John Q Adams

1. John Q Adams

2. Background • October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826 • Teacher turned lawyer from Massachusetts • Married to Abigail Adams; 6 children • Rose to prominence while protesting the Stamp Act • Represented the British soldiers of the Boston Massacre; six were acquitted and two convicted

3. The Second President • Adams ran for president as a Federalist, with Thomas Pinckney also running (for vice-president). • Adams appealed to lawyers, merchants, and businesspeople in the North while farmers in the South supported Thomas Jefferson. • Adams won by just three electoral votes 71 to 68, making Jefferson his Vice President.

4. Alien & Sedition Acts • While Adams was in office, Congress passed a series of laws known as the Alien and Sedition Actsin 1798. • Some of the new laws targeted aliens (immigrants who were not yet citizens) by increasing the time it took to become a citizen to 14 years and gave the president power to jail or deport aliens who were suspected of stirring up trouble.

5. Alien & Sedition Acts • The other laws made sedition (saying or writing anything false or harmful about the government) a crime. Hamilton approved this law thinking it would punish those who published vicious lies intended to destroy the government. • Instead, these laws were used to punish Republican newspaper editors who insulted Adams. One, for example, called him “old, whiny, bald, blind, crippled, toothless Adams.”Ten people were convicted of sedition under these new laws.

6. Resolutions • Republicans viewed the Sedition Act as an attack on freedom of speech and the press. • Jefferson and Madison drafted a resolution which argued about states’ rights, including the right to judge whether the federal government is using its powers properly. These resolutions declared that the Alien and Sedition Acts violated the Constitution. • Within two years, the Democratic Republicans won control of Congress and the Alien and Sedition Acts were repealed.

7. Foreign Policy • Adams attempted to follow Washington’s policy of neutrality, but it proved difficult. With France and Britain still at war, the French began seizing U.S. ships to prevent them from trading with the British. • Adams sent three representatives to France to work on ending the attacks. French Foreign Minister Talleyrand refused to meet them and sent secret agents instead.

8. XYZ Affair Y • These agents demanded a large tribute ($) of $250,000 and wanted Americans to loan $10 million to France. The American representatives refused. • Americans were outraged by France’s actions and soon, war fever was sweeping the nation. People were chanting the slogan “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!” Congress canceled its treaties with France and allowed U.S. ships to seize French vessels. President Adams became popular with the American public for standing up to France. X Z

9. Pursuing Peace • In February 1799, Adams sent a peace mission to France. By the time they reached France, Napoleon Bonaparte had taken over the French governmentand he was eager to make peace. Both sides quickly signed the Convention of 1800, an agreement to stop all naval attacks.

10. Losing Popularity • Adams decision to choose peace cost him his political popularity and caused strong disagreements within the Federalist party. • Adams lost the presidential election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson and watched as his Federalist Party slowly faded away. • Adams left the nation at peace and with no permanent alliance that might drag it into war. He had a right to feel proud despite his negative reputation.

11. I will defend my missions to France, as long as I have an eye to direct my hand, or a finger to hold my pen...I desire no other inscription over my gravestone than: “Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility of the peace with France in the year 1800.” Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts or evidence. In politics, the middle way is none at all. No Regrets

12. Fourth of July • Although Adams and Jefferson had become political rivals, they both sought to renew their friendship in retirement. As the last two surviving American revolutionaries, they began to write each other. • On July 4, 1826, when Adams was on his death bed, the last words he muttered were “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” He was wrong. Jefferson had died just five hours earlier at Monticello, his estate in Virginia.

13. President AdamsReflection • Assessing John Adams decisions as president, was John Adam’s presidency a success? What were some positive and negative outcomes to the Alien & Sedition Acts, the XYZ Affair, and the Convention of 1800? • Imagine you are John Adam’s chief advisor during his presidency, what advice would you have given him? If you were him, what would you have done differently?