John Adams was the first Vice President and 2nd President. He was born on October 30 1735 in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts.He died July 4 1826 in Braintree Massachusetts.
In saving his country from war, Adams had angered the leaders of the Federalist party. In the election of 1801 they turned against him and he was defeated. He went back to his home in Massachusetts. He died there on July 4 1826, exactly fifty years after the Declaration of Independence.
Adams was a true Patriot as well as a brave and stubborn man. Before his death he asked that the words on his tomb read:"Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility of the peace with France in the year 1800".
Saved our country from an unnecessary war.
Adams entered office on March 4, 1797. Fully aware of his slender victory, he sought political harmony. His inaugural address, tracing the progress of the nation, declared his faith in republicanism and called upon the people to end partisan politics. He tried to reach an accord with Jefferson, conciliate the Hamiltonians, and steer a peaceful course through the controversy with France over Jay's Treaty. But he encountered supreme difficulties.
As the first president to succeed another, Adams had no guidelines to follow on cabinet appointments, patronage, and policy enunciations. He decided to keep Washington's mediocre cabinet, partly because he wanted to reconcile the Federalists and partly because he knew how difficult is was to get good men to serve. The cabinet was Federalist--and more, Hamiltonian--in loyalty. Adams did not fully realize the inherent dangers of this situation until 1799, when the cabinet violated its trust by working against his policies.
With Federalists about him, Adams found partisan politics impossible to avoid, though he favored Republicans Benjamin Rush and Elbridge GERRY with appointments. As relations with France worsened, he had to recommend preparations for defensive warfare while negotiations for peace continued. These measures irritated the Republicans, but Adams was not deterred. He held to his policy of peace and preparedness even after the French Directory insulted American envoys and began detaining American vessels. In January 1798 he proposed the creation of a navy department and asked for funds to put the military on a war footing.
Four bills to control subversion, the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, were also passed. One of the acts imposed severe penalties on those who criticized the government. These harsh measures, formulated in a time of fright, were approved by Adams. Although a score of journalists were punished for their attacks on the administration, the laws were not ruthlessly applied. The opposition, however, made them appear cruel and turned them into symbols of Federalism.
Adams' reprisals against French seizures of American shipping were popular for a time, and the Federalists won the 1798 congressional elections. Though Congress did not declare war, Adams pushed ahead with military preparations, selecting Washington, Henry Knox, Charles C. Pinckney, and Hamilton, in that order, to be the ranking generals of the army. But while Adams was visiting in Quincy (which had been set off from Braintree in 1792), the cabinet secured Washington's backing to move Hamilton ahead of his colleagues and make him second in command (actually, commander since Washington was not expected to take the field). Adams grasped the significance of this maneuver. He saw lawful control of the army shifted to Hamilton and, more, the naked specter of militarism. Hamilton and the cabinet wanted to prolong the crisis with France and use the opportunity to consolidate the Federalist party and spread the war into Spanish America.
By the time Adams fully realized what was happening, he had advice from Europe that France would resume negotiations. In February 1799 he abruptly nominated William Vans Murray as a special envoy, to the amazement of the Hamiltonians. Debate over the action was bitter, and Adams compromised by agreeing to name a commission instead of a single delegate, but he withstood the pressure of Hamilton, the British minister, and some members of his cabinet. The commission finally concluded a treaty with France on Sept. 30, 1800. Adams had succeeded in preventing a war with France and preserving his country's neutrality.
The treaty negotiations had split the party, and the Federalists now openly considered the effect of this division on the 1800 election. When two cabinet members, Secretary of State Pickering and Secretary of War McHenry, revealed their disloyalty to Adams, he forced their resignations without any political finesse. His abrasive action infuriated the Hamiltonians, who vented their feelings in public, matching the president's undiplomatic conduct. The Republicans, led by Jefferson and Aaron BURR, enjoyed the Federalist predicament. Adams was temperamentally unable to assume the responsibilities of a party boss or to dramatize the achievements of his administration. The election results reflected this weakness. The Federalists lost the presidency to Jefferson and the Republicans by eight electoral votes (73 to 65) and also lost Congress.