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The Presidency of John Adams

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The Presidency of John Adams Section 4 Step-by-Step Instruction Make Haste to Wage War SECTION SECTION “We must make haste to wage war, or we shall be lost. Something energetic and decisive must be Review and Preview 4 done soon. Congress fiddles while our Rome is Students have read about the course set burning. America . can interdict [prohibit] France for the nation by President Washington. the ocean.” They will now read how foreign pres- sures affected President John Adams’s —Fisher Ames, urging war with France, 1798 administration. ᮤ French ship attacking an American ship Section Focus Question The Presidency of John Adams How did problems with France Objectives Why It Matters John Adams succeeded Washington as intensify the split between the •Discuss the reasons for tensionbetween the President. He struggled to reduce the country’s divisions Federalists and Republicans? United States and France. and to steer a neutral course in foreign policy. Before you begin the lesson for the day, • Describe the main provisions of the Alien and Section Focus Question: How did problems with France write the Section Focus Question on the Sedition acts. intensify the split between the Federalists and Republicans? board. (Lesson focus: Political divisions grew • Explain how controversy arose over states’ bitter during the presidency of John Adams, as rights. Troubles With France he struggled to keep peace with France.) Adams immediately faced a crisis over relations with Reading Skill France. The French were angered by U.S. neutrality in the war between France and Britain. France had hoped for U.S. Prepare to Read Identify Analogies In an analogy, two pairs support. Had not French assistance been the key to success of items are connected with the same sort of in the American Revolution? Why didn’t Americans show comparison. For example, both pairs might Build Background their gratitude by helping the French now? compare synonyms, or words with similar Knowledge L2 The Jay Treaty only increased tensions with France. As the meanings. You must understand the comparison Ask students to preview the headings and between the first pair in order to complete the French saw it, the treaty put the United States on Britain’s side. visuals in the section. Use the Give One, comparison between the second pair. Some France reacted late in 1796 by snubbing a U.S. diplomat. More- Get One strategy (TE, p. T25) to help stu- common types of analogies are cause-effect, over, the French continued to attack American merchant ships. antonyms, and synonyms. dents create a list of what they predict they The XYZ Affair In 1797, Adams sent a new three-person will learn. mission to France. Agents of the French government Key Terms demanded that the United States pay a bribe of $250,000. Set a Purpose alien nullify The agents also wanted the United States to lend France I Read each statement in the Reading sedition states’ rights several million dollars. Readiness Guide aloud. Ask students to The Americans said they would pay “not a sixpence [a mark the statements True or False. coin worth six pennies].” Later, that statement led to the slogan, “Millions for defense, but not one sixpence for Teaching Resources, Unit 3, tribute [a forced payment].” Reading Readiness Guide, p. 20 The bribe attempt was a sensation when it became public. I Have students discuss the statements in Because the names of the French agents were kept secret, they pairs or groups of four, then mark their were called X, Y, and Z. The incident became known as the worksheets again. Use the Numbered XYZ Affair. Heads strategy (TE, p. T24) to call on 298 Chapter 8 Launching a New Nation students to share their group’s perspec- tives. The students will return to these worksheets later. Differentiated Instruction L3 L3 Advanced Readers Gifted and Talented Group Activity Form small groups to point. Students should consider the fears work together to create a media campaign and concerns that arose as people learned to persuade people to support or oppose the details of the affair. Campaigns should President Adams’s handling of the XYZ also take into account that although Affair. Assign a position for each group. Adams was a Federalist, all Federalists did Have each group create a button, a print not support his decisions. Have students advertisement, and a one-minute present their work to the class. announcement to communicate its view- 298 Chapter 8 War Fever The XYZ Affair caused an outbreak of war fever in Identify Analogies the United States. Many Federalists demanded that Adams ask The phrase war fever is an Teach Congress to declare war on France. analogy. Think about what having a fever does to a person’s With war fever rising, Adams asked Congress to increase the size body. How is that similar to what Troubles With France