How different was Jefferson's Administration to that of John Adams?

December, 98 Agnieszka Lovell

How different was Jefferson’s Administration

to that of John Adams?

Adam’s and Jefferson’s administrations had major and minor differences. The first obvious difference was that Adams was a Federalist and Jefferson a Republican, although he stated “We are all Federalists, we are all Republicans”. It also seemed as if the North tended to support the Federalists and the southern states Republicans. However there were major exceptions to this rule, such as Virginia and South Carolina, which were situated in the south but were strong Federalist supporters. In the North Republican minorities also emerged in New York and by 1800 in New England. Another difference was in what each party believed in. The Federalist party’s beliefs were laid out by Hamilton, who was the main driving force of administration during Washington’s and most of Adam’s term. He emerged as the characteristics of the Federalists while Madison and Jefferson took the name Republicans, and implied that the Federalists really aimed at monarchy. Their main disagreement was that the Federalists favoured industrialisation and wanted a society much like that in Britain, whilst Republicans, especially Jefferson, believed in a republic of strong independent farmers. Normally merchants, bankers, ship owners and manufactures were Federalists, while farmers and planters were Republican. However Federalists also had support from farmers- usually large commercial farmers. It was thought that people better off tended to be Federalists while those worse off were Republicans. Due to their beliefs it is therefore unsurprising that the Northern states favoured Federalists and industrialisation, and the southern states Republicans and farming development.

Jefferson and Adams not only differed in their administration and party but also in their background and personal beliefs. Jefferson was a Virginian aristocrat, he had the time and resources to educate himself in many areas. He was a good diplomat, friend of both France and Britain. Jefferson was well motivated and a great opportunist. Before becoming president he had many political successes behind him, among this was his involvement in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

John Adams attended Harvard University after which he read law. Adams was a powerful speaker and was intellectually precise. Adams became the second president of America. He had behind him a successful career as a lawyer, a leader in the revolutionary movement and the Continental Congress, a diplomat and a vice-president under Washington.

Adams took the presidency under troublesome conditions. His cabinet was filled with members of Washington’s government most of which were Hamilton supporters, and Hamilton at the time disagreed on many aspects with Adams. Adams however couldn’t dismiss the cabinet as it would give the impression that Washington’s chosen cabinet wasn’t worthy and that Adam’s, the vice-president under Washington disagreed with the very person he followed. So he was stuck with a cabinet who didn’t trust of follow his beliefs and decisions. He also had to work with a Republican, Jefferson, as he had been voted in as vice-president. Adams had also inherited a quarrel with France , which had begun in Washington’s term, this was

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to cause many problems between the two countries and internally between the Federalist Party.

Foreign affairs was an area which Adams mostly concentrated on or rather had to concentrate on due to the problems that had developed between the United States and France.

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to cause many problems between the two countries and internally between the Federalist Party.

Foreign affairs was an area which Adams mostly concentrated on or rather had to concentrate on due to the problems that had developed between the United States and France.

France had refused to receive the new American minister, Pickney as they felt Jay’s Treaty had imposed British views on America and that they had basically become Britain’s allies. In 1797, when the French began seizing American ships as a result of them trading with both Britain and France who were at war, he dispatched a special commission to France to try and deal with the problem. He did this despite Hamilton’s request for war. While the diplomats negotiated for peace Adams talked of strengthening American defences. At that time the commission reported that Talleyrand (French Minister) wouldn’t discuss things without being given $250,000 and a loan of millions of dollars. Adams refused and was shocked and outraged that France demanded such a bribe. The country agreed with him when he presented the XYZ affair (X, Y and Z referring to the three envoys that Talleyrand had sent to inform the American commission of his request) to Congress in March 1978. As a result of this many Federalists backed Hamilton’s outcry for war, as did some Republicans and many of the American people. So many Federalists began to want a general rearmament - new fighting ships, additional harbour fortifications, and most important a greatly expanded army. Adams however remained sceptical, he saw no likely hood of French invasion and certainly so likely hood of himself declaring war.

