
John Adams’ Presidency
o XYZ Affair
 Adams was a Federalist and was running against Jefferson; won by 3 electoral votes
 Jefferson became his Vice President
 Americans were angered because US merchant ships were being searched and
seized by the French army and French privateers
 Americans were wanting revenge and sent delegate to France
 The French came up with 3 people (X,Y, and Z) who wanted bribes before
they would talk
 Americans refused
 Hamilton was for the war, but Adams resisted and sent new set of American delegates
that resulted in negotiation
o Alien and Sedition Acts
 Anger against France resulted in Stronger Federalist party
 In 1788, more Federalists wanted seats in Congress
 Hoped to pass laws to restrict DR in future
o Naturalization Act
 Had to wait 14 years to become an American citizen
o Alien Acts
 Authorized president to report any illegal aliens that he
deemed dangerous
o Sedition Acts
 Made it illegal for editors to criticize the president or congress
o Went against Constitution/BR; judicial review had not yet been
established
o KY and VA Resolutions
 Compact Theory
 Jefferson – KY, Madison – VA
 Theory that federal union was a compact of states
 States had entered compact and formed federal government
o If federal government went against compact, states could ignore the
law
 During Adams Presidency, the federalists lost ground
o 1800 Election
 Alien and Sedition Acts were not popular; taxes were raised because of fighting with
France
o Results
 These problems took the Federalists out of power
 Majority cast votes for Republicans – Jefferson and Aaron Burr
 Both received same number of electoral votes
 Sent it to the House so each state gets a vote
 Hamilton convinced the states that Jefferson was the lesser of two evils, so
Jefferson got the Presidency
o “Revolution of 1800”
 1801 – Republicans took both houses
 Power passed from one party to another without any fighting; very rare
 Indicator that Constitution and system was working

Federalists accepted defeat and moved on; turned government over to Republicans
peacefully