John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Essay

The 1800 elections between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were characterized by negative campaigns of two different visions of America, making it the most fiercely, contentious and bitter partisan elections in the history of the United States (The Mag, 2012). For the first time in American history, the president, John Adams found himself running against Thomas Jefferson, his Vice president. The Federalists under John Adams yearned for a thriving manufacturing sector and a strong central government whiles the democratic- republicans under Thomas Jefferson envisioned an agrarian republic based on the ideals of yeoman farmer (The Mag, 2012). For 1800 elections, I would have been Jefferson's man despite his flaws.

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Thomas Jefferson had a strong defect in his temperament, and in the eyes federalists, he was a deceitful fool, dictator and naive about revolutionary France (Reynolds, 2016). He neither had the sensibility and gentleness of a woman nor the firmness of force of a man. Besides, people from his party labeled him as the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, a criminal, an atheist, weakling, and a hypocrite who wrote beautiful words on human rights while at the same time abusing his slaves (Reynolds, 2016). Any sane or decent man could have been more fit than Jefferson, but he was an able politician. He knew how to service the nation and make the government work (Reynolds, 2016).

Although Jefferson cannot be compared to Gorge Washington, he was skilled at governance but wrong-headed. His policies were bad and combined with an un-Christian deist they led to bloody terror and chaos to the United States through civil wars such as the useless war in 1812 (The Mag, 2012). Therefore, having Jefferson as the president would warn robbery, murder, rape and the air would be crammed with howling of the distraught, the nation black with crimes and the soil soaked with blood. However, Jefferson recognized what he was doing because he knew how to do the job.

The primary factor that increased Jefferson's odds to become the president was the general mood of the country. Americans favored Jefferson to any Federalist. The public discontent had risen against Adams presidency because of he attacked peoples rights in the Alien and Sedition Acts; he looked to expand of the U.S. Navy and army, he introduced new taxes and deficit spending in 1798 (The Mag, 2012). Adams was ridiculed by the people from his party and by the Jeffersonian-Republicans from the opposition party. For example, the Alien and Sedition Acts was a significant point of contention during the 1800 elections. John Adams signed the Act into law in 1798 (Reynolds, 2016). The Act included the criminalization of false statements critical of the federal government and made it difficult for immigrants to become US citizens. This provision was aimed to attack the Democratic-Republican opposition that had been sharply critical of federalists and Adams. Therefore, Jefferson presented a robust theory of the Constitution that challenged the federal laws enacted under Adam's presidency as unconstitutional and violating the First Amendment right to free speech (Reynolds, 2016). Besides, most of the federalists also opposed his Presidency.

Just like Alexander Hamilton who put his enemy, Jefferson as a president through his decisive vote, better a qualified and competent man with bad politics than Adam, an egotistic demagogue with no values (Reynolds, 2016). It is better to have an enemy as the head of the government or have a person with wrong values but have experience than to have an individual whose values are personal affluence and cannot be opposed.

References

Reynolds, J. M. (2016). Thomas Jefferson was the Worst and I Would Have Voted For Him. Retrieved March 7, 2018, from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/eidos/2016/05/thomas-jefferson-was-the-worst-and-i-would-have-voted-for-him/

The Mag. (2012, September 12). Adams vs. Jefferson: The Birth of Negative Campaigning in the U.S. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from https://millercenter.org/president/jefferson/campaigns-and-elections