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The legacy of John Adams
The legacy of John Adams
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The United States of America have had their good and bad presidents throughout the course of our history. Of the seven-founding father of the United States John Adams whose presidency started in the year 1796, and became second president of the U.S. Adams main objective was to avoid war with France. Through the event known as the XYZ affair John Adams didn’t long to go to war with France in order to gain their respect. Under Adam’s administration he passed the Aileen and Sedition acts of 1798, which outlawed defiant speech. In addition, he maintained George Washington’s original cabinet. Adams was a supporter of equality, as well as justice but had difficulties following through with his beliefs during his presidency. First of all, when John
...he Intolerable Act there were two things that fell under this. The first one being, Massachusetts Government Act; the king choose the delegates that where in the upper house. Upsetting the colonists for they were able to vote for the delegates but now they weren’t being represented properly. The second one is the Administration of Justice Act which protected British officers from colonial courts. This was seen as unjust for that allowed the officers to get away with crimes that would have major or even minor punishment.
.... The Coercive Acts were mostly to punish Boston and Massachusetts, but one also expanded the Quartering Act. Parliament also passed the Quebec Act, which arranged the land in Canada. Colonists took this as an attack on them as they lost land on the Ohio River, and it heightened the fear of losing their representative assemblies. The tensions, ultimately, would lead to the revolutionary war.
President John QuincyAdams served as the sixth President of the United States in 1824. John Quincy Adams was the son of former President John Adams. John Quincy Adams spent much of his youth accompanying his father overseas and also accompanied him in diplomatic missions. Benefitting from his fathers Presidential experience, John Q. Adams was able to gather, formulate, and practice the fundamentals of foreign policy. Through his presidential term he was able to negotiate European politics where freedom of the seas and freedom of commerce were slowly granted for the United States. I rate President John Quincy Adams average on his term of presidency. He had good intention, but the era was struggling financially. “It was also important to note
Thomas Jefferson’s presidential actions are often less remembered than his work on the Declaration of Independence and his other Revolutionary War contributions, despite their impact on how the United States would, literally, take shape. There were many outcomes from his time in office, the eight years from 1801 to 1809, some good, others less so. Still, I believe that, on the whole, his administration benefited the nation. For one thing, President Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase added hundreds of thousands square miles to the size of the United States. Another, though less direct influence he had was that, in initiating the case of Marbury v. Madison, he unintentionally aided the Supreme Court in gaining the power to exercise judicial review.
The first political parties in America began to form at the end of the 18th century. "The conflict that took shape in the 1790s between the Federalists and the Antifederalists exercised a profound impact on American history." The two primary influences, Thomas Jefferson a...
Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States and viewed the office of the president to be strictly constructed by the constitution. He, like Washington, believed his power as president derived directly from the constitution and the affection of the people. Although he had a Whig theory he made the Louis...
In the 1790s, soon after the ratification of the Constitution, political parties were nonexistent in the USA because President Washington feared they would drive the country apart. However, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, with their rivalling mental models, could not help but spark the division of the United States into the Democratic-Republican and Federalist parties. These parties, the Democratic-Republican wanting a small, local government system and the Federalist wanting a strong, powerful government system, turned citizens against one another and eventually led to the inimical Democratic and Republican parties of today. Hence, the formation of the original political parties in the United States is very significant. Political
The major presidential candidate in the election of 1800, were John Adams, running for his second term in office, against his old friend, the democratic-republicans Thomas Jefferson. John Adams who was elected the second president after serving as a vice president for George Washington was a federalist who was pro-British and pro-centralization. He believed in a national bank ruled mainly by the wealthy and a strong federal government to restrain many popular opinions and majorities; thus, passing the Alien Sedition Acts to prohibit anyone from criticizing the president and prevent any threat to the nation.
