By Sara Georgini, Series Editor, Papers of John Adams

As he crested the midpoint of his presidency, John Adams’ public life exploded in crisis. “My Administration, will not certainly be easy to myself.— It will be happy, however if it is honourable,” he observed to predecessor George Washington on 22 June 1798. Our newest scholarship from the Adams Papers, Volume 23 of the Papers of John Adams, illuminates the host of challenges he faced from March 1798 to June 1799. First and foremost, the second president struggled to make peace with France while accelerating plans for national defense. The bribery fiasco of the XYZ Affair and catastrophic failure of the first mission to France, coupled with privateers’ relentless attacks on American commerce, made that task trickier to accomplish.

When Adams doubled down on his French policy—despite protest from his cabinet and Congress—support flowed in via hundreds of patriotic addresses from all sixteen states in the union. Adams sat down and answered as many as possible, reveling in a wide-ranging dialogue with his fellow citizens about revolutionary legacies, French missteps, and executive power. “Nothing in the course of my Life, has given me a more exquisite pleasure, than the frank acknowledgments from Various quarters,” Adams wrote to Bristol, Penn., residents on 4 My 1798, adding: “Your Freedom and Independence deserve to be maintained at every hazard—”

His popularity peaked quickly. Adams signed off on the Alien and Sedition Acts in July, a legacy-tarnishing set of laws that eroded individual freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. Democratic-Republicans pushed back. They leveraged the new legislation to foment rebellion against the Adams administration. “I apeal to your conscience if it is not to intimidate the people and force them to a compliance with the unjust unreasonable unconstitutional laws,” author Margaret Rodgers Irvin Smith railed to Adams on 25 April 1799, continuing: “There is more power put into your hands than ever ought to be comited to any one man.” Meanwhile, mounting trouble with France called for a more robust army and navy. The implementation of a direct tax to cover military costs sparked episodes of dissent and even local fury, such as Fries’ Rebellion.

In Volume 23 we use 408 documents to tell fresh stories from the founding era that illuminate President John Adams’ role at home and in the world. This period represents the high tide of archival treasure in the Adams Family Papers. With that in mind, we worked hard to amplify and contextualize new voices while capturing the complex political tumult of early America. One story that leapt from the manuscripts was Adams’ pursuit of a trade deal with the revolutionary Black republic of St. Domingue (now Haiti). In his dealings with general Toussaint Louverture, Adams labored to reestablish profitable commerce in the Caribbean by creating a carveout for St. Domingue amid the roiling embargoes of the Quasi War. Elsewhere, Adams welcomed diverse commentary from a vast realm of correspondents, including Christopher McPherson, a free Black religious thinker; Abigail Fellows Cunningham, a Charlestown acquaintance; and trusted confidantes like Tristram Dalton, John Jay, and Adriaan François Van der Kemp.

With reelection hopes still hazy on the horizon, the president prepared for war and planned for peace. This chapter of John Adams’ public life reveals a series of tough balancing acts: Extend diplomacy and fund military buildup. Evade foreign influence and encourage free trade. Protect civil liberties and defend national security. The political ground shifted under Adams’ feet as well. Rejecting the notion that he should act as head of the Federalist Party, he strained to sustain principles of constitutional balance. On 29 March 1798, with the Franco-American alliance in tatters, John Adams laid out his executive view of affairs to attorney general Charles Lee, writing: “If any one entertains the Idea that because I am a president of three votes only, I am in the Power of a Party, they shall find that I am no more so, than the Constitution forces upon me.”

The Adams Papers editorial project at the Massachusetts Historical Society gratefully acknowledges support for this volume from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and the Packard Humanities Institute. All letterpress volumes of The Adams Papers are printed by Harvard University Press.