American History Hit - President John Adams

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

Sequels are always hit and miss. So what must it have been like to be the second President of the United States, following the man who originated the role?This was John Adams' position, stepping into the shoes of fellow founding father George Washington. To find out about how Adams navigated his presidency and the diplomatic crises that arose during it, Don spoke to Christopher Young.Chris is a Professor of History at Indiana University Northwest and, among his many publications, wrote “Serenading the President: John Adams, the XYZ Affair, and the 18th-Century American Presidency” for Federal History.This is the second episode of our new series on American History Hit in which, every two weeks, Don and an expert will explore the presidencies of the US' former Commanders-in-Chief.Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Siobhan Dale. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, James Holland, Mary Beard and more.Get 50% off your first 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up at historyhit.com/subscribeYou can take part in our listener survey here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to explore even more history? Sign up to History Hit, where you will discover history from around the world. From the American Revolution to prehistoric Scotland, there is plenty to discover. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries with a brand new release every week, exploring everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe to bring the past alive. It's mid-October in Paris, 1797. The U.S. President has dispatched a special commission to France to negotiate a deal.

Relations between the 20-year-old American Republic and the French one, which began with best intentions, have soured. The French claim we've stabbed them in the back, after once so eagerly seeking their precious financial and military support against the British in our fight for independence. Now, though, tables have turned, and their Navy and Army and privateers are preying on U.S. merchant ships. The Commission has sailed the Atlantic to secure a peace. The American envoys, Charles Cotsworth Picney, John Marshall, and Eldbridge Gary, had expected to meet with the French Foreign Minister, Charles Maurice de Talirand Peregour. But instead, they

are greeted by General D'Distain, along with steep demands for loans, bribes, and an official apology. Unfortunate timing for the new president, John Adams, who, as he enters the office, must not only live up to his predecessor, George Washington, but now has to keep us from fighting with our so-called friends. I do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run than monarchy or aristocracy. Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy. But while it lasts, it is more bloody than either.

Individuals have conquered themselves. nations and large bodies of men never welcome to american history hit i'm your host don wildman with the second in a special series of podcasts in which every two weeks we explore in chronological order the lives of every single one of the presidents of the united states of america in this episode we're still early days turning our attention to america's second president john adams whose presidency is overshadowed historically speaking on either side by washington and jefferson But Adams presidency, which lasts but one term, is especially notable for being the first administration to operate from our new federal seat of power, the city of Washington in the new district of Columbia. Adams is the first U.S. president to sleep in the executive mansion, which would be known in the future as the White House.

Fascinating story, this tough, brilliant New England lawyer living in a marshy, woodsy southern land and taking the reins of a horse, we're only still learning to ride. And with the great man gone, John Adams will now be hashing this out on his own, like so many presidents to come. To discuss Adams' life in presidency, I'm joined by Christopher J. Young, professor of history at Indiana University Northwest. Greetings, Chris, nice to have you on the show, and thanks for joining us for this second presidency, John Adams. Thank you, Don. I appreciate it. It's quite an act to follow for this guy, isn't it? George Washington, father of the nation. In so many ways, this will be John Adams' task to take up the job of the presidency when the causes really have become less glamorous than the founding of a nation. Why does Adams want to be

president? He never seemed the type to me. Adams, like his fellow founding fathers, was really interested in fame, fame, reputation. These were really the most important things to these men. And going back to even the Declaration of Independence, when you get to like one of those, the closing sentences, and they talk about that they're putting it all on the line. And they literally were, when they talk about their reputation, there was a death. of importance there that can sometimes be overlooked. And so they knew that, you know, how they would be remembered. And they knew they would be remembered because John Adams, you know, as an astute observer of human behavior, human history, he would comment that, you know, doesn't fall to many

to be able to create a nation. So he was well aware that they would be remembered. And this is why we have so many other papers. But he knew that reputation. If they were, if they lost, they would be remembered as traitors. So when it came to the presidency, it was really about the reputation and also about saving and preserving and maintaining the American Revolution and the Constitution. So he really thought he was up to the task. He would do a good job at that. And he would be sure to be able to make sure that the Constitution continued on. The PTSD that these guys must have been suffering after having gone through years of worrying if they would get hanged every day of their lives, really, that must have really left a scar, I would think.

