain, which was
also at war with France.

5. THE ALIEN AND
SEDITION ACTS (1798)
• In order to appease Hamilton
and his Federalist allies, Adams
signed into law two legislative
initiatives put forward by the
Federalists in Congress:
the Alien and Sedition Acts.
• These authoritarian laws
restricted freedom of speech
and freedom of association,
despite the liberties guaranteed
in the Bill of Rights.
• Adams believed that these
restrictions were a fair price to
pay to avoid war with France.

6. THE VIRGINIA AND
KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS
• Adams’ Democratic-Republican
opponents, Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison, found a
way to publicly criticize the
Alien and Sedition Acts without
violating the prohibition on
individuals speaking out against
the federal government.
• They persuaded the state
legislatures of Virginia and
Kentucky to denounce the
Alien and Sedition Acts,
arguing that the acts did not
restrict the freedom of speech
of government institutions.

7. THE VIRGINIA AND
KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS
• They also went one step further
with the state legislatures of
Virginia and Kentucky, arguing
that states that denounced the
Alien and Sedition Acts had the
right to refuse to uphold them.
• This refusal set a dangerous
precedent, since it meant that
any state could refuse to
uphold any law that its own
legislators disapproved of.
• This precedent is one of the
things that would eventually
spark the American Civil War.

8. STRICT
CONSTRUCTIONISTS
• Mostly Democratic-Republicans.
• Believed that the powers of the
federal government were limited
to those explicitly enumerated in
the Constitution, and all other
powers remained with the states.
• If the Constitution does not
clearly and specifically say that
the government can do x, then
the government cannot do x.

9. BROAD
CONSTRUCTIONISTS
• Mostly Federalists.
• Believed that the powers of the
federal government superseded
those of the states, and were
unlimited except where the
Constitution enumerated what the
federal government could not do.
• If the Constitution does not say
that the government cannot do x,
then the government can do x.

10. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil War
Part 2: John Adams