275. The Election of John Adams.—Washington’s refusal of a third term and retirement to Mount Vernon, brought John Adams[113] to the front as the natural choice of the Federalists for President. Hamilton, as we have seen (§ 267), was out of the question, and the services of Massachusetts’ great son during the Revolution ranked next to those of Washington now that Franklin was dead. The Democratic-Republicans naturally favored Jefferson; but there was no such elaborate campaign between the rivals as there is in our day. As the electoral system then stood, the person receiving the highest number of votes in the Electoral College became President, the person receiving the next highest number, Vice President. Hamilton tried by an intrigue to get Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, who was the Federalist candidate for Vice President, elected President over Adams. His scheme failed, however, for Pennsylvania and the South voted for Jefferson, who thus secured 69 votes to Adams’s 71. Jefferson, therefore, became Vice President. Congress divided, the Senate continuing Federalist, but both parties being so nearly even in the House that a few moderate Democratic-Republicans held the balance of power.
276. The X. Y. Z. Affair.—Adams took over Washington’s Cabinet, from which Hamilton had retired in 1795. In so doing he made a mistake, since the Secretaries regarded Hamilton as the leader of their party, and indulged in intrigues against their lawful chief. The new President also tried to carry out Washington’s general policy, and found himself hampered, especially with regard to France. The French had not liked the treaty the United States had concluded with their enemies, the British, through the diplomacy of Jay, and they had been imprudently dealt with by the American minister, James Monroe. Monroe’s successor, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney[114] of South Carolina, was not well treated in France, and at once informed Adams that the French Directory would not receive another Minister from the United States until their grievances were redressed. Adams immediately called a special session of Congress, but was wise enough to send over John Marshall of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts to act with Pinckney as commissioners. Nearly a year later news was received that an attempt had been made to make the commissioners, who had not been officially received, offer money for securing a settlement of the trouble. In other words, American envoys had been told that they must commit the crime of bribery if they wished to serve their country effectively. The names of the persons making these insulting demands were veiled under the letters X. Y. Z.—hence the matter is known as the X. Y. Z. Affair. Adams and the people at large resented this treatment of the commissioners, and a war with France was imminent. Indeed in July, 1798, American vessels of war were authorized to attack French men-of-war, and a French frigate was actually taken in February, 1799. Washington was made commander in chief of the land forces with Hamilton as second in command, but neither had occasion to serve actively.
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
277. The Alien and Sedition Laws.—Meanwhile Adams and the Federalists, who had the sympathy of the country in the impending war, speedily lost it by passing the famous “Alien and Sedition Laws.” The editors of the Republican press, being in many cases foreign-born, had been friendly to France since the days of the French Revolution and of Genet’s mission, and had attacked Adams and his party violently. The Federalists, believing that the liberties of the country would be destroyed if this license were not checked, not only passed a rigid naturalization law, but also one providing for the removal from the country of dangerous aliens designated by the President.
278. Features of the Sedition Law.—To this act against foreigners, which was tyrannical in theory although not in practice, an even worse law was added relative to sedition. It was designed to punish persons who conspired in order to resist the government’s measures or to intimidate officeholders. It was also aimed at persons guilty of libeling the government, Congress, or the President. Practically this was to gag the press in the interest of the Federalist party. The first conspicuously effective use of the law was made against an obnoxious Republican editor named Callender. But the journalists took shelter behind public opinion, and the Federalists soon found to their sorrow that they had gone too far in their attack on popular liberties.
279. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.—Jefferson led the resistance to the unpopular law, and as he could hope to do nothing with Congress until a new election, he turned to the state legislatures. In those of Virginia and Kentucky, in the fall of 1798, resolutions were adopted, since known as the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. These declared that, as the Constitution was a compact between the states, the latter have individually the right to pass judgment upon the enactments of the general government, which derives its power to make laws from the Constitution. In pursuance of this assumed right the legislatures representing the two states pronounced the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and void and called on other states to do likewise. In 1799 the Kentucky legislature passed a second series, which declared that all acts of the general government unauthorized by the Constitution ought to be nullified by the states. The immediate object and effect of these resolutions was to render the Alien and Sedition Laws unpopular and suspected. The chief effect, however, was seen later to lie in the support given by the names of Madison and Jefferson, authors respectively of the Virginia and Kentucky series, to the theory of the “compact” origin of the government and to the subsequent Carolina doctrine of nullification.
280. Dissensions in the Cabinet.—While the Federalists were defeating themselves by the laws they passed, Adams was dividing them by his policy. In order to conclude a new treaty with France, he nominated a minister to that country without consulting his Cabinet. This not only alienated his Secretaries still more, but also irritated those Federalists who had wished to fight France. Relations became so strained in the Cabinet that Timothy Pickering, a friend of Hamilton’s, had to be replaced, as Secretary of State, by John Marshall. But Adams secured his treaty (1800) through a commission of three, instead of through the Minister he had at first nominated.
281. The Presidential Election of 1800.—As a new election was approaching, Hamilton again tried to oust Adams as leader of the Federalists, but failed. Adams, with C. C. Pinckney for a colleague, received the votes of the Federalist electors but was defeated by Jefferson by eight votes (seventy-three to sixty-five). Unfortunately, however, Aaron Burr, the New York Democratic-Republican, who was supported for Vice President, got the same number of votes as Jefferson, which threw the election into the House of Representatives, where the Federalists had a majority. There was great confusion, and for a time it looked as if Burr, who was thought to be unprincipled, would be chosen. It was even believed by some persons that the Federalists would be able to keep themselves in power on the plea that old officials must hold over until new ones were legally elected. But Hamilton at last supported Jefferson, as the lesser of two evils, and through the votes of moderate Federalist congressmen, like James A. Bayard of Delaware, the Virginia statesman was elected. This solution of the problem was most fortunate, as Jefferson was plainly the choice of the people, and as civil war might have followed a successful plot to deprive him of the Presidency. As a result of the complication, the Twelfth Amendment was adopted in 1804, making it incumbent upon electors to vote specifically for a President and a Vice President. Just before retiring from office, in March, 1801, Adams made a number of appointments to office, known as the “midnight appointments.” These, as we shall see, caused Jefferson much vexation. It was not altogether fair for Adams thus to hamper his successor, nor should the Federalist President have shown his vexation at the result of the election by driving out of Washington early in the morning of March 4 in order not to be obliged to attend Jefferson’s inauguration. Adams and the Federalists generally believed, however, that Jefferson and the Republicans would begin a reign of anarchy, and some allowance must be made for what was, nevertheless, an act of great discourtesy. It is pleasant to add that the strained relations between the two statesmen were entirely mended before their deaths.
References.—General Works: same as for Chapter XIII.
Special Works: same as for Chapter XIII., with the addition of: J. T. Morse, John Adams (“American Statesmen”); C. F. Adams, John Adams. See also the collected writings of John Adams; and E. D. Warfield, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.