I think, you know, that's an interesting way of putting it because in the 1790s, which was probably the most polarized time in American history, maybe, of course, except the 1850s, which eventually they weren't able to resolve the issues and there was a civil war. We're getting pre-polarized now, but we have institutions that can carry us through and we have history. And they didn't have that yet. So they didn't have the institutions. They didn't have the history. And they were all so invested in seeing the American Revolution as they imagined it. succeed and the Constitution, which had just been written, see that succeed. So that added to this intensity of feeling that I'm going to save it, you're going to destroy it. And there was really

no middle room. And John Adams, to his credit, during his presidency, really did try to carve out that middle space. He's a profound legal mind, a consummate lawyer, all through the revolutionary years, and certainly before when he wasn't busy founding a new nation, he was practicing law, respected, fair-minded, famously defended the British soldiers in the Boston Massacre when that was a very unpopular choice. His will be a presidency caught up, ironically, in the very foreign entanglements Washington cautioned about in his famous farewell address. They will prompt him to promote a few of the most questionable laws ever passed by Congress, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and he'll be dealing with factionalism, which Washington also warned about. It's a theme, right? Foreign entanglements and self-serving factionalism, this is what the Adams administration has to deal with. them because they were so in their minds weak in terms of against these great foreign powers that they felt really vulnerable to being sort of like a neal colonization that would go on and about foreign interference. And as you can see, we still worry about these things quite rightly.

But this was on their mind all the time. So they worried that the factions could actually sort of serve as like a avenue into this. But you're right. He sort of had the baggage. He carried the baggage from Washington's administration with the French. upset about the J Treaty, which had been passed Washington administration, of course, then the polarization just intensified with the partisanship. He spends a lot of time in the revolution around that time with foreign countries, almost as much as Jefferson, for sure. He is in his time

ambassador to France, Britain, and the Dutch. And he knows how the court works. He doesn't like it at all or so I speculate almost, but it seems like that's true. I think he was a guy who really rejected that European entanglement at his heart. Yeah, he did. That's absolutely correct. And he had just this ability to see through things. And then once he would see things, not be able to unsee it. And I think that when he was, you know, in and out of the foreign courts, banks and in Europe, he saw that this was so different than the American culture, American spirit. And he came to really, you know, by being in Europe, came to really deepen his patriotism,

his love of country because he saw, in his mind, how wrong things were in Europe and how how right things were and could be in America if the Republic was successful. And he saw how they operated at court, the intrigue that was there. And he was well aware of how things were. So he was right to be worried that they would try to pull the United States in. And it was a really delicate diplomatic act to be able to hold off the British, hold off the French, and not to mentioned the Spanish, et cetera. So it's really quite extraordinary when you think about what he had to do. Many of the issues that Adams deals with are things we deal with today. It's just a world of jet travel and telecommunications. In those days, you had a huge ocean that really was a barrier.

And when you were back on this side of that ocean, you could wipe your forehead and say, okay, never mind all those intricacies and weirdnesses of the court. Let's start anew. in 1797, he enters the presidency, age 62, advanced for the time, but he's going to die in 1826, age 90. This guy has plenty of time ahead of him. He carries over a lot of Washington's cabinet with him, right? Adams is a federalist, just as Washington was. He's opposed to Jefferson's Democratic republicanism, and yet Jefferson is Adams' vice president. This is how it's going to get real fast.

It's a complicated issue, isn't it? It is. So, again, total John Adams, right? I mean, John Adams believes that as president, he needs to be sort of this like philosopher king, so to speak. So he needs to be above the partisanship. And this is something that George Washington really tried to do, mostly, I think, successfully. And Adams tried to carry that on to maintain this, you know, being above party. And it was almost impossible for him to do.

But by keeping on Washington's cabinet, who were federalists, and by maintaining these Hamilton loyels, he thought that that would aid in the transition. He then also tried to appoint Republicans such as James Madison to important posts in Paris. And he wanted to kind of show that he was there to work with both parties and that he would be what we call today bipartisan. Interesting. Adams and Jefferson go on to become best friends. It's one of the most beautiful friendships in all of American history, isn't it? They had a deep friendship that went back to the times of the American Revolution and the fight for independence. And then, of course, where they served overseas, they visited each other.