It was brave of Adams to go against the majority of his party and the American people. However a successful war would have had a better consequence but since success could not be certain it was better to not go to war with a powerful country like France with the risk of loosing. Adams also refused to go to war because he disliked the aggressive behaviour that his party had developed to follow. And in 1799 Adams showed his peaceful nature by re opening negotiations with France with a treaty known as the Convention of 1800 which settled all the problems and quarrels between the two nations and formally freed America from the 1778 alliance with France.

Adams and the Federalist Party had another problem internally. Many political refugees that came to America began supporting the Republicans. To stop this the government rushed through a series of measures known as the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. The Naturalisation Act lengthened the requirement for citizenship from 5 years to 14 to deprive Republican votes. The Alien Act allowed the president to deport any alien who he thought was “dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States”. The Sedition Act allowed fines to be given for people or organisations publishing false statements about the government. These acts all show how desperate the Federalists were to keep every single vote and to stop the Republicans getting votes.

These acts not only angered Republican members and its supporters but also immigrants that had previously not supported the Republicans but now did as they didn’t approve of theses acts. Adams didn’t enforce the acts but to the people that disapproved of them that didn’t make a difference the fact that they had been created was enough for them to support the opposition, the Republicans. In fact the government had created the nations first major crisis over civil liberties.

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Adams although original in thinking, able, honest and peaceful lacked political skill. He often left commissions unsigned and took long vacations which caused the party and in turn the country problems. However one of his successes was the establishment of the Naval Department, which he persuaded Congers to agree on in May 1798.

Jefferson served two terms and was president from 1801 to 1808, after his terms he was replaced by James Madison, a republican.

Jefferson reversed a number of Federalist acts and policies, like the Naturalisation act of 1798 which they repealed and the Alien and Sedition Acts which expired and those imprisoned for violating these acts were released. Jefferson also abolished the whiskey excise and all other internal taxations. The secretary of treasury now being Albert Gallatin was part of all these reforms. Himself and Jefferson showed a complete reversal of Hamilton’s beliefs and theories. However they did approve of the Bank of the United States which was created under the Federalist government.

A top priority of the new government was cutting the national debt. Jefferson succeeded in doing this. By 1824 the national debt had been reduced from $83 to $45 million. He and Gallatin regarded a large federal deficit as “dangerous to the health of republican institutions”. In fact both Jefferson and Gallatin felt that Hamilton’s Federalist financial programs were to blame for the debt. To help pay the debt inherited from the Adams administration, Jefferson ordered substantial cuts in the national budget and Gallatin severely reduced government spending. Several American embassies in Europe were closed. There were also cuts in military spending, in Jefferson’s first term the U.S. Army had been reduced by 50 per cent. This decision left only three thousand soldiers to guard the national frontier. Also a majority of the navy’s warships were sold or laid up.

When the Federalists realised they would lose power and control of the executive branch they passed the Judiciary Act of 1801. This bill created several circuit courts and sixteen new judgeships filled with strong Federalists. So it was unsurprising when in 1802 Jefferson’s allies called for the Judiciary Act to be repealed. They argued that the circuit courts should be closed not only because they were full of Federalists but also because they were needlessly expensive. The Federalists mounted a good defence claiming that it was unconstitutional to remove any federal judges unless they were found guilty of high crimes. This argument didn’t affect the outcome and in March 1802, the House, following the Senate, voted for repeal. Even more infuriating was Adams’s appointment of John Marshall as the new chief justice, he was a Federalist and a man who could stand up to Jefferson and his ‘Republic’ views.

A case arose from the refusal of Jefferson’s Secretary of state, James Madison, to deliver a commission of office to William Marbury, one of Adam’s appointments. When the Republicans learned that Marshall had agreed to hear the case they were furious. However the case went against Marbury as he felt it was unconstitutional. The Republicans proclaimed victory however it was also the first case in which the Supreme Court assessed the constitutionality of a case. The Marbury v. Madison case was an important step for the Supreme Court and was the case on which all such future cases were judged on.

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The Louisiana Purchase was Jefferson’s greatest and most remembered achievement. In 1803 this agreement with Napoleon more than doubled the territory of the United States. The territory had originally belonged to France but after the 7 year's war they had released the land to Spain. Napoleon had expressed the intention of creating a North American empire. When this reached Washington in 1801 Jefferson sent Robert R. Livingston, the new minister to France, to Paris. Negotiations continued for a further two years. Then in April to the surprise of Livingston Talleyrand offered to sell the whole of Louisiana. Livingston took the offer and paid about $15 million for the land. This went against the constitution as purchase of land was not mentioned in the constitution however it was ratified by the senate.

