John Adams
Second president, a Federalist. Signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, but defied his party's hawks to make peace with France. Later said that peace was among his proudest acts.
Unit 7 · 1797–1801
John Adams and the Election of 1800
A near war, a fight over free speech, a tied election, and a peaceful handoff.
John Adams took office in 1797 with France seizing American ships and the two parties angrier than ever. His four years brought an undeclared war at sea, laws that jailed critics of the government, and states claiming the right to judge federal laws. Then came an election so tangled that the House of Representatives had to decide it. On this page you'll follow those years, weigh both parties' arguments, read the documents, and test yourself.
Timeline: 1797 to 1801
- · Adams takes office
Federalist John Adams becomes the second president. His rival, Republican Thomas Jefferson, is vice president. France, angry about the Jay Treaty with Britain, is already seizing American merchant ships.
- · The XYZ Affair
Adams sends three envoys to Paris to make peace. Agents of the French foreign minister, Talleyrand, tell them talks can begin only after a bribe and a large loan to France. The envoys refuse.
- · The dispatches go public
Adams gives Congress the envoys' reports, with the French agents' names replaced by the letters W, X, Y and Z. Americans are outraged, and support for the Federalists surges.
- · The Quasi-War
Congress creates a Navy Department, builds warships, and lets American ships fight armed French vessels. The two nations fight an undeclared naval war (a "quasi," or partial, war) mostly in the Caribbean. Congress never declares war.
- · Alien and Sedition Acts
A Federalist Congress passes four laws. The Naturalization Act raises the residence needed for citizenship from 5 to 14 years. Two Alien Acts let the president deport foreigners judged dangerous, or those from an enemy nation in wartime. The Sedition Act (July 14) makes it a crime to publish "false, scandalous and malicious" writing against the government, Congress or the president.
- · The Lyon prosecution
Matthew Lyon, a Republican congressman from Vermont, becomes the first person convicted under the Sedition Act, for writing that Adams had a "continual grasp for power." He is fined $1,000 and jailed for four months, and Vermont voters reelect him while he is in jail. Several Republican newspaper editors are also prosecuted.
- · Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Kentucky's legislature passes resolutions secretly written by Jefferson, and Virginia's passes ones secretly written by Madison. Both call the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and argue that states may judge when the federal government oversteps. No other state agrees. Kentucky's 1799 resolution adds the word "nullification."
- · Fries's Rebellion
To pay for the military buildup, Congress taxes houses, land and enslaved people. In eastern Pennsylvania, John Fries leads armed men who free tax resisters from a federal marshal. Troops end the uprising. Fries is convicted of treason and sentenced to death, but Adams pardons him in 1800, angering many Federalists.
- · Adams chooses peace
When France signals it will talk, Adams sends a new peace mission, against the wishes of Hamilton and many in his own party. The Federalists split.
- · Convention of 1800
The peace mission signs an agreement with France (also called the Treaty of Mortefontaine). It ends the Quasi-War and, once ratified, frees the United States from its 1778 alliance with France. News arrives too late to help Adams in the election.
- · The Election of 1800
Jefferson and Aaron Burr run for the Republicans; Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for the Federalists. At the time each elector cast two votes, with no separate vote for vice president. Every Republican elector voted for both Jefferson and Burr, so they tie at 73.
- · The House decides
Under the Constitution, a tie goes to the House, where each state delegation casts one vote. Burr does not step aside, and many Federalists back him. After 35 deadlocked ballots, Jefferson wins on the 36th, on Feb 17. Hamilton had urged Federalists to choose Jefferson over Burr, whom he distrusted more.
- · The "midnight judges"
The outgoing Federalist Congress passes the Judiciary Act of 1801, creating new federal judgeships. Adams fills them, and other posts, until his last days in office. Republicans call them the "midnight judges" and repeal the act in 1802. One undelivered commission leads to Marbury v. Madison (1803).
