ARCH8.4

THEAMERICAN REPUBLIC

Chapter 8:
Establishment of the
New Government

DIFFICULTIESFOR PRESIDENT ADAMS

▪ Read pages 154-159
▪ Add items in blue to your notes.
▪ Answer the questions at the end of this lesson.
▪ Make sure you turn in your project by 3:00PM.
▪ Start getting your notes, etc ready for your exam review.

INSTRUCTIONS

▪ The XYZ Affair

▪ American Envoys Meet French Agents
▪ A Call to Arms
▪ War Avoided

▪ Opposition to Adams

▪ The Alien and Sedition Acts
▪ Opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts

▪ The Disputed Election of 1800

DIFFICULTIESFOR PRESIDENT ADAMS - OUTLINE

▪ “the XYZ affair.”
▪ President Adams wanted to negotiate with France before declaring

war on them.

▪ The French agents wanted a $250,000 bribe from the United States

and would insure a $10 million loan for France.

▪ To protect the three American envoys, Adams substituted the letters X,

Y, and Z for the names of the French agents.

AMERICAN ENVOYS MEET FRENCH AGENTS

Elbridge Gerry

▪ “quasi war.”
▪ Adams called for a stronger navy
▪ Congress voted to make the navy a separate department and to build

forty ships.

▪ The most famous of the new frigates was the USS Constitution.
▪ Congress also tripled the size of the army.
▪ Although Congress never actually declared war, the Americans

captured ninety French vessels by the fall of 1800.

A CALLTO ARMS

▪ In 1799 Napoleon saw that the United States might be a stronger enemy

than was commonly thought.

▪ Although Adams wanted Napoleon to pay the damages for France’s

actions against America, Adams settled for a new agreement called the
Convention of 1800.

▪ He had avoided all-out war, but few of his countrymen recognized the

benefit.

WAR AVOIDED

Napoleon Bonaparte

▪ In 1798, the Federalists in Congress passed four laws called the Alien

and Sedition Acts.

▪ The Federalists claimed that the laws would help protect the country

during the threat of war.

▪ The Naturalization Actextended the time that an immigrant had to live in

America before he could gain American citizenship.

▪ The Alien Enemies Act and the Alien Act allowed the president to

imprison or expel any “dangerous” foreigners.

▪ The Sedition Act said that any person who said, wrote, or published

anything false or malicious against the government or its officials could be
fined $2,000 and imprisoned for up to two years.

THE ALIENAND SEDITION ACTS

▪ The Republicans and even a few Federalists worked hard to overrule the

Alien and Sedition Acts.

▪ Republicans James Madison and Thomas Jefferson wrote the Virginia

and Kentucky Resolutions for those two states’ legislatures.

▪ Each set of resolutions claimed that the states have the right to interpose

themselves between the national government and the people if the
national government overreaches its powers.

▪ The Kentucky Resolution used the term nullificationto describe a state’s

act of declaring void any federal law within its boundaries.

OPPOSITIONTOTHE ALIENAND SEDITION ACTS

▪ When the votes were counted, Jefferson and Burr both received equal

numbers of votes, more than Adams or Pinckney.

▪ But there was no designation that Jefferson was the one who was

supposed to be president.

▪ Burr refused to defer, and he would not say that he was running for vice

president, rather than for president.

▪ The states voted, and the election dragged on for a week before Jefferson

finally gained the majority.

THE DISPUTED ELECTIONOF 1800

Map

Resources

The National Gazette supported the Democratic-Republicans.

Open Ended

1. Describe France’s reaction to Jay’s treaty with England.

Open Ended

What incident led America to prepare for war against France? Explain how Americans defended themselves.

Open Ended

 What agreement averted war between America and France? What French leader sought this peace settlement?

Open Ended

4. Explain what the Sedition Act said. Why did the Democratic-Republicans think it was unfair?

Open Ended

What powers did the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions say that the states have?

Open Ended

Do you think it was right for the Federalists to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts? Why or why not?