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THE JOHN ADAMS - 
THOMAS JEFFERSON FEUD

Probably the best known of all the Presidential feuds was between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They were close friends and political allies earlier in their careers, John Adams was the chairman of the committee to write the Declaration of Independence and selected Jefferson to do the writing.

When Thomas Jefferson arrived in Paris in 1784 to join Benjamin Franklin and John Adams as ministers to France, Adams much admired and liked Jefferson. John Adams remarked that the news that Congress had appointed Jefferson "gives me great pleasure." After Jefferson and Adams started working together Jefferson deepened his respect and affection for Adams.

On taking office in 1789 President Washington nominated New York lawyer Alexander Hamilton, to the office of Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton wanted a strong national government with financial credibility. Hamilton proposed the ambitious Hamiltonian economic program that involved assumption of the state debts incurred during the Revolutionary War, creating a national debt and the means to pay it off, and setting up a national bank. James Madison, Hamilton's ally in the fight to ratify the United States Constitution, joined with Thomas  Jefferson in opposing Hamilton's program.

Political parties had not existed in America when the nation's first president, George Washington took office. What was once a personal feud between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had developed into a full-blown and bitter political rivalry. By the 1790s, Jefferson and Madison organized their opposition to the Hamiltonian program but confined it to Congress. In time,

During Washington's administration,this organized opposition grew and the two-party system emerged - a division into the two great parties. They have remained to this day in American politics. The one was known as Federalist, afterward as Whig, then as Republican. The other was known at first as Republican, afterward as Democratic-Republican, and then as Democratic.

George Washington refused to run for a third term. In his Farewell Address, he warned against involvement in European wars, and lamented the rising North-South sectionalism and party spirit in politics that threatened national unity. The party spirit, he lamented: "serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."

Washington refused to consider himself a member of any party, but, he is usually regarded as a Federalist because of greater tendency to side with Alexander Hamilton than with Thomas Jefferson.

In 1796, as George Washington refused to serve for a third term, John Adams seemed clearly marked out as the Federalist candidate for the succession. Hamilton and Jay were in a certain sense his rivals; but Jay was for the moment unpopular because of the famous treaty that he had lately negotiated with England, and Hamilton, although the ablest man in the federalist party, was still not so conspicuous in the eyes of the Massachusetts's voters as Adams, who besides was surer than any one else of the indispensable New England vote. Having decided upon Adams as first candidate, it seemed desirable to take the other from a southern state, and the choice fell upon Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, a younger brother of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

Alexander Hamilton now began to scheme against Mr. Adams in a manner not at all to his credit. He had always been jealous of Adams because of his stubborn and independent character, which made it impossible for him to be subservient to a leader. There was not room enough in one political party for two such positive and aggressive characters. Already in the election of 1788 Hamilton had contrived to diminish Adams's vote by persuading some electors of the possible danger of a unanimous and therefore equal vote for him and Washington. Such advice could not have been candid, for there was never the smallest possibility of a unanimous vote for Mr. Adams. Now in 1796 he resorted to a similar stratagem. The federalists were likely to win the election, but had not many votes to spare; the contest was evidently going to be close. Hamilton accordingly urged the federalist electors, especially in New England, to cast all their votes alike for Adams and Pinckney, lest the loss of a single vote by either one should give the victory to Jefferson, upon whom the opposite party was clearly united. Should Adams and Pinckney receive an exactly equal number of votes, it would remain for a federalist congress to decide which should be president.

The result of the election showed 71 votes for John Adams, 68 for Jefferson, 59 for Pinckney, 30 for Burr, 15 for Samuel Adams, and the rest scattering. Two electors obstinately persisted in voting for Washington. When it appeared that Adams had only three more votes than Jefferson, who secured the second place instead of Pinckney, it seemed on the surface as if Hamilton's advice had been sound. But from the outset it had been clear (and no one knew it better than Hamilton) that several southern federalists would withhold their votes from Adams in order to give the presidency to Pinckney, always supposing that the New England electors could be depended upon to vote equally for both. The purpose of Hamilton's advice was to make Pinckney president and Adams vice-president, in opposition to the wishes of their party. This purpose was suspected in New England, and while some of the southern federalists voted for Pinckney and Jefferson, eighteen New Englanders, in voting for Adams, withheld their votes from Pinckney. The result was the election of a federalist president with a republican vice-president.

