John Adams faced many difficulties as president, including divisions between his Federalist party and the opposing Republican party of Thomas Jefferson. He had to deal with tensions with France during the XYZ Affair, which led to an undeclared naval war. Adams also signed controversial laws known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. He lost reelection in 1800 to Jefferson due to several factors, including the unpopularity of the Acts. Before leaving office, Adams appointed several "Midnight Judges" to help ensure future Federalist control of the courts.

1. John Adams

2. Lesson Objectives
1. Summarize the difficulties that John Adams
faced during his presidency
2. Summarize the nations developing foreign
policy with France and Great Britain
3. Identify some of the deep divisions between
Federalists and Republicans

3. Adams’ turn??
• Adams as VP: active as President
of the Senate
– more tiebreaking votes (31) than any
other VP
– spent more time in Senate presiding
than any other VP
• Greatly frustrated by the job:
“Gentlemen, I feel a great difficulty how to act. I am Vice
President. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything.”
What does he mean????

4. Election of 1796
• For 1st time in U.S., two political parties square off
– Federalists (Adams) vs. Democratic-Republicans (Jefferson)
• Negative campaign ads 
– Adams is called “His Rotundity”
– Jefferson labeled a coward and atheist
• Problem Pres and VP from different parties
• sectionalism  voting according to where one lives
– North chose Adams
– South chose Jefferson
• Adams: has tough act to follow
• Adams takes over, there are now 16 states Vermont, Kentucky,
Tennessee

5. Tough Act To Follow
• How do you follow greatness?
• Adams keeps Washington’s
cabinet
– More loyal to Hamilton than himself
• His own V.P is from a different
party

6. War with France?
• French upset about the Jay Treaty, see it as
Treaty
violation of alliance of 1778
• French leaders (The Directory) refuse to receive
Directory
American ambassador Pinckney
• French navy begins seizing American ships bound
for Britain
• Adams calls for a military buildup (naval) in case
war is necessary
• Federalists
 happy with Adams
• Democratic-Republicans
 outraged
“war-whoop”

7. Alien and Sedition Acts
• Naturalization Act – time to become a citizen 4  14 years
– Repealed 1802
• Alien Friends Act – president can deport any alien they feel is
“dangerous to the peace and safety of the U.S.”
– Expired in 2 years
• Alien Enemies Act – president can apprehend and deport any
“resident alien” if their home country is at war with the U.S.
– Remains in effect today  50 U.S.C. 21 - 24
• Sedition Act - prohibited expression of “false, scandalous,
and malicious statements” against the government
– Expired 1801
• 18 had been charged and 12 convicted under the law (incl. NJ
man who made fun of Adams posterior – arrested and fined
$150)
• Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: Madison and Jefferson
Resolutions
secretly wrote these resolutions proposing nullification

8. XYZ Affair and undeclared war
• Adams sends 3 men:
– Pinckney, Marshall (future Chief Justice of Supreme Court)
and Elbridge Gerry to France  “secret” peace mission
• 3 low-level French officials known as “X, Y, and Z”
– demand payment (bribe) of $250,000 to let the Americans
meet with top French foreign minister
– official apology from President.
• Word leaks out  “XYZ Affair”
• Leads to ANTI-French feelings in U.S.;
– “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute”
– undeclared war for 2 years
– Congress creates navy and authorizes American ships to
seize French vessels
– Washington called out of retirement to lead army

10. •
•
•
•
•
Election of 1800
Rematch  Adams (Pinckney) v. Jefferson (Burr)
The death of Washington, in 1799, weakened the
Federalists
Hamilton tried to sabotage Adams' campaign in the
hope of boosting Pinckney's chances of winning.
In the end, Adams lost narrowly to Jefferson by 65 to
73
Adams was defeated because of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
better organization by the Republicans
Federalist disunity
the controversy of the Alien and Sedition Acts
the popularity of Jefferson in the south
the South's inflated number of Electors, which counted
slaves under the three-fifths compromise.

11. Midnight Judges
• On his way out of office, Adams passed some legislation to
help ensure Federalist power in the judicial branch
• Judiciary Act of 1801 created a set of federal appeals courts
between the district courts and the Supreme Court.
– 1st to remedy the defects in the federal judicial system inherent in the
Judiciary Act of 1789
– 2nd to enable the defeated Federalists to staff the new judicial offices with
loyal Federalists in the face of the party's defeat in presidential and
congressional elections in 1800.
• Adams filled the vacancies created by this statute by appointing
a series of judges, whom his opponents called the "Midnight
Judges"
– most of them were formally appointed days before the presidential term
expired.
– Most of these judges lost their posts when the Jeffersonian Republicans
enacted the Judiciary Act of 1802

12. Adams Recap
Click here For video
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/president-john-adams-from-alien-and-sedition-acts-to-xyz