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John Adams ** Born: October 30, 1735 Died: July 4, 1826 Political Party: Federalist Term of Office: 1797-1801 Vise President: Thomas Jefferson
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John Adams stepped into the role of president after the resignation of George Washington. He had a lot to live up to and even though he was largely disliked, he deserves a B minus. He managed to keep the country out of war during trying times with foreign affairs. However he also passed many laws such as the alien and sedation acts which many thought went against the constitution.

John Adams had his interests mainly in foreign affairs. He wanted to continue with Washington’s policy of neutrality and to avoid war. He was successful in both areas. He avoided taking sides during the French Revolution and managed to keep America out of the war with his diplomatic skills. He was also focused on the government and its so called “popularity competition”. He wanted to give congressmen full terms but that did not happen. He also took Washington’s cabinet instead of picking his own even though he did not cooperate well with its leader George Hamilton. Illegal immigrants were also on his agenda. He passed acts that controlled migration to America and controlled the government’s rights to remove new immigrants if they threatened the nation in any way. Adams enjoyed a Federalist senate with 22 seats being filled with Federalists and only 10 being filled by Republicans (also known as Jeffersonian-Republicans or Democratic Republicans). He also had an advantage in the House of Representatives. From 1797 to 1799 the Federalists held 57 seats as opposed to 49 seats held by Republicans. From 1799 to 1801 the Federalists still had the majority with 60 seats versus 46 seats held by Republicans. However, John Adams was very opinionated and did not work well with congress. The main legislation to pass through his office was the alien and sedation acts. These consisted of four different acts of legislature. The first of the four was the Naturalization act which extended the time an immigrant must live in the U.S. to become a citizen to 14 years. Next was the Alien Friends act which allowed the president to deport any alien immigrant who he thought was a danger to the U.S. This act was followed by the Alien Enemies act which let the president deport alien citizens from countries the U.S. was presently at war with. The Last part of the four acts was the Sedation act which made all talk against the government illegal. The most positive thing done by Adams during his presidency was avoiding war and remaining neutral with foreign countries. Doing so did lead to violence later on in American history such as the war of 1812. However, avoiding war and remaining neutral with countries gave America the time it needed to grow and develop into a more unified nation. Adams also managed to improve our military and Naval capabilities during times when we were not sure if war was about to break out. The most negative thing done by Adams was passing the Sedation act. It forbid publicizing criticism of the government which was directly against the first amendment. Many people were very upset with the act and it was revoked in 1801. Adams also instated heavy stamp and house taxes in order to pay for the military and the XYZ affairs. John Adams had no lasting affect on the people or later presidents. He was just the guy after Washington. There were no real drastic changes in the government after his presidency and he didn’t set any knew precedents. He is lost in history behind the shadows of Washington and Jefferson simply because he didn’t really stand out in any way. He was very important though. He made not have been remembered too well or even liked but he did do great things for the nation. The country was better off after his presidency due to his ability to avoid war. At that time in our development as a country nothing was more vital than avoiding wars which was his main focus. He was a very determined man who did what he knew was right whether others agreed with him or not and he protected our country with words instead of blood. He did have some down sides however, such as the sedation act which is why he deserves a B minus.

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"Historical Party Strength in U.S. House of Representatives." //U.S. Congress//. Amazon.com, 2008. Web. 10 Sept. 2009. [].

"John Adams -." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. 9 Sept. 2009. Web. 10 Sept. 2009. [].