Jefferson’s policies, including the Louisiana Purchase bought him almost solid support in the south and west. Even New Englanders were moving to his side.

In 1803 Jefferson asked congress for money to explore the far Northwest, beyond the Mississippi in what was still foreign territory. This was approved and increased American territory further.

In 1795 a complex legal battle began known as the Yazoo slander. A corrupt Georgia assembly had sold 35 million acres of western land to private companies. When it came to light that every member of the legislature had been bribed in 1796, the whole agreement was scrapped. However some land had already changed hands and when Jefferson became president he wanted to sort out the scandal. He wanted the buyers to receive land from the corrupted companies. Quids (a group that disagreed with most of the Republican views and referred to themselves as “the good old republicans) argued this would in essence be fraud. However the Marshall Supreme Court passes the plea and expressed its authority once again.

The Burr scandal created far more serious difficulties for the president than the Yazoo slander. In the spring of 1804 Burr had challenged Hamilton to duel and killed him. As a result his political career lay in shambles. Burr then, frustrated in his attempt to win national power decided to try to take over the western states and separating them and creating a new state. And in 1806 Burr, with the help of James Wilkinson, commander of the U.S. Army, put his plan into action. However at the last moment Wilkinson refused and informed Jefferson of Burr’s plan. As a result Burr was arrested in February 1807. Jefferson then made a big mistake, which probably led to some loss of support, he announced publicly that Burr was guilty “beyond all question”. However this had not been proved and when the case was judged it was decide that Burr wasn’t guilty, as there wasn’t enough evidence pointing that he was. The public was outraged, not only with the decision but also with Jefferson for allowing Burr to escape, but there was nothing he could do about it. It also made him look foolish as before he had stated that Burr was guilty beyond any doubt.

During Jefferson’s second term his foreign policy wasn’t a successful, in fact it was a failure. America had found itself in-between a war between France and Britain. Both countries began seizing American ships for trading with the other. After a British attack on an American ship, people wanted war but Jefferson played for time. He knew the U.S. weren’t ready for war and if they did have one it would undo all the reforms he had made in his first term. In December 1807 Jefferson introduced the Embargo Act, which was in principle the non-importation of American goods. Jefferson thought the American people would back him but they didn’t. The Act also did more harm then good and by 1809 the bankruptcy of Jefferson’s foreign policy was obvious, and so was the end of Jefferson’s presidency.

Adam’s administration differed from Jefferson’s in many ways. First of all both men believed in slightly different principles, Adams was a Federalist and Jefferson a Republican. The two men although both lawyers in profession had completely different backgrounds and lives. Also Adams kept the members of government which he inherited from Washington while Jefferson brought in completely new people. Adams concentrated on foreign affairs although this wasn’t intentional it meant that internally the country suffered. Jefferson concentrated on internal difficulties, although in his second term he also couldn’t help but concentrate on foreign policy.

The fact that Adam’s introduced the Alien and Sedation Acts caused great problems, and it was a total mistake. Adam’s lost the election of 1800 for several reasons: the Republicans had strong backing, the failure of his foreign policy, the fact that Adam’s didn’t declare war, the fact that he had introduced the Alien and Sedation Acts. This all caused him to lose support, even among his party.

Jefferson showed to be the total opposite to Adam’s in his first term. He abolished the Alien and Sedation Acts and all other acts that upset the American people. He also decreased the debt of the country by introducing many economic measures with the help of his Secretary of Treasury, Gallatin. His success was the purchase of Louisiana, which he will always be remembered. This secured America’s future with a land area twice as large as before and increased Jefferson’s popularity.

Jefferson’s second term however resembled much of Adam’s first, and was completely opposite to the first. Jefferson found himself in between a war with Britain and France and as a result of his failure in foreign policy U.S. he lost support. The Burr scandal previously didn’t help matters either.

So in conclusion the Adam’s and Jefferson Administrations differed greatly but there were also slight similarities between the two men and their administrations. I think it was the events that occurred at the time of each man’s administration that helped to cause what happened as well as the men’s actions themselves.