US History

U.S. History Study Guide

• Don't create an army too powerful: "...avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty." 8.14 John Adams Administration, 1797-1801 The Election of 1796 John Adams was the Federalist candidate and Thomas Jefferson ran under the banner of the Republicans. Since Jefferson received the second highest number of electoral votes, he became vice president, forcing a Federalist president and a Republican vice president to serve together in an awkward circumstance. Adams was very intelligent, but strict and uncompromising as a politician and he would have a very frustrating and ineffective term in office. The XYZ Affair A three man delegation was sent to France in 1798 to convince the French to stop harassing American ships. They were solicited for bribes by three subordinates of the French Minister Talleyrand who they indignantly refused. They reported the insult, thus creating a public outrage. The citizens declared “millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute” and public feelings against the French were high. Since Talleyrand’s officials were unnamed in the dispatch, the incident became known as the XYZ affair. Quasi-War, 1798-1799 This uproar moved Adams to suspend all trade with the French, and American ship captains were authorized to attack and capture armed French vessels. Congress created a Department of the Navy, and war seemed imminent. In 1800, the new French government, now under Napoleon Bonaparte, signed a new treaty, and peace was restored. 8.15 Repression and Protest The Alien and Sedition Acts The elections in 1798 had increased the Federalist majorities in both houses of Congress, and they used their “mandate” to enact legislation to stifle foreign influences. The Alien Act raised new hurdles in the path of immigrants trying to obtain citizenship; while the Sedition Act widened powers of the Adams’ administration to muzzle its newspaper critics. Both bills were aimed at Republican opposition, and a number of editors were actually jailed for printing serious journalism.

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