He was in Great Britain. Jefferson was in France. And Jefferson's children stayed with the Adams in London, the Court of St. James. And so they had a very deep friendship. But their friendship, the fracture in it, really sort of epitomizes the partisanship, the polarization at the time that it just became that if you're not with us, you're against us, meaning you're against the American Revolution. and the Constitution. So it was a terrible divorce. But it went in 1812, when it was, you know, the

relationship was resurrected, it ended up really giving us the literature, which we can really call their letters. It's really a contribution to American literature. Let's get into the fray. He comes into power in the late 1700s. One of the big issues in the world that's happening at the same time is the French Revolution. And France is going to become a big problem for him right away. This is not the same years as the revolution. France isn't our ally anymore. Everything's moving on. And in fact, we have a big conflict brewing with them. Talk to me about how this is occurring and what he has to deal with right away. The problems with France were really brewing from at least 1789. And then it really intensified in 1793 with the execution of the king and the turn towards

violence with the French Revolution. And so basically, the foreign affairs that were going on really influenced the domestic politics in the 1790s. So you had these, and I think this is because American identity was still being formed. And so you had the Federalist, or what we call the Federalist, of course, the Republicans called them Federalists as well. But again, all these things were still just forming. So these terms Republicans, Democratic Republicans, Federalists, Aristocrats, they had all kinds of names that they were calling each other. But the Federals tended to be pro-British. The Republicans tend to be pro-French. So basically, everything that was going on with the French Revolution, the Republicans praised, they celebrated,

all kinds of festivals, the French flag was flying. And the Federalists were always kind of a little more wary of the violence, the anti-religious aspect of the French Revolution. And that began in 1793, and I really say once the news of the execution of the French king arrives, it really created this split in American politics because the French king had aided the budding American Republic, the revolutionary Republican fact. And so this continued on. So I mean, during Washington's administration, you had a French ambassador who began to meddle an American affairs trying to bring the United States into the wars of the French Revolution. And they had a neutrality proclamation, later a neutrality act. That was under Washington. So much of this was inherited by Adams. And

we're really intensified with the French was because the J treaty, which had been passed during the Washington administration, the ripple fact was still going on. And then when Adams became president, you really started having the French beginning to harass American shipping because they thought that this commercial treaty with the British was actually an alliance with the British. And so the French began to take that out on the Americans. And Adams, in a speech, declared that this would not be tolerated and called for spending on defense to build up the army and to develop a Navy. And the French understood that as some very aggressive, and they reacted accordingly. But this, again, it's classic Adams, because Adams goes to the Congress and says, we need to develop an army. We need to develop,

importantly, a Navy. And at the same time, he dispatched diplomats to France. So again, the Federalists were pleased that he wanted to develop the military. And the Republicans were pleased that he wanted to seek some sort of peace settlement with the French. And so he was trying to do what he thought was best. And this is what Adams did. He didn't, he was not going to be pushed by anyone. And so the partisanship at the time, he really kind of had both people, I mean, really, both Both sides, excuse me, disliking his activities. Very practical guy, yeah. Right.

As we've learned, presidents need to be in that position if they're going to do the right thing. Being in the middle not liked by both sides is actually what the job entails. Are you serving the American people or are you serving the party? And this gets very tricky. I'll be back with more American history after this short break. I'm Tristan Hughes, host of the Ancients from History Hit, where twice a week, every week, we delve into our ancient past. I'm joined by leading experts, academics and authors who share incredible stories from our distant history

and shine a light on some of antiquities great questions. Was the Oracle of Delphi really able to see into the future? What can be discovered from lost civilizations? And was King Arthur actually real? You can expect all of this and more from the ancients on history hit wherever you get your podcasts. The French CR neutrality, which as you say is broken up. under the Washington administration, as a betrayal. And frankly, no wonder, if you ask me,

they had really gone out on a limb for this new nation, for their own purposes, of course. But Adams dispatches a team of diplomats to go to France and try to broker a deal. Heal the wound there. But things go very much awry for these guys. The French foreign minister, Vigenz, wants to be paid off. He sends French agents,

who the Americans refer to as X, Y, and Z, with demands for bribes and loans to France. It's all very underhanded and, frankly, corrupt. And it becomes a whole scene, an anti-French sentiment in America grows. But the resolution of this XYZ affair is one of Adam's shining moments. How does he resolve it? To go back a little bit, the Neutrality Act really was perceived, of course, as you indicate by the French, as sort of a betrayal, because to be neutral is to be, in their minds, pro-French. Yeah. The Republicans in America thought the same thing. So again, there's that how, you know, domestic politics were tied to foreign affairs.

