This is another excellent book by author Joseph Ellis. I have to say, however, I was somewhat disappointed that I could not find explicit reference to Adams’ signing the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, given that it continues to tarnish his reputation and was a primary reason for his losing to Jefferson in the election of 1800.
That said, let me share with you what I’ve discovered researching the more or less sainted George Washington’s perhaps surprising support for the Alien and Sedition Acts. From similarly renowned author David McCullough’s later published “John Adams”:
“Though it [the Sedition Act] was clearly a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech, its Federalist proponents in Congress insisted, like Adams, that it was a war measure, and an improvement on the existing common law in that proof of the truth of the libel could be used as a legitimate defense. … Even George Washington privately expressed the view that some public actions were long overdue punishment for their lies and unprovoked attack on the leaders of the union.”
And from from Marshall Smelser’s “George Washington and the Alien and Sedition Acts,” The American Historical Review, 01 Jan 1954, pgs 322 -334:
”I [George Washington] highly approve of the measures taken by the Government…. I even wish they had been more energetic.” In correspondence to former general Alexander Spotswood, Washington, who abhorred lies and dishonesty, “defended the Alien Act and made no mention of the Sedition Act.”
One must remember that the Alien and Sedition Acts were enacted in the time of the Quasi-War with France from 1798 to 1800. There was fear of a French invasion, as well as subversion from the large number of French and “wild” Irish immigrants and their sympathizers. While president, Washington himself had been threatened with lynching by mobs in Philadelphia stirred up by France’s “Citizen Genet” and the Democratic-Republican societies (who wanted the U.S. to join revolutionary France in its war with England), and was saved only by a yellow fever outbreak that cleared the city of many of its inhabitants. James Callender (Thomas Jeffersons’s hired journalist/scandalmonger) and Benjamin Bache (Benjamin Franklin’s grandson) were instrumental in publishing heated and often untrue charges (lies) and thus turning the press poisonously political. As seen in 1793 France with the beginning of the Terror, an unrestrained press, such as that operated by Marat, could bring a country to its knees.
Again, recall that those supporting the Alien and Sedition Acts believed that the population was effectively being incited to riot by the unrestrained press (in a conspiracy with the French) and that libel laws would protect those agitators who spoke/wrote the truth, all in a time of wartime crisis. As it turned out, Adams, after great effort and diplomacy, was able to avert the war with France. Nevertheless, and again, bitter remembrance of the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts was a prime reason Adams lost to Jefferson in the election of 1800. It’s interesting to note that Adams signed into law the “Sedition Act” on 14 July 1798, the ninth anniversary of the day of French insurrection and mob action, Bastille Day.
But back to Ellis’ book itself: As per the majority of the previous reviewers, I highly recommend it for any student of the character of John Adams and other Founders.
“Character is Key for Liberty!” Check out how “Character, Culture, and Constitution” played “key” roles in the American and French Revolutions:
George Washington's Liberty Key: Mount Vernon's Bastille Key – the Mystery and Magic of Its Body, Mind, and Soul
, a best-seller at Mount Vernon.
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