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Alien and Sedition Acts
The 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts consisted of four acts dealing with the protection of national security, the Alien Enemies Act, the Alien Friends Act, the Naturalization Act, and the Sedition Act. While Federalists claimed these acts were essential for national security, Republicans countered that they were politically motivated and served only to deny Americans of their guaranteed rights to fair trial and free speech. The Alien and Sedition Acts were the undoing of the Federalist Party, as Thomas Jefferson won the presidency in 1800 based largely on popular dissatisfaction with the acts.
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
The peak of British disrespect for American neutrality at sea, on June 22, 1807, The British naval frigate HMS Leopard followed the American naval frigate USS Chesapeake out of Norfolk harbor in Virginia, and opened fire upon it after a request to board had been denied. The Chesapeake, not prepared for battle, lost three men and had 20 wounded, and permitted the British to board. The British naval officers boarded, seized four men who had deserted the royal navy, hanged them from a yardarm, and sailed away. Jefferson responded with the Embargo Act.
Embargo Act
In response to the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, Jefferson endorsed the Embargo Act, passed on December 22, 1807, which shut America off from the world economically by forbidding ships from leaving American ports to trade with other nations. He hoped the embargo would put economic pressure on the French, and especially the British. It did, but America suffered far more due to its economic isolation, and the Embargo Act was repealed on March 3, 1809.
Federalists
The Federalists believed in a strong central government at the expense of state power. The nation's first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, were Federalists, and during their terms, all branches of the national government were in Federalist hands. After Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican party won the Election of 1800, the Federalists remained on the scene as the leading opposition party for the next 15 years, but they never regained control.
Interposition
In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, Kentucky and Virginia adopted resolutions, anonymously written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, which asserted that the states retained the power of interposition, which gave them the right to determine the constitutionality of congressional measures.
Judicial Review
Established by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison, the principle of judicial review held that the Supreme Court could declare an act of Congress unconstitutional.
Marbury v. Madison
John Adams made a number of appointments to federal justice positions on his way out of office. One of those, the appointment of William Marbury as justice of the peace in the District of Columbia, was not delivered by midnight of his last night in office. Secretary of State James Madison refused to deliver the commission to Marbury, who asked the Supreme Court to issue a writ of mandamus ordering Madison to do so. Chief Justice John Marshall denied Marbury the writ, ruling that the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional in granting the Supreme Court the power to issue such a writ. This established the principle of judicial review.
Midnight Appointments
Between December 12, 1800, when it became clear that he would not win reelection, and the day of Jefferson's inauguration, March 4, 1801, Adams appointed a significant number of federal judges. These midnight appointments consisted exclusively of Federalists, most of who had previous political or familial ties to prominent party members. Though Jefferson originally declared that he would not dismiss any Federalist appointees, he later revised this statement to protect only the appointees who did not fall into this category of midnight appointments.
Quasi-war
Quasi-war was the term that became widely used to describe French and American naval conflicts which took place between 1798 and 1800. Though neither nation declared war on the other, each carried out naval operations against the other. John Adams sparked the Quasi-war in response to French aggression at sea.
Republicans
Republicans (or Democratic-Republicans) centered their political ideology on the states' rights doctrine. They believed in distributing governmental power to the states rather than concentrating it in the hands of the central government. The Republican Party became a political force in the later years of the Washington presidency, and was a constant thorn in Adams' side. In 1800, Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, took control of the national government. Though the Federalist Party died out during the War of 1812, the Democratic-Republicans lived on during the Era of Good Feelilngs and eventually were the political antecedents of what became the Democratic Party under Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.
Tertium Quids
The Quids were a faction of the Republican Party led by John Randolph, which split off from the main party in 1806 in disapproval of Jefferson's negotiations with Napoleon Bonaparte to purchase West Florida. The Quids never presented a substantial challenge to the main Republican Party.