These acts were, of no questions asked, surly constitutional. The Federalist Party presented these acts, later consequently passed by Congress, because they were and fair and just laws in accordance to the nation at that time. For the sake of argument, the nation and government was very inexperienced, and did not know what to expect in their near future. John Adams became the second president of the United States of America, subsequently, having to accept many challenges and responsibilities to fulfill the job in office. He had the task of making sure that the newly founded nation kept running smooth. That is a big burden if there are activities going on in the country that one has no control, nor knowledge of (i.e. foreigners coming into the nation and starting trouble by disrupting the form of government, or having radicals trying to protest and perturb the running government in office-Federalists, at this time). John Adams was smart enough to realize the significance of these factors. Thus, taking his duty of President of USA seriously, he, along with the Federalist-controlled Congress, took action to protect the new country. Hence, were the creation and passing of the four, debate-causing laws (Naturalization, Alien, Alien Enemies, and Sedition Acts).
Before the Election of 1824, there was the Era of Good Feelings, the War of 1812, the Hartford Convention, and the adoption of Twelfth Amendment. At the Hartford Convention, politicans talked about many things, including opposition to the still ongoing War of 1812. The Twelfth Amendment changed the way electors voted. Instead of putting in two votes for one person, where the winner became president, and the runner up became the vice president, the electors would now would put in one vote for president, and one for vice-president. The Era of Good Feelings was named for when there was only one political party, the Democratic-Republicans, and so most people agreed on most things. (constitutioncenter.org) (britannica.com)
The Alien and Sedition Acts played major roles in the coming about of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. Passed in early 1798, the Acts laid down a number of harsh restrictions on foreigners. The Alien Act stretched the minimum years for eligibility for naturalization from five years to fourteen years. It also gave the President the power to expel any alien from the country. The Sedition Act was even harsher; it gave the government the right to arrest anyone accused of seditious activities. The Sedition Act thus cracked down on many Jeffersonian newspapers which criticized the government. Of course, Jefferson criticized these Acts; he even called them “worthy of the 8th and 9th century” (2 / p.174). With these laws the Federalists were thought to be stifling the power of the Jeffersonians.
Document 4 (The XYZ Affair) states, “After the Americans chose to avoid war with the British by creating the Jay Treaty, the French felt betrayed. The French refused to then meet with the American Ambassador unless the Americans paid the French a bribe. The Americans refused to pay the bribe and returned home insulted.” This document is showing that instead of staying neutral, John Adams made a treaty with Britain, which made France start attacking American Ships. This made the people angry because they didn’t want to get into fights, and that is why the Neutrality Proclamation was made. John Adams also states “I render it my indispensable (inevitable) duty to recommend to your consideration effectual measures of defense,” and his defensive measures were to put guns on trade ships. Document 5 (The Alien and Sedition Acts) states, “That if any persons shall unlawfully combine or conspire together, with intent to oppose any measure or measures of the government of the United States… they shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and on conviction, before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and by imprisonment for a term not less than six…” Sedition Act, 1798.” This is stating this if you assemble and petition then you will have a fine of at least $5,000 and will have to go to jail for at least 6 years. This act was severely violating the First
Adams started out as the Vice President to George Washington, and it was contested by many who should take his position instead as Adams held monarchical principles that many in the opposition party viewed as non-representative of the principles of the American people, and dangerous to the republicanism ideals that the country was founded on, specifically how the United States separated from the monarchy of Great Britain to turn around and have leaders that promote such ideas. During Adam’s election, the Federalists viewed him as a liability for their cause, and the Hamiltonian Federalists, the majority at the time, decided to promote another candidate, Thomas Pinckney. Adams became everyone’s second choice in the election because, while he might be a danger to the federal interests, he was seen as the middle ground candidate between Jefferson and Pinckney. Adams held a pessimistic view of the future of the republican government; that corruption would end the republic early on in the United State’s life. He was elected to president in 1796, and had a notable presidency, with Jefferson as Vice President, of Hamiltonian Federalists versus Adams Federalists versus Jeffersonian Republicans fighting over power. It was this election that marked the beginning of the end of the Federalist proto-party, as
As in 1800, when Jefferson had won over the Federalist incumbent John Adams, the presidency passed to a new political party, the Democrats. The election was the climax of several decades of expanding democracy in the United States and the end of the older politics of deference.During his two-term presidency, he expanded executive
The Alien and Sedition acts violated the democratic principles of the american revolution. The alien act violated the first ammendment. It took away freedom of speech and freedom to petition the government.