JOHN ADAM’S PRESIDENCY
Directions: Open your textbooks to page 287. Read from pages 287-293 and answer the
questions below. The questions go in ordered and are categorized by the section headings.
Please answer in complete sentences. (Please pay special attention to the building tension
between the two major political parties during Adam’s presidency. This will be the focus of our
next class.
The Election of 1796
1. Describe the Federalist Party (what type of government/economy did they want, who
were their candidates).
2. Describe the Democratic-Republican Party (what type of government/economy did they
want, who were their candidates).
3. What accusations did each side accuse the other of during the election of 1796.
4. Who was elected president? Who was elected vice president? What political parties
were they associated with?
President Adams and the XYZ Affair
5. Why did Adams send Marshall, Gerry and Pickney to France? How did France respond?
6. How did Americans respond to France’s treatment? What did Adams do?
7. Did Adams follow what his party wanted? Why was his action so important? What did
we later get?
Alien and Sedition Acts
8. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts? Why do they go against the values and ideas of
America?
9. Who do the Alien and Sedition Acts blame for all of America’s problems? With the
Sedition Act, who could the government go after with the power in the Acts?
The Election of 1800/A Narrow Republican Victory
10. Which candidates received the most electoral votes in the election of 1800? What party
were they from?
11. What problems in the Congress accord making it difficult to elect a president?
12. What was the purpose of the Twelfth Amendment?