John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) went on to become the second President of the United States after losing the first two elections. He did garner the second most votes in the first quadrennial election which resulted in him serving as the first vice president of the United States. Washington garnered sixty nine electoral votes to John Adams’ thirty four votes. One of America’s Founding Fathers, Adams assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776. With his writing Thoughts on Government, Adams served as the architect of the Separation of Powers and the three branches of the new United States government as well as our current system of checks and balances.[2] Adams functioned in various diplomatic roles during the Revolutionary War in Holland and France and subsequently helped negotiate the peace treaty with Great Britain. He went on …show more content…
His term as president was unfortunately marred with controversy. He supported and signed the contentious Sedition Act in 1798. Adams went on to build up the army and navy as result of an undeclared naval war (later called the Quasi-War) with France (1798–1800). The Sedition Act authorized the deportation or imprisonment of aliens viewed as “dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States.” The Act unfortunately went well past precluding a violent revolution. Under the pretense of the Act, the government went on to restrict any speech that was critical of the establishment. It required criminal penalties for people who published or said anything “false, scandalous, or malicious” against the federal government, Congress or the President. Adams used the guise of the Act to punish his political enemies. This resulted in ferocious attacks from Jefferson and his Republican Party who railed against the restrictions on free speech and set the stage for Adams’ re-election