preview

John Adams Essay example

Good Essays

John Adams

John Adams was criticized during his presidency by his enemies as well as his colleagues. Obviously, his reputation as president doesn't really bring a positive thought to ones head. But does John Adams deserve a better reputation as the president of the United States? He just did not do a very good job when it came to picking his cabinet. His colleagues messed up his reputation. On the other hand, a newspaper called the
Aurora, which was publicized in Philadelphia during his presidency, continually heaped abuse upon Adams. They claimed that he was all words, but no action. Most of the country felt this way about him when it came to the issue with the war with France. John Adams was not a very popular president of his time. …show more content…

It is quite obvious that George Washington had a much better cabinet than Adams did. John Adam's cabinet was not nearly as witty or as intelligent than the one of Washington. Obviously, Mr. Adams did not do too good of a job on choosing his colleagues. During John Adam's presidency, he ran into the biggest problem in foreign policy. The French were attacking American shipping. Hoping to resolve the problem, Adams sent Charles Pinckney, who was the United
States minister to France, John Marshall, a Virginian federalist, and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. The mission was a total disaster. Charles Maurice de Tolleyrand-Perigod, the French foreign minister, sent three agents who demanded a bribe of 250,000 dollars as the price for making a deal. The Americans went ballistic. "No, no, not a sixpence" was Charles Pinckney's response to the agents. This later became known as the XYZ affair. The talks of negotiations disappeared and all of a sudden there was the possibility of war. "Millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute" had become the national slogan. Just three months after Adams had become president, he called in congress together for measures of defense to be taken immediately. He did not want to wait any longer. He had asked for a provisional army.(Ellis & Langgeth) He also asked for the officers to be commissioned and for recruiting to begin. However, he did not call for an establishment of a large, professional army. Throughout the two years that

Get Access