- · Jefferson's First Inaugural
In the first inauguration held in the new capital, Washington, D.C., Jefferson calls for unity: "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists." Adams leaves the city that morning, but he leaves. For the first time, power passes peacefully from one party to another.
- · Aftermath: the Twelfth Amendment
To prevent another tie, the Twelfth Amendment has electors cast separate votes for president and vice president.
The 1800 Electoral Vote
Each elector cast two votes, so the totals add up to twice the number of electors (138). The tie between Jefferson and Burr sent the election to the House.
Key People
Thomas Jefferson
Vice president under Adams and leader of the Republicans. Secretly wrote the Kentucky Resolutions, then won the presidency in 1800.
James Madison
Secretly wrote the Virginia Resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts. Later Jefferson's secretary of state.
Alexander Hamilton
Federalist leader who pushed for a larger army and opposed Adams's peace mission. In 1801 he urged Federalists to pick Jefferson over Burr.
Aaron Burr
New York Republican and Jefferson's running mate. Tied him at 73 votes and did not step aside. Became vice president.
Matthew Lyon
Vermont congressman jailed under the Sedition Act, and reelected from his cell.
John Fries
Pennsylvania auctioneer who led armed resistance to the 1798 house tax. Sentenced to death for treason, then pardoned by Adams.
Talleyrand
French foreign minister whose agents demanded a bribe from the American envoys in the XYZ Affair.
John Marshall
One of the three XYZ envoys, later Adams's secretary of state. Adams named him Chief Justice in early 1801.
Perspectives
The Federalist view
The nation was in a real, if undeclared, war with France, whose revolution had turned violent and which had interfered in other countries' politics. Many recent immigrants and some newspapers sided with France. In wartime, a government had to protect itself from foreign agents and from lies meant to stir up rebellion. The Sedition Act even improved on old English law by letting the truth of a statement be a defense. And states that claimed to judge federal laws threatened to break up the Union.
The Democratic-Republican view
The Sedition Act punished exactly what the First Amendment protects: criticism of the people in power. It was used almost entirely against Republican editors and politicians, which showed it was about winning elections, not national security. The Alien Acts gave the president power to deport people without a trial. When Congress breaks the Constitution and federal courts will not stop it, the states must speak up for the people's rights.
Primary Sources
Quotes follow the Avalon Project texts at Yale Law School, including their spelling and capitals.
"…any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States…"
Why it matters: Supporters said it punished only false statements. Critics noted that the government decided what counted as false.
"…in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the states who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil…"
Why it matters: Madison describes the Constitution as a "compact" among the states, an idea later leaders would stretch much further.
"…a nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done under colour of that instrument, is the rightful remedy…"
Why it matters: The word "nullification" returned in the 1830s, when South Carolina tried to cancel a federal tariff, and in the arguments that led to the Civil War.
"But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists."
Why it matters: After a bitter campaign, the winner reached out to the losers, and the losers gave up power.
"…error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."
Why it matters: A quiet answer to the Sedition Act: meet bad ideas with argument, not prison.
Talk About It
- Can a government ever limit speech in wartime? Where would you draw the line, and how is that different from the Sedition Act?
- Were the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions a defense of rights, or a danger to the Union? Could they be both?
- Adams made peace with France even though it split his party and may have cost him the election. Was that good leadership?
- Why was a tie between two candidates of the same party possible in 1800? How did the Twelfth Amendment fix it?
- Why does the peaceful transfer of power in 1801 still matter today?
Test Yourself
Sources
- Avalon Project, Yale Law School: The Sedition Act; The Alien Act; Virginia Resolution; Kentucky Resolution, 1799; Jefferson's First Inaugural Address.
- National Archives, Alien and Sedition Acts (1798).
- US Department of State, Office of the Historian, The XYZ Affair and the Quasi-War with France.
- Library of Congress, Presidential Election of 1800: A Resource Guide.
- National Archives, Founders Online, Papers of Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison.
Credits: all illustrations, including the electoral vote chart, are original SVG drawings made for Jugami.