John Adams ran and was elected president in 1796. Thomas Jefferson as the runner up was elected as vice president.

In case of the death, disability, or removal of the president, the administration would fall into the hands of the opposite party. Clearly a mode of election that presented such temptations to intrigue, and left so much to accident, was vicious and could not last long. These proceedings gave rise to a violent feud between John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, which ended in breaking up the Federalist Party, and has left a legacy of bitter feelings.

The Federalists created a navy, with new frigates, 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 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 the tax 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 John Adams a failure, and in turn Adams fired Hamilton's supporters that were still in the cabinet.

The fourth presidential election marked a philosophical change from the rule of the first two presidents, Geore Washington and John Adams, who were Federalists.

John Adams was the Incumbent in 1800,and was by his mental and moral constitution a federalist. He believed in strong government. To the opposite party he seemed much less a democrat than an aristocrat. In one of his essays he provoked great popular wrath by using the phrase "the well-born." he knew very well that in point of hereditary capacity and advantages men are not equal and never will be. His notion of democratic equality meant that all men should have equal rights in the eye of the law. He believed in the rightful existence of a governing class, which ought to be kept at the head of affairs; and he was supposed, probably with some truth, to have a predilection for etiquette, titles, gentlemen-in-waiting, and such things. Such views did not make him an aristocrat in the true sense of the word, for in nowise did he believe that the right to a place in the governing class should be heritable; it was something to be won by personal merit, and should not be withheld by any artificial enactments from the lowliest of men, to whom the chance of an illustrious career ought to be just as much open as to "the well-born."

The presidency of John Adams was stormy. We were entering upon that period when our party strife was determined rather by foreign than by American political issues, when England and France, engaged in a warfare of Titans, took every occasion to browbeat and insult us because we were supposed to be too feeble to resent such treatment. The revolutionary government of France had claimed that, in accordance with our treaty with that country, we were bound to support her against Great Britain, at least so far as concerned the defense of the French West Indies. The Republican Party went almost far enough in their sympathy with the French to concede these claims, which, if admitted by our government, would immediately have got us into war with England.

Thomas Jefferson had served as Washington's secretary of state, and had run a close second to John Adams in the election of 1796. As a critic of the Adams presidency, Jefferson was an obvious candidate on the Democratic-Republican ticket that would oppose the Federalists.


The Campaigning In 1800

In that early period of our country, the electors to the Electorial College, from the states were generally chosen by state legislatures, not by popular vote. In some cases the elections for state legislatures were essentially substitutes for the presidential election, so any campaigning actually took place at a local level.

While it is true that the 1800 election marks the first time that candidates campaigned, though the campaigning was very subdued by modern standards. The campaigning that year, consisted mostly of writing letters and articles expressing their intentions.

President John Adams did make trips to Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania that were construed as political visits. When he took a roundabout route through Pennsylvania and Maryland on a ride from Massachusetts to the nation’s new capital city, one Jeffersonian newspaper editor asked, “Why must the President go fifty miles out of his way to make a trip to Washington?”

Aaron Burr, a prominent New York political figure, was opposed to the Federalists continuing their rule, and wanted to see John Adams denied a second term. He was a constant rival to Hamilton, Burr had built a political machine opposed to Hamilton's Federalist organization.

Burr threw his allegiance to Thomas Jefferson. Burr ran with Jefferson on the same ticket as the vice-presidential candidate. On behalf of the Democratic-Republican ticket, Aaron Burr visited towns throughout New England.

Alexander Hamilton had been born on the island of Nevis, in the Caribbean. He was technically eligible to be president under the Constitution (having been a citizen when the Constitution was ratified), he was such a controversial figure that a run for high office never seemed feasible. He served as the first secretary of the treasury, in the administration of George Washington.

Over time he came to be an enemy of John Adams, even though they were both members of the Federalist Party. He had tried to ensure the defeat of Adams in the election of 1796, and hoped to see Adams defeated in his run for a second term. Hamilton did not hold governmental office in the late 1790s, yet he built a Federalist political machine in New York City.

Since communications were slow, the candidates had little control over their followers and depended upon them to campaign for them in each town and city. These followers got carried away (nothing different from today in many ways) and said things and made accusations that angered both men. The elections were marked by heated passions and excessive mudslinging, insults and character assassinations.

