0:02 hi and welcome to class today today
0:04 we're going to be going over the major
0:06 foreign and domestic policy concerns
0:08 from John Adams
0:10 presidency at the end of the video there
0:12 going to be three things you'll need to
0:31 started
0:33 while you're watching the video today if
0:35 you have any questions do not hesitate
0:37 to leave them in the comments below I'll
0:39 get back to you as soon as possible and
0:41 don't forget to hit subscribe so you can
0:44 be notified about more history videos
0:45 coming your
0:47 way by the end of the video there are
0:49 three questions you'll need to be able
0:53 to answer first what was the XYZ Affair
0:55 second what were the alien ins Sedition
0:58 Acts and third what were the Virginia
1:02 and Kentucky Resolution s John Adams was
1:04 the second President of the United
1:07 States he was elected after Washington
1:09 stepped down from office in
1:12 1796 and was our first single term
1:15 president during the election of
1:19 1796 we begin to see clear divisions in
1:21 the young United States and the
1:23 emergence of political
1:25 parties John Adams represented the
1:28 Federalist Party while Thomas Jefferson
1:30 represented the Democrat Republican
1:33 party Adams won many of the northern
1:36 states while Jefferson won most of the
1:41 south in the end John Adams won 51% of
1:43 the electoral vote becoming the first
1:47 and only Federalist president at the
1:49 time elections were held differently
1:51 than they are today John Adams got a
1:53 majority of the electoral votes so he
1:56 became president we still do that
1:59 today but John Adams didn't run with a
2:02 running m like presidents do today
2:04 instead the vice president was selected
2:06 by the person who got the second most
2:09 electoral votes so Adam's vice president
2:12 became Thomas Jefferson a democratic
2:14 Republican can you imagine if the
2:16 president and the vice president were
2:19 from two different political parties
2:22 today things would not go well and it
2:24 didn't then either we'll come back to
2:26 this later in the video we're going to
2:29 start by focusing on the major foreign
2:32 policy ISS isue during Adam's presidency
2:34 remember foreign policy are the things
2:37 that impact the United States and other
2:40 countries the major foreign policy event
2:43 that happened during Adam's presidency
2:46 was the XYZ Affair think back to
2:49 Washington's presidency Britain was
2:51 impressing or kidnapping American
2:54 Sailors to solve this issue Britain and
2:58 the United States signed Jay's Treaty
2:59 this made the French angry because they
3:01 they viewed the treaty as the United
3:04 States siding with Britain while Britain
3:06 and France were at War the US claimed to
3:08 be neutral but they were signing
3:10 treaties with Britain that helped trade
3:13 between the two countries so France
3:15 retaliated by impressing American
3:18 Sailors John Adams sent three diplomats
3:20 to France to try and negotiate peace and
3:23 avoid war he was trying to follow
3:25 Washington's advice to stay neutral and
3:28 stay out of Affairs in Europe during the
3:30 meeting the French diplomat demanded a
3:33 bribe from the Americans to stop the
3:36 impressment of sailors not the best plan
3:38 they could have come up with American
3:40 newspapers began publishing what the
3:42 french had done referring to the French
3:46 diplomats as X Y and Z hence calling it
3:50 the XYZ Affair Americans were outraged
3:52 insulted by the demands people cried
3:55 Millions for defense not one cent for
3:57 tribute meaning they would rather spend
3:59 Millions fighting a war than pay the
4:02 French br tribe Washington himself was
4:05 even ready to come out of retirement to
4:08 fight the French months later the
4:10 diplomats met again and were able to
4:12 reach a peace
4:14 agreement even though they didn't go to
4:17 war the XYZ Affair still had a major
4:20 impact on politics at home Federalists
4:23 began to see immigrants especially those
4:26 from France as possible threats and
4:30 spies leading a French invasion
4:32 as a response to this fear the
4:35 Federalists in Congress passed the Alien
4:38 and Sedition Acts these were a series of
4:40 laws that were designed in part to
4:43 strengthen the power of the Federalists
4:45 and weaken the Democratic Republicans
4:49 who were led by Jefferson the alien acts
4:52 did three things first they extended the
4:54 time immigrants had to live in the
4:56 United States before they could apply
5:00 for citizenship from 5 years to 14 years
5:03 second they gave congress the power to
5:06 arrest or Deport any male citizen from a
5:08 foreign country with which the United
5:11 States was at War this means that if the
5:14 US had gone to war with France Congress
5:16 could arrest or Deport any male French
5:18 immigrant even if they had not broken
5:20 the law and finally they gave the
5:23 president the power to deport any
5:26 noncitizen suspected of plotting against
5:29 the US for the next 2 years but because
5:31 the United States didn't end up going to
5:33 war with anyone and due to the time
5:36 constraints on the alienx no immigrants
5:37 were actually
5:40 deported however because most immigrants
5:42 supported the Democratic Republican
5:44 Party Party growth slowed as a result of
5:48 the alien acts while the alien Acts were
5:50 controversial the Sedition Act became
5:53 the most infamous part of these laws the
5:56 Sedition Act made it illegal to publish
5:59 anything that criticized the president
6:01 Congress or the laws it
6:04 created interestingly enough the vice
6:06 president was not protected from
6:09 criticism remember the vice president
6:11 was Thomas Jefferson who was a
6:14 democratic Republican and not a
6:17 federalist this seems a bit fishy in
6:20 response to the alien in Sedition Acts
6:22 Jefferson and James Madison another
6:24 prominent Democratic Republican wrote
6:27 the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
6:29 these argued that the government's power
6:31 was limited to only what the
6:34 Constitution said it could do since the
6:35 Constitution did not give the federal
6:38 government power to limit immigration or
6:41 the Press their actions were
6:43 unconstitutional the Sedition Acts were
6:45 a direct violation of the first
6:47 amendment protection of freedom of the
6:49 press and since the Alien and Sedition
6:52 Acts were unconstitutional the states
6:55 had the right to nullify or legally
6:58 overturn the Alien and Sedition Acts the
7:00 Virginia cont resolutions would become
7:02 very important because they were the
7:05 first instance of the doctrine of
7:07 nullification this idea that the states
7:09 can nullify federal laws will come back
7:12 again and again as the US inches closer
7:15 and closer to the Civil War more on that
