A SURVEY OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil WarPart 2: John Adams

ADAMS’ MAJOR ISSUES

Avoiding war with FrancePassing the Alien and Sedition Acts

THE QUASI-WAR

In 1798, two years after his election, John Adams faced the prospect of a naval war with France. Most of his actions beyond this point were directed towards avoiding entry into this war.

THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS (1798)

• Although John Adams and Alexander Hamilton were both members of the Federalist Party, they were opponents within the party structure.

• Adams therefore faced criticism and opposition from within his own party and from the Democratic-Republican Party.

• Hamilton favored entering war with France in order for the United States to come to the aid of Great Britain, which was also at war with France.

THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS (1798)

• In order to appease Hamilton and his Federalist allies, Adams signed into law two legislative initiatives put forward by the Federalists in Congress:the Alien and Sedition Acts.

• These authoritarian laws restricted freedom of speech and freedom of association, despite the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

• Adams believed that these restrictions were a fair price to pay to avoid war with France.

THE VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS

• Adams’ Democratic-Republican opponents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, found a way to publicly criticize the Alien and Sedition Acts without violating the prohibition on individuals speaking out against the federal government.

• They persuaded the state legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky to denounce theAlien and Sedition Acts,arguing that the acts did not restrict the freedom of speech of government institutions.

THE VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS

• They also went one step further with the state legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky, arguing that states that denounced the Alien and Sedition Acts had the right to refuse to uphold them.

• This refusal set a dangerous precedent, since it meant that any state could refuse to uphold any law that its own legislators disapproved of.

• This precedent is one of the things that would eventually spark the American Civil War.

STRICT CONSTRUCTIONISTS

• Mostly Democratic-Republicans.• Believed that the powers of the

federal government were limited to those explicitly enumerated in the Constitution, and all other powers remained with the states.

• If the Constitution does not clearly and specifically say that the government can do x, then the government cannot do x.

BROAD CONSTRUCTIONISTS

• Mostly Federalists.• Believed that the powers of the

federal government superseded those of the states, and were unlimited except where the Constitution enumerated what the federal government could not do.

• If the Constitution does not say that the government cannot do x, then the government can do x.

A SURVEY OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil WarPart 2: John Adams