Editing Federalist Party (section)

===Adams's administration (1797–1800)===
{{main|John Adams}}
[[File:Gilbert Stuart, John Adams, c. 1800-1815, NGA 42933.jpg|thumb|Gilbert Stuart, ''John Adams'', c. 1800-1815]]
Hamilton distrusted Vice President Adams—who felt the same way about Hamilton—but was unable to block his claims to the succession. The [[1796 United States presidential election|election of 1796]] was the first partisan affair in the nation's history and one of the more scurrilous in terms of newspaper attacks. Adams swept New England and Jefferson the South, with the middle states leaning to Adams. Adams was the winner by a margin of three [[United States Electoral College|electoral votes]] and Jefferson, as the runner-up, became vice president under the system set out in the Constitution prior to the ratification of the [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution|12th Amendment]].<ref>Bernard A. Weisberger, ''America afire: Jefferson, Adams, and the first contested election'' (Perennial, 2001).</ref>

The Federalists were strongest in New England, but also had strengths in the middle states. They elected Adams as president in 1796, when they controlled both houses of Congress, the presidency, eight state legislatures and ten governorships.<ref>Philip J. Lampi, "The Federalist Party Resurgence, 1808–1816: Evidence from the New Nation Votes Database." ''Journal of the Early Republic'' 33.2 (2013): 255–281.</ref>

Foreign affairs continued to be the central concern of American politics, for the war raging in Europe threatened to drag in the United States. Historian Sarah Kreps in 2018 argues the Federalist faction led by President Adams during the 1798 Quasi-War could correspond to "today's right-of-center party."<ref>Sarah Kreps, ''Taxing Wars: The American Way of War Finance and the Decline of Democracy'' (Oxford University Press, 2018) p. 53 and chapter 3.</ref>

The new president was a loner, who made decisions without consulting Hamilton or other "High Federalists". Benjamin Franklin once quipped that Adams was a man always honest, often brilliant and sometimes mad. Adams was popular among the Federalist rank and file, but had neglected to build state or local political bases of his own and neglected to take control of his own cabinet. As a result, his cabinet answered more to Hamilton than to himself. Hamilton was especially popular because he rebuilt the Army—and had commissions to give out.<ref>Richard H. Kohn, ''Eagle and sword: The Federalists and the creation of the military establishment in America, 1783–1802'' (1975).</ref>

====Alien and Sedition Acts====
After an American delegation was insulted in Paris in the [[XYZ affair]] (1797), public opinion ran strongly against the French. An undeclared "[[Quasi-War]]" with France from 1798 to 1800 saw each side attacking and capturing the other's shipping. It was called "quasi" because there was no declaration of war, but escalation was a serious threat. At the peak of their popularity, the Federalists took advantage by preparing for an invasion by the French Army. To silence Administration critics, the Federalists passed the [[Alien and Sedition Acts]] in 1798. The Alien Act empowered the President to deport such aliens as he declared to be dangerous. The Sedition Act made it a crime to print false, scandalous and malicious criticisms of the federal government, but it conspicuously failed to criminalize criticism of Vice President Thomas Jefferson.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1898365|title = President John Adams, Thomas Cooper, and Sedition: A Case Study in Suppression|journal = The Mississippi Valley Historical Review|volume = 42|issue = 3|pages = 438–465|last1 = Smith|first1 = James Morton|year = 1955|doi = 10.2307/1898365}}</ref>

Several Republican newspaper editors were convicted under the Act and fined or jailed and three Democratic-Republican newspapers were shut down.<ref>Marc A. Franklin, David A. Anderson, & Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky, ''Mass Media Law'' (7th ed. 2005).</ref> In response, Jefferson and Madison secretly wrote the [[Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions]] passed by the two states' legislatures that declared the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and insisted the states had the power to [[Nullification (U.S. Constitution)|nullify]] federal laws.