So he dispatches the diplomats to France, and they do not meet with the American diplomats. And in fact, they're dragging their feet. And they may have been dragging their feet because of some instructions at Jefferson, because Jefferson was also in correspondence with the French. So the vice president is sort of, in some ways, advising the French how to respond to the American diplomats that have been sent by Adams. So there might have caused some misunderstanding there. And one of the issues, again, going back with.

neutrality, and this was Hamilton's argument, that the Americans should be neutral, is because they signed a treaty with the French king. That king is now dead. They did not sign a treaty with the French Republic. And so, just to kind of fast forward, when Adams finally does get that treaty that he wants when Napoleon gets into power in 1799, there is a component to that that says all those obligations are null and all in void, which is what Washington and Hamilton wanted in 1794. So back to like 1797 and 98, there's three diplomats. Two of them come back home and one stays behind. Actually, the two federalists come home. The Republican that Adam sent, two federalists, one Republican. The Republican stays to try to get something to work, to make something

happened, the two go back, and they inform Adams of, you know, what happened. Now, again, the partisanship was so intense, no one trusted each other. And so the Republicans, they said that when Adam said, you know what, we need to start preparing for war because they're not accepting our diplomats. Well, actually, he did not go as far as that, but he was saying, we need to prepare for war. Basically, the Republicans accused him of basically not being totally truthful about this. of wanting to go to war with France, of trying to create conditions where people would turn against France. And they demanded, in the House of Representatives, the Republicans demanded that Adams released the dispatches from the American diplomats of what had happened. Adams had not planned on doing that.

The House, Republicans demanded the Federalists were happy to oblige. And so these dispatches were published. And basically it was a huge embarrassment to the pro-French Republicans. And this is when Adams has his sort of moment as president. Because now everyone is all about, you know, for American honor, all for going to war with France. Everyone is getting ready for this. People are, the crowds are in the street. So there's, you know, in the theater, they're serenating the president, whether he's there or not.

Young men in Philadelphia are coming to Adams home and, you know, calling out for him and he will step out. He has his sword at his side, and they serenate him there. Communities across America are sending him letters of appreciation, which he would then respond to. And then these would be published, and they would be then copied by other newspapers. And by the way, I'd like to add that there was a proliferation of newspapers in the 1790s. And there was also a development of postal roads and the cost of sending stuff through the mail, which really led to the fusion of information like never before. So in a way, this contributes to the partisanship.

You know, maybe in some ways, like how we see social media today contribute our 24-7 news cycle. So for the 18th century, news is being spread all over, newspapers are copying what other newspapers are writing. They're publishing that. So when you'd have like a town in Connecticut write something to Adam saying, you know, you are defending American honor. We're very proud of you. he would write back and he says, you know, no, you are, you know, the backbone of America. And then this would be published and people in Virginia would read it. And that would just pick up its own momentum.

But John Adams being John Adams, he knew one day they'll love you and the next day they will hate you. He loved it immensely. He always kind of wanted this kind of love in many ways, although he was weary of it and he knew it went last. But he saw how people adored Washington. He saw how people adore Jefferson. And really he was kind of caught between those two. So he had his moment, even though he knew it wouldn't last, which it didn't. As you talk, I'm smiling because this is the challenge of American history because there's

the revolution and then there's a civil war. And there's this whole time in between when things and there's the 1812, but there's this whole time in between the vast majority of any nation's history is the treaties that are made, is diplomacy that is brokered and all the kind of day-to-day, more difficult, more gnarly nuts and bolts of national life are managed by these presidents. It doesn't get the headlines that the wars do and the big issues do. And yet to understand these presidencies, you really have to get down into the weeds and understand what happened on the subtler versions of things.

How did the rise of Napoleon define Adams in any way? Was that a factor or does that come later? I don't think it was a huge factor for Adams except when he does come to power in France. basically the French Revolution is over. It's really like a confluence of events that it just works out perfectly because he sees an opportunity for peace. And even though public opinion wanted to go to war, probably going into the election, it may have helped him.

But Adams was a man of integrity. And it wasn't about him. It was about America. And he thought that what would peace is what America needed because it could not get caught up in an Atlantic or World War. or what we call a World War today, because it would just devastate the young republic. So he had an opportunity for peace. The Federalist, Hamilton, the leader amongst them, was totally opposed to this. He went against all that pressure.

