ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION, 1797-1801.
On the 4th of March, 1797, President Adams was inaugurated. From the
beginning, his administration was embarrassed by political opposition.
Adet, the French minister, urged the government to conclude a league
with France against Great Britain. When the President and Congress
refused, the French Directory began _to demand_ an alliance. On the
10th of March that body issued instructions to French men-of-war to
assail the commerce of the United States. Mr. Pinckney, the American
minister, was ordered to leave France.
[Illustration: John Adams.]
[Sidenote: =Troubles with France.=]
2. These proceedings were equivalent to a declaration of war. The
President convened Congress in extraordinary session. Elbridge Gerry
and John Marshall were directed to join Mr. Pinckney in a final effort
for a peaceable adjustment of the difficulties. But the Directory
refused to receive the ambassadors except upon condition that they
would pay into the French treasury a quarter of a million dollars.
Pinckney answered that the United States had _millions for defense,
but not one cent for tribute_. The envoys were then ordered to leave
the country.
3. In 1798 an act was passed by Congress completing the organization
of the army. Washington was called from his retirement and appointed
commander-in-chief. Six American frigates put to sea, and, in the fall
of 1799 did good service for the country. Commodore Truxtun, in the
_Constellation_, won distinguished honors. On the 9th of February,
while cruising in the West Indies, he attacked the _Insurgent_, a
French man-of-war, carrying forty guns and more than four hundred
seamen. A desperate engagement ensued; and Truxtun gained a complete
victory.
4. Meanwhile, Napoleon Bonaparte had overthrown the Directory of
France and made himself First Consul. He immediately sought peace with
the United States. Three American ambassadors were sent to Paris, in
March of 1800. Negotiations were at once opened, and in the following
September were terminated with a treaty of peace.
[Illustration: Home of Washington at Mount Vernon.]
[Sidenote: =Death of Washington.=]
5. Before the war-cloud was scattered America was called to mourn the
loss of Washington. On the 14th of December, 1799, after an illness
of only a day, the chieftain passed from among the living. All hearts
were touched with sorrow. Congress went in funeral procession to the
German Lutheran church, where General Henry Lee delivered a touching
and eloquent oration. Throughout the world the memory of the great dead
was honored with appropriate ceremonies.
[Sidenote: =Washington City.=]
6. The administration of Adams and the eighteenth century drew to a
close together. The new Republic was growing strong and influential.
The census of 1800 showed that the population of the country had
increased to over five millions. The seventy-five post-offices reported
by the census of 1790 had been multiplied to nine hundred and three;
the exports of the United States had grown from twenty millions to
nearly seventy-one millions of dollars. In December of 1800, Congress
assembled in Washington City. Virginia and Maryland had ceded to the
United States the District of Columbia, a tract ten miles square lying
on both sides of the Potomac. The city was laid out in 1792; and in
1800 the population numbered between eight and nine thousand.
7. With prudent management the Federal party might have retained
control of the government. But much of the legislation of Congress had
been unwise and unpopular. The "Alien Law," by which the President was
authorized to send foreigners out of the country, was specially odious.
The "Sedition Law," which punished with fine and imprisonment the
freedom of speech and of the press, was denounced as an act of tyranny.
Partisan excitement ran high. Mr. Adams and Mr. Charles C. Pinckney
were put forward as the candidates of the Federalists, and Thomas
Jefferson and Aaron Burr of the Democrats. The election was thrown into
the House of Representatives, and the choice fell on Jefferson and
Burr.