John Adams Presidency: The XYZ Affair, Alien and Sedition Acts | History with Ms. H

In this lesson with History with Ms. H., we are going to be going over the major foreign and domestic policy concerns during John Adams' presidency. This video will cover the XYZ affair, the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, and more!

At the end of the video, you should be able to tell me:
What was the XYZ affair?
What were the Alien and Sedition Acts?
What were the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions?

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We start with the Election of 1796, where John Adams defeated Thomas Jefferson for the presidency after George Washington stepped down. John Adams won many of the northern states as well as 51% of the electoral college, while Jefferson won the southern states. We will explain the differences between the Federalist and the Democratic-Republican party.

The major foreign policy event that happened during the John Adams' presidency was the XYZ Affair. Britain was impressing American sailors, but in order to maintain neutrality, the US signed Jay's treaty. France did not approve of the treaty, since they were at war with British at the time. France began to impress, or kidnap, American sailors in response to Jay's treaty.

The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 were a major foreign policy law that added restrictions to French immigrants and to made it illegal to publish anything that criticized the President, Congress, or the laws it created.

The Virginia and Kentucky resolutions were a response by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to nullify the Alien and Sedition acts.

John Adams was the second president of the United States. He was elected after Washington stepped down from office in 1796 and was our first single-term president. During the election of 1796, we begin to see clear divisions in the young United States with the emergence of political parties. John Adams represented the Federalist Party and Thomas Jefferson ran for the Democratic-Republican Party. Foreign policy, remember, are the things that impact the US and other countries. The major foreign policy event that happened during Adams’ presidency was the XYZ Affair.

Remember, during Washington’s presidency, Britain was impressing, or kidnapping, American sailors. To solve this, Britain and the United States signed Jay’s Treaty. Well, this made the French angry because they viewed the treaty as the United States siding with Britain while Britain and France were at war. The US had claimed to be neutral, but they were signing treaties with Britain that helped trade! So, France retaliated by impressing American sailors.

John Adams then sent three diplomats to France to negotiate peace and avoid a war. He was trying to follow Washington’s advice to stay out of the conflicts in Europe. During the meeting, the French diplomats demanded a bribe from the Americans to stop the impressment of sailors… Not a great plan, dude! American newspapers began publishing what the French had done, referring to the diplomats as X, Y, and Z (hence the XYZ Affair). Americans were outraged! Insulted by the demands, the people cried “Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute!” meaning they would rather spend millions fighting a war than pay the French a bribe. Washington himself was even ready to come out of retirement to fight the French!
While they were able to avoid war, the XYZ affair had a huge impact on politics at home. Federalists began to see immigrants, particularly from France, as possible threats and spies leading to a French invasion! As a response to this fear, the Federalists in Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The Alien Acts did three things. They extended the time immigrants had to live in the US before applying for citizenship from 5 years to 14 years. They gave Congress the power to arrest or deport any male citizen from a foreign enemy in times of war. This means, that if the US had gone to war with France, Congress could arrest or deport any male French immigrant, even if they had not broken the law. They gave the President the power to deport any non-citizen suspecting of plotting against the US for the next two years.

In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, Jefferson and James Madison, another prominent Democratic-Republican, wrote the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. These argued that:
The government’s power was limited to only what the Constitution said it could do. Since the Constitution did not give the Federal government power to limit immigration and the press, their actions were unconstitutional.
The Sedition Acts were a direct violation of the 1st Amendment protection of the freedom of the press.

#johnadams #xyzaffair #alienseditionacts

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