Adams's Presidency

1796 Election

-Federalist candidate→ John Adams

-Running mate? → sus of Hamilton bc Adams couldn’t be controlled → Pickney

-Dem-Repub Candidate→ Jefferson

-Running mate? → Madison not popular enough → Aaron Burr

-Adams won by 3 electoral votes, Jefferson VP

Problem with 1796 election

-Sectionalism → Northerners voted for Adams, Southerners voted for Jefferson

-Adams = Fed & Jefferson = Dem-Repub… two diff parties

Context of XYZ Affair

-1st major prob during Adam's presidency

-Amers angered bc French warships and privateers were seizing US merchant ships

-French were pissed @ Jay's Treaty b/c betrayed 1778 alliance agreement

-Seeking peaceful settlement, Adams sent delegation to Paris to negotiate w/ French gov't

-Certain French ministers (X, Y, & Z) requested bribes as basis for entering into negotiations

Response to XYZ Affair (by everyone EXCEPT Adams)

-Amer delegates indignantly refused

-Newspaper reports of demands made by X, Y, & Z infuriated many Amers, who now clamored for war against France

-"millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute" became motto

-One faction of Fed party led by Hamilton hope that by going to war, the US would gain French & Spanish lands in Northern Amer

Response to XYZ Affair (by Adams)

-Prez Adams, on other hand, resisted popular sentiment for war

-Us army & Navy not yet stronger enough to fight major pwr

-Led to Quasi War

How did Adams resolve the French threat peacefully? (post-Quasi War)

-Found out new French gov't be favorable to Amers w/o bribery

-1799-> sent 3 more men to Paris

-Agreed to abandon 1778 treaty of alliance & work out differences peacefully

-Political upheaval that followed ruined Adams' political future

Alien and Sedition Acts

-Anger against France strengthened Feds in congressional elections of 1798 enough to win majority in both houses

-Feds took advantage of victory by enacting laws to restrict political opponents aka Dem-Repubs

-Ex., since most immigrants voted Dem-Repub, Feds passed Naturalization Act, which inc from 5 to 14 years required for immigrants to qualify for US citizenship

-Alien acts-> authorized prez to deport aliens considered dangerous & to detain enemy aliens in time of war

-Most seriously, Sedition Act→ made it illegal for newspaper editors to criticize either Prez or Cong & imposed fines/imprisonment for editors who violated law

Context of Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions

-Dem-Repub argued Alien & Sedition acts violated 1st amendment rights

-However, Supreme Court hadn't yet est. principle of judicial review (idea that court could overturn law it found in conflict w/ Constitution)

-Dem Repub leaders challenge legislation of Fed Cong by enacting nullifying laws of their own in state legislatures (KY & VA Resolutions)

Content of Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions

-Kentucky legislature→ adopted resolution written by Jefferson

-VA → adopted & written by Madison

-Both resolutions said that states had entered into "compact" in forming national gov't & denounced acts as unconstitutional

-Therefore, if any act of fed gov't broke the compact, state could nullify fed law e.g. States have the power to say when a law is violated & power of nullification (declaring any federal law illegal/void)

-Problem = challenged supremacy of Fed Gov’t

Effects of Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions

-Although only Kentucky & VA adopted this resolutions, they set forth precedent for argument & rationale used in nullification controversy of 1830s

-Immediate crisis over Alien & Sedition acts faded when Feds lost control of Cong after election of 1800, & Dem-Repubs majority allowed acts to expire/repealed then

-In 1803, Supreme Court began deciding whether laws = Constitutional or not