The election of 1800 was one of the most controversial in American history, and was marked with intrigue, betrayals, and a tie in the electoral college.

The Federalist incumbent was sixty-four-year-old John Adams and  the Republican challenger was fifty-seven-year-old Thomas Jefferson, who was currently serving as John Adams’s Vice-President.

Early American newspapers were very partisan, favoring either the conservative Federalists or the Democratic-Republican opposition that Jefferson had launched in the 1790s.

To strengthen their coalitions and hammer away constantly at the opposition, both parties sponsored newspapers in the capital (Philadelphia) and other major cities.

On the Republican side, Philip Freneau and Benjamin Franklin Bache  blasted the administration with all the scurrility at their command. Bache in particular targeted George Washington as the front man for monarchy who must be exposed. To Bache, Washington was a cowardly general and a money-hungry baron who saw the Revolution as a means to advance his fortune and fame, Adams was a failed diplomat who never forgave the French their love of Benjamin Franklin and who carved a crown for himself and his descendants, and Alexander Hamilton was the most inveterate monarchist of them all.

The Federalists, with twice as many newspapers at their command, slashed back with equal castigation; John Fenno and "Peter Porcupine" (William Cobbett) were their nastiest pensmen, and Noah Webster their most learned; Hamilton subsidized the Federalist editors, wrote for their papers, and in 1801 established his own paper, the New York Evening Post. Though his reputation waned considerably following his death, Joseph Dennie ran three of the most popular and influential newspapers of the period, The Farmer's Weekly Museum, the Gazette of the United States  and Port Folio.

The Philadelphia Aurora, an organ of Thomas Jefferson’s party, edited by William Duane (a printer whom Federalists had pursued, unsuccessfully, for sedition in 1799). An edition of October 14, 1800, says that your choice lies between “Things As They Have Been” (under John Adams): The principles and patriots of the Revolution condemned. . . . The Nation in arms without a foe, and divided without a cause. . . . The reign of terror created by false alarms, to promote domestic feud and foreign war. A Sedition Law. . . . An established church, a religious test, and an order of Priesthood.

Or “Things As They Will Be” (if Jefferson is elected): The Principles of the Revolution restored. . . . The Nation at peace with the world and united in itself. Republicanism allaying the fever of domestic feuds, and subduing the opposition by the force of reason and rectitude. The Liberty of the Press. Religious liberty, the rights of conscience, no priesthood, truth and Jefferson.

The same week, Philadelphia’s Federalist paper, the Gazette of the United States, offered a another emphatic judgment: THE GRAND QUESTION STATED - At the present solemn and momentous epoch, the only question to be asked by every American, laying his hand on his heart, is: “Shall I continue in allegiance to GOD — AND A RELIGIOUS PRESIDENT; Or impiously declare for JEFFERSON — AND NO GOD!!!”


The Things That Were Said About The Candidates:

John Adams: a Harvard graduate and Massachusetts lawyer who helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and served two terms as George Washington’s Vice-President before his election to the Presidency in 1796. Distinguished, disputatious, short, ugly, hot-tempered, upstanding, provincial, learned (president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences). Very clever wife. Suspected of wanting to be king. Loves England. Thinks his diplomats have to tread carefully with Napoleon. Signed into law the Sedition Act in 1798; depending on your point of view, this was either so that he could have anyone who disagreed with him thrown in jail or so that he could protect the country from dangerous anarchists.

Thomas Jefferson: a former governor of Virginia, onetime Ambassador to France, George Washington’s Secretary of State. Eminent, brilliant (president of the American Philosophical Society), surpassing prose stylist, author of the Declaration of Independence (with help from John Adams), unrivalled champion of liberty, slave owner, grieving widower, rumored to have fathered children by one of his slaves. Tall, humorless, moody, zealous, cosmopolitan. Artistic. Loves France, not so worried about Bonaparte. Ardently opposes the Sedition Act. Reputed atheist.

Jeffersonians claimed that the vote in 1800 would “fix our national character” and “determine whether republicanism or aristocracy would prevail.”

In order to decrease the number of pro-Jeffersonians, the Federalist Congress passed a series of oppressive laws aimed at "aliens", or foreigners who came to America and supported Jefferson.

