Washington retired in 1797, firmly declining to serve
for more than eight years as the nation's head. His vice president,
John Adams of Massachusetts, was elected the new president. Even before
he entered the presidency, Adams had quarreled with Alexander Hamilton
-- and thus was handicapped by a divided party.
These domestic difficulties were compounded by international
complications: France, angered by Jay's recent treaty with Britain,
used the British argument that food supplies, naval stores and war materiel
bound for enemy ports were subject to seizure by the French navy. By
1797 France had seized 300 American ships and had broken off diplomatic
relations with the United States. When Adams sent three other commissioners
to Paris to negotiate, agents of Foreign Minister Charles Maurice de
Talleyrand (whom Adams labeled X, Y and Z in his report to Congress)
informed the Americans that negotiations could only begin if the United
States loaned France $12 million and bribed officials of the French
government. American hostility to France rose to an excited pitch. The
so-called XYZ Affair led to the enlistment of troops and the strengthening
of the fledgling U.S. Navy.
In 1799, after a series of sea battles with the French,
war seemed inevitable. In this crisis, Adams thrust aside the guidance
of Hamilton, who wanted war, and sent three new commissioners to France.
Napoleon, who had
just come to power, received them cordially, and the
danger of conflict subsided with the negotiation of the Convention of
1800, which formally released the United States from its 1778 defense
alliance with France. However, reflecting American weakness, France
refused to pay $20 million in compensation for American ships taken
by the French navy.
Hostility to France led Congress to pass the Alien and
Sedition Acts, which had severe repercussions for American civil liberties.
The Naturalization Act, which changed the requirement for citizenship
from five to 14 years, was targeted at Irish and French immigrants suspected
of supporting the Republicans. The Alien Act, operative for two years
only, gave the president the power to expel or imprison aliens in time
of war. The Sedition Act proscribed writing, speaking or publishing
anything of "a false, scandalous and malicious" nature against the president
or Congress. The few convictions won under the Sedition Act only created
martyrs to the cause of civil liberties and aroused support for the
Republicans.
The acts met with resistance. Jefferson and Madison
sponsored the passage of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions by the
legislatures of the two states in November and December 1798. According
to the resolutions, states could "interpose" their views on federal
actions and "nullify" them. The doctrine of nullification would be used
later for the Southern states' defense of their interests vis-a-vis
the North on the question of the tariff, and, more ominously, slavery.
By 1800 the American people were ready for a change.
Under Washington and Adams, the Federalists had established a strong
government, but sometimes failing to honor the principle that the American
government must be responsive to the will of the people, they had followed
policies that alienated large groups. For example, in 1798 they had
enacted a tax on houses, land and slaves, affecting every property owner
in the country.
Jefferson had steadily gathered behind him a great mass
of small farmers, shopkeepers and other workers, and they asserted themselves
in the election of 1800. Jefferson enjoyed extraordinary favor because
of his appeal to American idealism. In his inaugural address, the first
such speech in the new capital of Washington, D.C., he promised "a wise
and frugal government" to preserve order among the inhabitants but would
"leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry,
and improvement."
Jefferson's mere presence in The White House encouraged
democratic procedures. He taught his subordinates to regard themselves
merely as trustees of the people. He encouraged agriculture and westward
expansion. Believing America to be a haven for the oppressed, he urged
a liberal naturalization law. By the end of his second term, his far-sighted
secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin, had reduced the national
debt to less than $560 million. As a wave of Jeffersonian fervor swept
the nation, state after state abolished property qualifications for
the ballot and passed more humane laws for debtors and criminals.