the presidential election 1800 Flashcards
the alien and sedition acts 1798
the alien act - 6th july 1798
- gave the president power to deport any alien whom he deemed ‘dangerous to the peace and safety of the united states’
- those accused got a trial
- nobody was ever deported and the law wasn’t properly enforced
the sedition act - 14th july 1798
- prescribed heavy fines and imprisonment for persons convicted of publishing ‘any false, scandalous or malicious writing’ bringing into disrepute the government, congress or the usa
- madison argued it went against the 1st amendment of the constitution
- no freedom of speech - thomas jefferson believed rebellion was good in small amounts
- 25 were arrested and 10 convicted. all of them were republicans
- first conviction was for a drunk republican who hoped out loud that some paper from a cannon salute would hit adams in the rear
fries rebellion 1798
july 1798
led by john fries
due to the 1798 house tax law, states would have to pay a tax of $2 million on real estate and slaves. infuriated the general population particularly in states with smaller slave populations such as pennsylvania since the majority of the $237,000 which had to be paid would be directed towards land owners
opponents harassed tax collectors and in milford, tax collectors were chased out of the area
30 arrested and brought to trial. 2 charged with treason and sentenced to death by hanging but adams pardoned them against the advice of every member in his cabinet
lawyer william rowle argued that combining to defeat and resist a federal law was the equivalent to levying war over the usa
won adams animosity of the pennsylvanian germans
virginia and kentucky resolutions 1798 - 1799
written by madison and jefferson
adopted protest resolutions, claiming that the alien and sedition acts were unconstitutional and to nullify them
declared that the federal government had no right to exercise powers not specifically delegated to it by the states
jefferson suggested that kentucky might secede from the union
why did adams lose the election?
the 3/5ths clause
the constitution’s 3/5ths clause handed a disproportionate amount of power to the slave states, particularly in the south - would’ve lost state power if slaves weren’t counted for. population would’ve decreased from 495 to 39%
1800 - massachusetts was home to 575,000 and virginia had 535,000. massachusetts had 16 votes, virginia had 21
gave slave states 14 extra electors. 12 voted for jefferson and burr. if the clause had not existed adams would’ve won by 2 votes (63 - 61)
jefferson captured 52.1% of votes, without clause adams would’ve captured 51.5%
before jefferson’s inauguration, federalist newspaper the ‘mercury and new england palladium’ claimed that jefferson had made his ‘ride into the temple of liberty on the shoulders of slaves’
jefferson’s media campaign and callender
james callender wrote pamphlets supporting republicanism
Jefferson helped callender by securing him a position on republican paper, the aurora, and provided him with money for several years. jefferson understood the power of the printed word to reach people and he did not stop callender in his attacks against federalist leaders
callender accused adams of being ‘mentally deranged’
lied saying adams wanted to go to war with france
sex scandals
hamilton
letters criticise adams
high federalists in cabinet such as mchenry and pickering clashed over war with france
hamilton wanted pinckney to be president
openly supported jefferson in the end, persuading delaware candidate bayard to abstain from voting for burr