These Alien Laws raised the residence requirements for aliens who desired to become citizens from 5 years to 14 years.  They also stated that the President could deport or jail foreigners in times of peace or hostilities.

The Sedition Act stated that anyone who impeded the policies of the government or falsely defamed its officials would be liable to a heavy fine and imprisonment.

The election involved plenty of mudslinging, backstabbing, and dirty-tricks. You might call it democracy.

Thomas Jefferson became the victim of one of America's first "whispering campaigns."  The Federalists accused him of having an affair with one of his slaves.

Edward J. Larson states “Partisans worried that it might be the young republic’s last”, in his book, “A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign”,



There Was A Tie In The Electoral College.

The tickets in the election were Federalists John Adams and Charles C. Pinckney, and the Democratic-Republicans Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The ballots for the electoral college were not counted until February 11, 1801, and it was discovered that the election was a tie.

Jefferson and Burr each received 73 electoral votes. John Adams received 65 votes, Charles C. Pinckney received 64 votes. John Jay, who had not been running, received one electoral vote.

The original wording of the Constitution, which didn't distinguish between electoral votes for president and vice president, led to the problematic outcome.

Because the Republicans failed to plan by instructing at least one of their electors to vote for Jefferson but not Burr in the electoral college, Burr and Jefferson received the same vote, 73 each, so it was up to the House of Representatives to break the tie.

In the event of a tie in the electoral college, the Constitution dictated that the election would be decided by the House of Representatives. So Jefferson and Burr, who had been running mates, were now rivals in the election in the House.

The Federalists, who still controlled the lame duck Congress, threw their support behind Burr in an effort to defeat Jefferson. And while Burr expressed his loyalty to Jefferson, he worked to win the upcoming election in the House of Representatives.

And Alexander Hamilton, who detested Burr and considered Jefferson a safer choice to be president, wrote letters and used all his influence with the Federalists to thwart Burr.

The election in the House of Representatives began on February 17, 1801, in the new Capitol building in Washington. The voting went on for several days, and after 36 ballots the tie was finally broken. Thomas Jefferson was declared the winner. Aaron Burr was declared vice president.

After deadlocks in the Electoral College and the House of Representatives, Thomas Jefferson had triumphed. At noon, March 4,1801, as 12 years of Federalist rule ended, he was magnanimous: "We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans: we are all Federalists."

It is believed that Alexander Hamilton heavily influenced the eventual outcome.

Thomas Jefferson was distrustful of Aaron Burr, and so he gave Burr nothing to do as vice president. Burr and Hamilton continued their epic feud, which finally culminated in their famous duel in Weehawken, New Jersey on July 11, 1804. Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton, who died the next day.

Aaron Burr was not prosecuted for killing Hamilton, though he later was accused of treason. He was tried, and acquitted. He lived in exile in Europe for several years before returning to New York. He died in 1836.

Thomas Jefferson said “the revolution of 1800” marked the first transition of power from one party to another".


Some Results Of The Election

One of the outcomes of the 1800 election was that it revealed a serious flaw in the U.S. Constitution, which led to the passage and ratification of the Twelfth Amendment, in 1804, which changed the way the electoral college functioned. It separated the election of Presidents and Vice-Presidents. (Before that, whoever placed second became the Vice-President, which is what happened to Jefferson in 1796.)

Thomas Jefferson quickly pardoned the prisoners of the Sedition Acts.  The Naturalization Law of 1802 reduced the requirement of 14 years of residence to the previous 5 years.

Jefferson also did away with the excise tax.                                                  

The Judiciary Act of 1801 was passed by the expiring Federalist Congress. It created 16 new federal judgeships and other judicial offices.  The new Republican-Democratic Congress quickly repealed the act and kicked out the 16 newly seated judges.  One Federalist judge, Chief Justice John Marshall, was not removed.  He served under President Jefferson and others for 34 years.  He shaped the American legal tradition more than any other person.

James Madison was the new Secretary of State.

Marbury vs. Madison (1803) - James Madison, the new secretary of state, had cut judge Marbury's salary; Marbury sued James Madison for his pay; Marbury ended up getting his pay but the decision showed that the Supreme Court had the final authority in determining the meaning of the Constitution.

The Democratic-Republican Congress tried to remove Samuel Chase, a Supreme Court Justice of whom  in retaliation of the John Marshall's decision regarding Marbury, was not removed due to a lack of votes in the Senate.

