Section 4 – pg 172 The Presidency of John Adams Chapter 4 Section 4 – pg 172 The Presidency of John Adams

Troubles with France Adams faced crisis over relations w/ France Pg 172 Troubles with France Adams faced crisis over relations w/ France They were angered by US neutrality in the war They thought we should be supporting them since they helped us during our Revolution They saw Jay’s Treaty as us on Britain's side In 1796 snubbed a US diplomat Cont. to attack American merchant ships

Pg 172 The XYZ Affair In 1797 Adams sent 3 agents to France to negotiate Returned saying that the French gov’t wanted them to pay a bribe of $250,000 and led them several million dollars Americans reacted by saying they would pay “not a sixpence” (6 pennies) Later became a slogan, “Millions for defense, but not one sixpence for tribute” Later when the this all became public, the names of the agents were kept secret and they were just called: X, Y, and Z This incident became known as the XYZ affair

War Fever Pg 173 The XYZ Affair caused war fever in the US Federalists demanded that Adams ask Congress to declare war on France Adams asked Congress to increase size of army and rebuild navy Also convinced Congress to create a separate dept. of the navy Between 1798 and 1800, the US fought an undeclared naval war w/ France

The President and other Americans opposed a full-scale war Pg 173 The President and other Americans opposed a full-scale war In 1800, Adams sent people to France to negotiate with France’s dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte this dude  Since Napoleon was busy fighting other European countries he agreed to stop seizing American ships Some Americans were angry that he had done this, weakening him politically

The Alien and Sedition Acts Pg 173 - 174 The Alien and Sedition Acts War fever deepened the split between Federalists and Republicans Federalists’ fear of revolutionary France spilling over into the US made them mistrust immigrants They thought immigrants might back the republicans Federalists decided that to restore order they must destroy their political enemies

A group of laws passed in 1798, called Alien Act, aimed immigrants Pg 174 A group of laws passed in 1798, called Alien Act, aimed immigrants Alien: an outsider or someone from another country Increased the length of time a person had to live in the US to become a citizen from 5 yrs to 14 yrs Gave the President the power to deport or imprison any alien he considered dangerous

Pg 174 A group of laws passed in 1798, called Sedition Act, aimed Republicans Sedition: activity designed to overthrow a gov’t Made it a crime for anyone to write or say anything insulting or anything false about the President, Congress, or the gov’t in general Harshest law limiting speech ever passed in the US During 1798 and 1799, 10 ppl were convicted under the act, most were republican editors and printers

Pg 174 States’ Rights The Republicans denounced the Alien and Sedition Acts They claimed that the Sedition Act violated the First Amendment Unfortunately at this time, it was not established the Supreme Court had the power to strike down laws that were unconstitutional Republicans decided to express their opposition through state legislatures

The Acts eventually expired Pg 174 James Madison wrote a resolution attacking the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by the Virginia legislature Thomas Jefferson did the same for Kentucky They stated that these acts were unconstitutional and declared that states had the right to declare laws passed by Congress to be unconstitutional However, this had little impact The Acts eventually expired Presidents power to imprison or deport immigrants expired in 1800 Sedition Act expired in 1801 Waiting period to become citizen returned to be 5 yrs in 1802

Pg 174 Eventually the resolution written in Virginia and Kentucky became more important that the reasons they were written The resolutions claimed that states could nullify (deprive of legal force) a law passed by Congress Boosted the idea of state’s rights Later certain states will refuse to obey certain federal laws This become important when the Southerners are trying to protect slavey