He dispatched diplomats again to France to deal with Napoleon, and they worked out a treaty, which resolved the tension between France and America and ended the so-called quasi-war. Yeah, there was a war of sorts called the quasi-war. mostly a naval battle, but we did shoot each other, America and France. It really is the end of that era of France supporting us through that revolutionary period, then having their own revolution and expecting our support in return. This is the Treaty of Montefontein, really the conclusion of that era. And then we're on to a brand new day as far as the French and Americans go. And it is really remarkable. And this is where Adams, of course, he always liked to see himself as

his own man, but really he carried Washington's torch by making sure that the United States remained independent. They're dealing with the geopolitical, you know, there's always geopolitics, right? But here you have France and Britain duking it out like they've been doing for centuries, and Washington and Adams did not want the United States to get sucked into that. And they worked really hard. It was difficult, but they were successful. About 15 years after Adams' president when you have the conclusion of the War of 1812, it really gives the United States an opportunity to be like, okay, now that we are secure and being republic, we are going to survive as a republic. It was all about survival for the first 10, 15 years after the Constitution.

We're going to survive. What kind of nation are we going to be? If it wasn't for the brilliance, the integrity of Adams and of Washington, I'm not sure if we would have gotten there. You can understand one of the basic ideas of it, which was to turn away from all all the complications of Europe and all the damage that could do and how this nation never would have lifted itself up the way it did if it was reliant and heavily involved with all those machinations of Europeans, even today, my goodness. The Alien and Sedition Acts that come to pass as a result of this, I guess there's a direct line through this, are really born of the

Congress, the Federalist Congress. And they are, stop me, if I'm wrong, fairly ugly ideas, right? This is the beginning of rejecting immigration and strengthening laws to a point that they didn't want people to come to this country. There's a xenophobic quality to it. And again, it's tied in with the partisanship because there was this concern. For some people, real. For other people, it was just a way to politicize what was a concern for others. And so there were a lot of immigrants coming from Ireland and France. And they tended to be more radical.

and they tended to vote a Republican or have Republican inclinations. And so with, you know, the war fever going on after the XYZ affair and the quasi-Z affair and the quasi-war going on, there was an opportunity by the Federalists to kind of hit the Republicans. And they tried to do it through two ways. One was to prevent these immigrants who leaned Republican from voting Republican. So they could do that by lengthening the amount of time. would take to become naturalized from, you know, five years to, I believe, 14 years. It also allowed

the president to deport radical immigrants who were a threat to the American Republic, could be some sort of fifth column, because there was this fear that the French would invade. And when the French invaded these sympathetic Republicans, both American and immigrant, would serve as some sort of fifth column. So that was sort of the rationale and the excuse for passing the Alien Acts. There was, of course, also the Sedition Act. And that was aimed at the printers. And only Republican printers were affected by this act. And I can't recall exactly. It might have been seven, might have been ten. Printers were jailed and fined. And the fine was about $2,000, which was enough to ruin a career. So they were being prosecuted based on libel.

Right. Which gets a little tricky. If something is an opinion, well, is it true or is it an opinion? No, if it flies right in the face, the Bill of Rights that Adams has been a part of creating in Survee Jefferson, where freedom of speech is right there in front. And this is the first of what becomes a tradition in America almost, these laws that are passed in response to the fears of foreign powers or in our age terrorism coming in and how to pass laws that restrict that influence. This is the first one.

This is Japanese immigration after Pearl Harbor. all that kind of theme of American society. And Adams is very much a part of creating that institution almost. He is because he signed it. And he wasn't necessarily for it. And again, this would probably be one of those times, one of those rare occasions where he submitted to the politics of the time and even to the influence of his wife, who was his equal in every way. She was an absolutely remarkable woman. But she was a little bit more in favor of this than he was. He signed. it and never really enforced it. The Sedition Act was taken up by others who would press the legal avenue, but the Alien Act gave the president the authority to deport people, and he never

did that. Jefferson was against this, his good friend. He saw the contradiction in terms, right? He was. For Jefferson, he was against it. One, it hit his party, and which he was the head of. And what was new at the time is could this happen at the federal level? It doesn't mean that it wasn't happening at the state level. So in Virginia, they may have had their own sort of sedition laws. And so this is the partisanship issue because it hurt the Republicans. But it was also an issue of federalism. What can the federal government do?