Undaunted, the Federalists created a [[United States Navy|navy]], with new [[frigate]]s; and a large new army, with Washington in nominal command and Hamilton in actual command. To pay for it all, they raised taxes on land, houses and slaves, leading to serious unrest. In one part of Pennsylvania, the [[John Fries's Rebellion|Fries' Rebellion]] broke out, with people refusing to pay the new taxes. John Fries was sentenced to death for treason, but received a pardon from Adams. In the elections of 1798, the Federalists did very well, but this issue started hurting the Federalists in 1799. Early in 1799, Adams decided to free himself from Hamilton's overbearing influence, stunning the country and throwing his party into disarray by announcing a new peace mission to France. The mission eventually succeeded, the "Quasi-War" ended and the new army was largely disbanded. Hamiltonians called Adams a failure while Adams fired Hamilton's supporters still in the cabinet.

Hamilton and Adams intensely disliked one another and the Federalists split between supporters of Hamilton (''High Federalists'') and supporters of Adams. Hamilton became embittered over his loss of political influence and wrote a scathing criticism of Adams' performance as president in an effort to throw Federalist support to [[Charles Cotesworth Pinckney]]. Inadvertently, this split the Federalists and helped give the victory to Jefferson.<ref name="Manning Dauer 1953">Manning Dauer, ''The Adams Federalists'' (Johns Hopkins UP, 1953).</ref>

====Election of 1800====
{{main|United States presidential election, 1800}}
Adams's peace moves proved popular with the Federalist rank and file and he seemed to stand a good chance of re-election in 1800. If the [[Three-Fifths Compromise]] had not been enacted, he most likely would have won reelection since many Federalist legislatures removed the right to select electors from their constituents in fear of a Democratic victory. Jefferson was again the opponent and Federalists pulled out all stops in warning that he was a dangerous revolutionary, hostile to religion, who would weaken the government, damage the economy and get into war with Britain. Many believed that if Jefferson won the election, it would be the end of the newly formed United States. The Republicans crusaded against the Alien and Sedition laws as well as the new taxes and proved highly effective in mobilizing popular discontent.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The election hinged on New York as its [[United States Electoral College|electors]] were selected by the [[New York State Legislature|legislature]] and given the balance of North and South, they would decide the presidential election. [[Aaron Burr]] brilliantly organized his forces in New York City in the spring elections for the state legislature. By a few hundred votes, he carried the city—and thus the state legislature—and guaranteed the election of a Republican president. As a reward, he was selected by the Republican [[caucus]] in Congress as their vice presidential candidate. Alexander Hamilton, knowing the election was lost anyway, went public with a sharp attack on Adams that further divided and weakened the Federalists.<ref>Brian Phillips Murphy, "' A Very Convenient Instrument': The Manhattan Company, Aaron Burr, and the Election of 1800." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' 65.2 (2008): 233–266.</ref>

Members of the Republican Party planned to vote evenly for Jefferson and Burr because they did not want for it to seem as if their party was divided. The party took the meaning literally and Jefferson and Burr tied in the election with 73 electoral votes. This sent the election to the House of Representatives to break the tie. The Federalists had enough weight in the House to swing the election in either direction. Many would rather have seen Burr in the office over Jefferson, but Hamilton, who had a strong dislike of Burr, threw his political weight behind Jefferson. During the election, neither Jefferson nor Burr attempted to swing the election in the House of Representatives. Jefferson remained at Monticello to oversee the laying of bricks to a section of his home. Jefferson allowed for his political beliefs and other ideologies to filter out through letters to his contacts. Thanks to Hamilton's support, Jefferson would win the election and Burr would become his vice president.

The 1800 election marked the first time power had been transferred between opposing political parties, an act that occurred remarkably without bloodshed. Though there had been strong words and disagreements, contrary to the Federalists fears, there was no war and no ending of one-government system to let in a new one. His patronage policy was to let the Federalists disappear through attrition. Those Federalists such as [[John Quincy Adams]] (John Adams' own son) and [[Rufus King]] willing to work with him were rewarded with senior diplomatic posts, but there was no punishment of the opposition.<ref>Susan Dunn, ''Jefferson's second revolution: The Election Crisis of 1800 and the Triumph of Republicanism'' (2004)</ref>