of the army and rebuild the navy. It did both, thus enhancing the the desire for war might do to the power of the central government. Adams also convinced Congress to country? p. 298 create a separate department of the navy. Between 1798 and 1800, the Instruction L2 United States fought an undeclared naval war with France. I Nonetheless, the President and many other Americans opposed a Vocabulary Builder Before teaching full-scale war. To avoid war, Adams sent a new mission to France. this section, preteach the High-Use Napoleon Bonaparte, France’s dictator, was busy dealing with war in Words duration and provoke using the Europe. In 1800, he agreed to stop seizing American ships. strategy on TE p. T21. President Adams had avoided war. But the agreement angered Key Terms Have students complete the leaders of his own Federalist Party, especially the pro-British See It–Remember It chart for the Key Hamilton. This disapproval weakened Adams politically. Terms in this chapter. Still, Adams was satisfied. He told a friend that he wanted his I tombstone to read: “Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself Read Troubles with France aloud with the responsibility of peace with France in the year 1800.” students, using the Structured Silent Reading strategy (TE, p. T22). How did Adams settle differences with France? I Ask: What issues caused increased ten- sion in the United States between 1793 The Alien and Sedition Acts and 1797? (the failure of the United States The war fever deepened the split between Federalists and Repub- to ally itself with France during the war licans. Federalists’ fear of revolutionary France spilled over into a between France and Britain; Jay’s Treaty) mistrust of immigrants. Federalists suspected them of bringing in Ask: Why did the XYZ Affair anger dangerous ideas and feared that they would back the Republicans. Americans so much? (The United States had approached France to negotiate, and The Five-Headed Monster Americans felt that France had responded unfairly.) I Ask: Why do you think the Federalists The five-headed were angry at Adams for avoiding war monster represents with France? (Students may suggest that the French France’s attack on American merchant ships government. and the XYZ Affair angered Americans. The three American Also, the Federalists tended to support Brit- representatives declare, ain in that country’s struggles with France.) "Cease bawling, Monster! We will not give you Independent Practice sixpence." Have students begin filling in the study guide for this section. Interactive Reading and Notetaking Study Guide, Chapter 8, (a) Explain What does the five-headed Section 4 (Adapted Version also available.) creature want? The XYZ Affair stirred anti-French feeling in (b) Detect Points of View What opinion the United States. This 1798 cartoon shows a do you think the cartoonist has of the Monitor Progress five-headed creature demanding a bribe French government? What evidence from the three American representatives (at left). supports your view? As students fill in the Notetaking Study Guide, circulate and make sure individuals understand how Adams dealt with the Section 4 The Presidency of John Adams 299 tensions between the United States and France. Provide assistance as needed. Answers Use the information below to teach students this section’s high-use words. Reading Skill fevers spread High-Use Word Definition and Sample Sentence throughout a person’s body, as the desire for war spread throughout the country duration, p. 300 n. length of time He compromised to avoid Civilians faced hardships for the duration of the war. war. provoke, p. 301 v. to cause to anger; to excite; to cause an action When France seized U.S. ships, it must have known that its actions Reading Political Cartoons (a) money would provoke great anger among the American people. from the Americans (b) The cartoonist has a negative view of the French government; he drew the country as a monster. Chapter 8 Section 4 299 The Alien and Sedition Acts p. 299 New Life for a Debate Arguments for States’ Rights Arguments for Federal Power Passage of the Alien and The federal government Sedition acts renewed the States’ Rights derives its power from debate over federal versus p. 300 state power. Jefferson and rights given to it by the Madison wrote the states. Instruction L2 Kentucky and Virginia Because the states created I Read The Alien and Sedition Acts aloud resolutions in defense of states’ rights. Critical the United States, individual with students. Thinking: Detect Points states have the power to nullify a federal law. I of View According to Have students complete the worksheet defenders of states’ rights in Debating the Alien Act. Ask them to 1798, what could states do if compare and contrast how each party they disliked a federal law? viewed the power of the federal govern- Trouble on the Horizon ment.
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