John Adams did not take his defeat in 1800 well. On news of Jefferson's election, Mrs. Adams left Washington D.C. for their home in Massachusetts. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson met in Washington from time to time, and after the election had an unfortunate meeting. Some say it happened in the White House at a reception. Adams, always fussy and temperamental, snapped at Jefferson “You have put me out! You have put me out!” Jefferson remained calm and reminded Adams that the system by which Adams was defeated was one Adams had helped to create. The meeting ended on relatively friendly terms. In January, they met again and discussed the political situation.

John Adams still did not take his defeat well. He resented the fact that the people had cast him aside without a second term. His pride hurt, Adams left Washington D.C. before Jefferson’s inauguration. At four in the morning, his carriage pulled away from the White House unnoticed.

On several occasions John Adams's career shows striking examples of the demoralizing effects of great personal vanity. He went home with a feeling that he had been disgraced by his failure to secure a re-election. Yet in estimating his character we must not forget that in his resolute insistence upon the French mission of 1799 he did not stop for a moment to weigh the probable effect of his action upon his chances for re-election. He acted, as a true patriot, ready to sacrifice himself for the welfare of his country, never regretted the act, and always maintained that it was the most meritorious of his life. "I desire," he said, "no other inscription over my gravestone than this: Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility of the peace with France in the year 1800."

Thomas Jefferson walked from Conrad's boardinghouse to the United States Capitol to be sworn in as the nation's third president He was inaugurated without his predecessor being present. Thomas Jefferson was to serve two terms as president.

The wounds between the two men were kept open and sore by their political differences for a long time. The low point of their relationship was the years immediately following the nasty election of 1800. Abigail Adam's famous exchange of letters with Thomas Jefferson in 1804 demonstrates just how bitter the feud had become.

Historians have described John Adams as " a brilliant lawyer, a fine political theorist, a great sense of humor, neither handsome nor dashing, sometimes very pompous, always anxious that people recognize his talents. full of self-doubt, yet capable of performing great deeds."

John Adams was always transparent, whereas Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, was secretive.

After so long and brilliant a career, John Adams spent a quarter of a century in his home at Quincy (as that part of Braintree was now called) in peaceful and happy seclusion, devoting himself to literary work relating to the history of his times. In 1820 the aged statesman was chosen delegate to the convention for revising the constitution of Massachusetts, and labored unsuccessfully to obtain an acknowledgment of the equal rights, political and religious, of others than so-called Christians.

As a writer of English, John Adams in many respects surpassed all his American contemporaries; his style was crisp, pungent, and vivacious. In person he was of middle height, vigorous, florid, and somewhat over-weight. He was always truthful and outspoken, often vehement and brusque. Vanity and loquacity, as he freely admitted, were his chief foibles. Without being quarrelsome, he had little or none of the tact that avoids quarrels; but he harbored no malice, and his anger, though violent, was short-lived. Among American public men there has been none more upright and honorable. He lived to see his son elected as President of the United States.

A Letter To A Friend

In 1812, Thomas Jefferson wrote letter of condolence to Adams upon hearing of Abigail's death. Nothing Jefferson ever wrote is as moving as these heartfelt words to his old suffering friend --

"Tried myself, in the school of affliction, by the loss of every form of connection which can rive the human heart, I know well, and feel what you have lost, what you have suffered, are suffering, and have yet to endure."

"The same trials have taught me that, for ills so immeasurable, time and silence are the only medecines."

"I will not, therefore, by useless condolances, open afresh the sluices of your grief nor, altho' mingling sincerely my tears with yours, will I say a word more, where words are vain, but that it is of some comfort to us both that the term is not very distant at which we are to deposit, in the same cerement, our sorrows and suffering bodies, and to ascend in essence to an ecstatic meeting with the friends we have loved and lost and whom we shall still love and never lose again."

"God bless you and support you under your heavy affliction."

They began writing to each other for the next 14 years, and became friends again. Their letters contained a lively correspondence on the issues of the day as well as personal matters. In spite of their renewed friendship, they remained competitive right up to the end. Just before John Adams died, he is reported to have said, “Jefferson still survives.” He did not realize that Thomas Jefferson had died several hours earlier at his home in Virginia. They both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Their relationship was sometimes tumultuous, but they were, in the end, comrades in arms.