The Presidency of John Adams

1. JOHN
ADAMS’
PRESIDENCY

2. 1. Political parties – groups who help elect government officials and influence
policies
2. Diplomat – an official representing their country in a country overseas
3. Bribe – to give money to persuade someone to do something
4. Alien – an immigrant living in a country where they are not a citizen
5. Sedition – acts that aim to weaken the government
6. Unconstitutional – not in agreement with the Constitution
7. States’ rights – rights independent of the federal government reserved for
the states

3. • By the election of 1796, the American people had formed and divided into
political parties
• The prominent parties of the time were the Federalist Party, who wanted a
strong central government and supported industry and trade, and the
Democratic-Republican Party, who wanted to limit the federal government’s
power
• The Federalist candidates were John Adams and Thomas Pinckney
• The Dem-Rep candidates were Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr

4. • John Adams won the election,
and Thomas Jefferson became
his Vice President
• Adams had been a leading
Patriot during the War for
Independence, had served as a
foreign minister and was Vice
President under George
Washington
• Though not well-liked, he was
well-respected

5. • Adams needed to improve the
relationship between the U.S. and
France, who had started to seize U.S.
ships.
• Adams sent diplomats to Paris to
negotiate a treaty which would
protect U.S. shipping
• In France, these diplomats were met
with three agents who told them that
French foreign minister Charles de
Talleyrand would only discuss a
treaty in exchange for a bribe of over
$250,000.

6. • The U.S. diplomats refused.
• Because Adams referred to the French agents as “X, Y, and Z”, France’s
demand for a bribe became known as the XYZ Affair

8. • The Federalists in Congress
called for war with France
• Thinking that a war was
inevitable, Adams asked
Congress to expand the navy,
and keep a standing peacetime
army
• Still hoping to maintain peace,
Adams tried to reopen talks with
France
• Eventually, the U.S. and France
signed a treaty

9. • In 1798 Congress passed four laws
known as the Alien and Sedition
Acts
• These laws aimed at protecting
the gov’t from treasonous ideas
and people
• The Federalist-dominated
Congress wanted the Acts to
crush opposition to war

10. • The most controversial was the Sedition Act, which made it a crime to
speak, write, or publish criticism of the government
• This challenged freedom of speech and freedom of the press
• Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Dem-Rep Party saw these
Acts as a misuse of gov’t power

11. • Jefferson and Madison passed
resolutions called the Kentucky
and Virginia Resolutions, which
argued that the Alien and Sedition
Acts were unconstitutional.
• They wanted Congress to repeal
the Acts; instead, Congress
allowed them to expire in 1801
• The Kentucky and Virginia
Resolutions affirmed the principle
of states’ rights, and supported
the idea that the states could
challenge the federal government