The Federalist Era 1789-1801 Adam's Presidency

• Adam's Presidency
  • Election of 1796
    • For the Federalist Party: John Adams and T Pinckney
    • For Democratic Republic Party: Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burn
    • Adams got the most electoral votes, and TJ got the second. This would be like President Obama, vice president John Mccain. The 12th amendment solved this problem, so this would never happen again.
  • The Quasi-War with France: Quasi means half man half animal like in the hunchback of Notre Dame. This war was like a half war. France was upset about:
    • they really wanted their debts payed back. US said, "The check is in the mail."
    • France pretended they wanted us to honor the treaty of alliance from 1778. If they really wanted them to honor the treaty, then we would be enemies of GBR. aka they didn't want us to be enemies with GBR, but they didn't want us to trade with them either.
    • Adams sent over John Marshall, Elbridge Gerry (Gerrymandering), and Charles Cotes Pinckney (not Charles Pinckney) to meet with Charles Talleyrand to avoid war.
    • XYZ affair: the three French minions were being a jerk to the three American diplomats and demanded $250,000 to speak with Talleyrand. The Americans told the minions to stick it up their asses, and then came home to tons of parties and celebrations for denying the French. "Millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute," Said Marshall. The newspapers didn't know what to call the French minions, so they started to refer to them as X, Y, and Z.
  • Undeclared Naval War with France 1798-1800: The XYZ affair got people all fired up, and led to the creation of the Department of the Navy in 1798. America prepared for war, but technically it was an undeclared war. US also created frigates, which was a type of battleship.
    • Adams still wanted to avoid war with France so he again sent over the 3 foreign delegates. Napoleon realized he didn't want the US as an enemy. The Convention of 1800 was signed, which annulled the Franco-American alliance, avoided war between the US and France, and smoothed things over with the French. This allowed Thomas Jefferson to do the Louisiana purchase later.
  • Domestic Events under John Adams
    • The Alien Act 1798: allowed the president to deport dangerous foreigners in times of peace, and jail dangerous foreigners in times of war. Also increased the years before an alien could become a citizen from five years to fourteen years. These laws are anti-french immigrants, and the laws tried to stop the immigrants voting for the democratic republicans.
    • The Sedition Act 1798: forbid anyone to say or print anything against the government. This is very unconstitutional. Matthew Lyon the "Spitting Lion," got into a fight with Roger Griswold over an argument about the Sedition Act. They actually dueled with fire pokers on the floor of the House.
    • Virginia Resolution (written by James Madison) and Kentucky Resolutions (written by Thomas Jefferson) were written to avoid another revolution. They drew up the Compact Theory of Government (John Locke and Montesquieu ideas here). This reaffirmed the idea of the contract between the national government and the states' government. The states have the right to declare laws null (the Theory of Nullification). When this doesn't work, the next step is succession. They weren't really followed, but they were advertisements and campaign tools for the Elections of 1800.
  • The Election of 1800: same candidates as 1796.
    • This was where mudslinging started. Jefferson called Adams a jack-ass for wasting money on ships that were never used. Jefferson was accused of having an affair.
    • Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied, both with 73 electoral votes. After tying 35 times in the House, Jefferson was elected on the 36th time in the House.
    • This election is referred to the Revolution of 1800. There was a change of political ideology.