And that was still being worked out. And in fact, it's really part of our American, it's part of our political culture, is that what can the federal government do versus what can the states do? This has really been institutionalized. And so this led Jefferson and Madison to write up resolutions that were sent to the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures saying that if the states did not agree with federal laws, they had a right then to not follow those laws. Interesting. To render them mute. So this also has consequences for what happens a few decades later. This is the context. The concept of state's rights. This is the beginning of that rise. That's exactly right. And, you know, people are people, presidents or presidents. And what people think when they're not in the presidency versus what they think once they are in it is something that, you know, happens today and quite understandably. And it happened back then too. So, you know, once Jefferson did become president, there were maybe some things that he filed through on that maybe outside the presidency he may not have.

The Alien and Sedition Acts left a lasting legacy in American history, highlighting the importance of protecting individual liberties and really the constant need for vigilance against government overreach, isn't it? It did. And actually, in ways, it was sort of a culmination of what was in the American mind for the last 20 or 30 years, that there was this idea that you need to watch a central government. early on, it was the British monarchy and the appointed royal governors. You had to be vigilant because if you're not vigilant, the nature of government is to take away individual rights. And it doesn't go back the other way. So you have to put on the brakes. And so when the alien sedition acts happen for many people, it was, this is what we've heard about. This is what we read about.

This is what we had hoped to prevent. And here it is being manifested before us now. And so it really did create an urgency. And it really led to the demise of the Federalist at the national level. They continued for a number of years, at least maybe a decade and a half in New England. The Federalists were present. But basically, as a national party, they were done with Jefferson's election 1800 and then his becoming president in 1801. But it's under Adams that all of this becomes really sorted out, or at least it begins to be sorted out, that there are two very distinct views. of the American governmental experience, what we are requiring from the federal government or not requiring. Jefferson certainly will come into power and seek to articulate that in his own way. Adams, it's fair to say that he is the centrist voice, isn't he? He's the one is allowing both sides

to express themselves through his leadership. That's absolutely right. So, you know, during the 1790s, they were basically those that were what they called energetic government. And they wanted the federal government to be energetic and to grow, to be more active. And those were the Federalists. The Republicans were aware of a strong, distant central government. And that's kind of like bringing some of this revolutionary thinking with them into the constitutional era. Isn't it so interesting that these guys are such friends? You couldn't make this up in a movie that there were these two characters who had not completely opposing views, but definitely friction between them. One representing that idea that there needs.

to be this Washington, D.C. idea of a strong federal government, the other, Jefferson, believing in the agrarian republicanism of that sort of beautiful utopia that he dreams of where everyone's out on their own little farm. And to your point, a mutual friend, the great Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, you know, when he's the one that actually encouraged them to reunite, but he told Adams, I believe, or may have been Jefferson, but he told one of them. He says, you know, you guys need to get back together because you guys are the North and South Poles of the American Revolution. If we could just accept this as a nation to this day, if we could just embrace the fact that the very nature of American governance relies on both influences, just as

these two had a friendship. That's the absolute fact of it. And yet we live in this weird world these days where polarization is the currency. And it doesn't work. It can't work. And so like in Adams, you have to drop your ego at the door and walk in there and say, okay, everybody's got to be happy enough in this place to work out things so you get enough of what you want. That encapsulates the Adams presidency. He is also the first one to sleep in the executive mansion. And I can't underplay the importance of this to me. For the previous years, Pierre L'Enfant has been hired by Washington to design this new capital. It's the famous rumor it happened from the Hamilton musical. They finally broker a deal to move it from the north to the south into what will become Washington, D.C.,

in roughly speaking, in Virginia territory. Those buildings are built. And John Adams is the first American president to sleep a night in the executive mansion. It couldn't have been a comfortable night to sleep for him. No, I don't think so. It is sort of appropriate, though, in ways that Adams can have, like, he could be the first. And he can have that honor. But yeah, I imagine it being, you know, and I think it gets depicted in the John Adams, HBO series.

If I'm remembering correctly, it's really this sort of empty, unfinished, leaking edifice. And it shows, it kind of in a way, it captures the American Republic at the time. You know, it's sort of like it's being built. It still needs to be decorated and outfitted. But the structure is there. And Adams, you know, he's the right person to occupy it in terms of he is a man of integrity. And he's a type of president that all presidents should aspire to be. To serve American people, not a party, not an ideology to be thoughtful, to be fair,

to consider all points. And, you know, I mean, people would accuse, you know, him of being a federalist, and people would accuse him of being a Republican. People would accuse him of being in cahoots with Jefferson. And it just really sort of underscores how he really tried to serve the American people in the way that he thought was best, and he would ignore what he thought was bad advice. He's a lawyer. That's what lawyers do. They can see both sides of the issue and argue one if they need to. Right. Well, that's true. That's how it's true. That is true. a major event happens, which is the death of George Washington. Police, 1799, George Washington passes away.

