The Presidency of John Adams
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he
new president was a 61‑year‑old Harvard‑educated lawyer who
had been an early leader in the struggle for independence. Short, bald,
overweight, and vain, he was known, behind his back, as "His
Rotundity."
Adams
was the first president to live in what would later be called the White House.
Just 6 of the structure's 30 rooms were plastered. The White House's main
staircases were not installed for another four years. The mansion's grounds
were cluttered with workers' shanties, privies, and stagnant pools of water.
The president's wife, Abigail, hung laundry to dry in the East Room.
The
city of Washington consisted of a brewery, a half‑finished hotel, an
abandoned canal, an empty warehouse and wharf, and 372 dwellings, "most of
them small miserable huts." Cows and hogs ran freely in the capital's
streets, and snakes frequented the city's many bogs and marshes. The entire
population consisted of 500 families and some 300 members of government.
During
Adams' presidency, the United States faced its most serious international
crisis yet: an undeclared naval war with France. In the Jay Treaty, France
perceived an American tilt toward Britain, especially in a provision permitting
the British to seize French goods from American ships in exchange for financial
compensation. France retaliated by capturing hundreds of vessels flying the
United States flag.
Adams
sent a negotiating team to France to settle the dispute. The French foreign
minister, continually postponed official negotiations. Meanwhile, three French
emissaries (known later simply as X, Y, and Z) demanded that the Americans pay
a bribe of $250,000 and provide a $10 million loan. The Americans refused to
pay anything.
Word
of the "XYZ affair" aroused a popular demand for war. The popular
slogan was "millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." The
Federalist‑controlled Congress prepared for war by authorizing a 20,000
man army and calling George Washington out of retirement as commander in chief.
During the winter of 1798, an undeclared naval war took place between France
and the United States.
In
the midst of the crisis, the Federalist dominated Congress passed the notorious
Alien and Sedition Acts, which were designed to suppress public criticism of
the government. These laws:
lengthened
the period necessary before immigrants could become citizens from 5 to 14
years.
gave
the president the power to imprison or deport any foreigner believed to be
dangerous to the United States, and made it a crime to attack the government
with "false, scandalous, or malicious" statements or writings.
These
acts contributed to Thomas Jefferson's election as president in 1800 and gave
the Federalist party a reputation for political repression. Federalist
prosecutors used the Sedition Act to convict ten editors and printers. The most
notorious use of the law to suppress dissent involved Luther Baldwin, who was
arrested in a Newark, N.J. tavern. While cannons roared to celebrate a
presidential visit to the city, Baldwin was overheard say "that he did not
care if they fired through [the president's] arse." For his drunken
remark, Baldwin was imprisoned for two months and fined.
Republicans
accused the Federalists of violating fundamental liberties. The state
legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia adopted resolutions written by Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison denouncing the Alien and Sedition Acts as an
infringement on freedom of expression. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
advanced the idea that the states had a right to declare federal laws null and
void, and helped to establish the theory of states' rights.
Adams succeeded in averting full-scale war with France, but at the cost of a second term as president. Hamilton vowed to destroy Adams: "If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible.”