Free America's Greatest 19th Century Presidents by Charles River Editors Page B

was important to entertain guests. Through her role during both Jefferson’s presidency and her husband’s, Dolley is widely credited for defining some of the modern characteristics of the role of First Lady.
     

     
    Dolley Madison
     
    The Adams Presidency
     
    Madison left Congress in 1797, just as John Adams was assuming the Presidency.  Adams’s victory over Thomas Jefferson represented a double blow to Madison. The Massachusetts lawyer had seemingly defied Madison’s belief that Virginians would dominate the Presidency.  Worse, Adams was a staunch Federalist and was a Hamilton ally.
     
    Madison's relations with President Adams quickly deteriorated.  The major item on the Adams policy docket involved relations with France, which was upset with American support for Great Britain and was threatening retaliation.  Jefferson and Madison, strong supporters of France, criticized the Federalists for nearly bringing the nation to war, but Adams and Federalists saw this vocal opposition as treasonous, as though issues of foreign policy were not open to criticism. In 1798, the Federalist-controlled Congress passed four bills to curb vocal opposition to the Administration, and they became collectively known the Alien and Sedition Acts.  Individually, they were the Naturalization Act, the Alien Enemies Act, the Alien Act and the Sedition Act.  The Naturalization Act required residents in the U.S. to wait 14 years before becoming citizens.  The Alien Enemies Act gave the President the sole power to expel foreigners who he deemed dangerous to national security.  The Alien and Sedition Acts, together, targeted treasonous conspiracies and forbade criticism of Federal officeholders made with “intent to defame.”
     
    The Alien and Sedition Acts were targeted directly at the Democratic-Republicans who the Federalists thought were verging on treason with their continued criticism of the Federalist-operated government.  Once in effect, the only people convicted were Democratic-Republicans who opposed the country's “Quasi-War” naval battles with France. Madison and Jefferson saw these bills as a severe infringement of the Bill of Rights he had authored.  How could the Congress pass a bill that expressly prohibited certain types of speech? 
     
    Together with Thomas Jefferson, Madison led the opposition to the very unpopular bills.  Though he did not hold a position in Congress, he was still an enormously respected national figure, especially in the South.  Madison and Jefferson authored the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, the first major political documents advocating the rights of the states to nullify federal laws that the states believed were unconstitutional.  Citing this doctrine of “Nullification,” various states in both the North and South asserted the states’ rights to consider federal laws invalid. The Resolutions sought to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts within those states, and the Democratic-Republican-controlled Legislatures of both states approved the Resolutions. Ironically, Northern states turned Madison’s words against him while discussing nullification during Madison’s presidency and the War of 1812, and about 60 years later, Southern states would take nullification one step further to outright secession, leading to the Civil War.
     
    In opposing the Acts, Jefferson and Madison also ignited a Constitutional crisis, but they managed to rally the Democratic-Republican Party against the Federalists and, especially, John Adams.  In the election of 1800, the Democratic-Republicans were victorious, though not after some electoral troubles.  Because of an elector’s mistake, the Election resulted in a tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr, one of Madison’s friends who had actually played a role in introducing Madison to Dolley. Eventually, Hamilton persuaded Federalist supporters of his in the House to support Jefferson over Burr, who he personally detested. Madison, a loyal