It was a surprise. He wasn't a sick man. And suddenly we're dealing with the ending of the father of the nation. Quite a mourning to oversee, isn't it? Yeah, it was. And I think, you know, for George Washington, he had really, to put it simply, not completely accurately, in a sense that like a love-hate relationship. I mean, he didn't, he didn't.

It wasn't it. He didn't hate him, but he envied him in the sense that he knew he could never be like George Washington. But what is interesting, and this is where, you know, Adams, I think, is just such an amazing American that, you know, basically, you would not have had a George Washington if you didn't have John Ames. John Adams is the one that recommended that Washington be the general of the American army over John Hancock, his fellow Bostonian. And he also is the one that despite being on the committee advocated that Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence because he knew that Jefferson could work wonders with a pen. And so Adams always felt that he just never was quite Washington or Franklin. And so, you know, I think on the one hand, he might have seen it as an opportunity to sort of get beyond the shadow of Washington. but the timing of it, he didn't really have much time in terms of his presidency, where then he would, of course, then preceded another giant in the form of Thomas Jefferson.

No, he's really stuck between the two, and he was aware of that. And he was aware of his own greatness. He was vain in that way. And speaking of vanity, he's very disturbed by the fact that he's not reelected. He gets beaten by his own vice president, Thomas Jefferson. And this really leaves a scar for him. He really wanted that second term, didn't he? Yeah, he did.

And again, maybe, you know, to. your point. I hadn't really thought about this before, but, you know, it would have been a presidency without Washington around. He could have kind of risen above that, but also for his own ego, he wanted it, and it was a rejection. And I remember something that George H.W. Bush said in 1992 when he says, there's nothing as personal as being rejected at the polls. And, you know, and with John Adams, he would have felt it keenly. And he felt that because, you know, basically he lost, not only because the alien sedition acts, that just ended up being bad politics for the Federalists, but then the Federalists really turned against him,

especially the Hamiltonians. And that really led to his defeat. The Federalist Party was divided. And Hamilton was calling Adams a lunatic, among other things, and he just cannot overcome that. It's this divine intervention thing. Through these presidencies, we seem to be taught the ultimate lessons of how this country will flourish or fail. But in this case, you have, George Washington is begged by many to go on to become the third term and not leave the office. And he says, no, I got to leave.

Whereas in John Adams, we find out we can kick a president out. And that's a really valuable. Right. That's right. And so things happen very quickly in this country, relatively speaking. And in Adams, we get great lessons of how difficult the job is, what is really required of the job. And he's an incredible lens on the day-to-day life and the difficulties and the challenges of. this incredible job. He ends up dying at the age of 90 in 1826 on July 4th, which is an amazing poetic end to this career, having founded a nation, having run a nation, and that's not all.

He dies on the same day as Thomas Jefferson. These two men who had everything to do with a declaration of independence, with every institution and document of the founding of this nation, end up dying on the same day. I suppose it's the good fortune of growing up in a country that has been around for a long time, the history seems to teach us lessons all the time, and they really are very relevant, these individuals who play such an important role. It is absolutely remarkable,

and contemporaries at the time saw it as a good omen for the country, that it was something that orchestrated by God, which, you know, this is a mark of favor. People at the time also, like us, saw it as just this absolutely remarkable thing that these two giants died on the 50th anniversary, and it is fitting. And it also is interesting because, you know, in Adams' later years, he ended up starting to lean a little toward the Republicans, you know, Madison, Monroe.

And in that way, Jefferson and Adams began to sort of become realigned in many respects. Although they did have deep disagreements, but in their friendship in those letters, they decided not to go there. Well, Jefferson decided not to go there. And Adams had to kind of accept that because Jefferson valued the friendship so much. just did not want to aggravate it with digging up the old politics. But it is absolutely remarkable. Thank you so much. Professor Christopher Jay Young. Really nice to meet you. Chris, and I hope we see you again.

Thank you, Don. I appreciate it. Thank you for joining us on another episode of American History Hit. Please hit like and follow wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to leave a glowing review. We'll be examining every presidency in America's history with a new episode every two weeks. If you have any ideas for episodes on different subjects, we'd love to hear from you. Send us an email, and we promise to consider it at A-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-L-E-N-N-E-N-N.