After three largely nonpartisan elections, the first campaign for president, in 1800, pitted Adams against Jefferson. Patriots in the best sense of the word, both men were brilliant, successful lawyers who stood out among the surviving heroes of the American Revolution. Devoted family men, they served their states and country during the war and held high positions in George Washington's administration.
No finer Americans ever faced off for the presidency, yet partisans on both sides immediately went negative. The two best-known authors of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, morphed into opposing party leaders slinging the mud.
Led by Madison, Jefferson's supporters in what would become the Democratic Party portrayed Adams as a crypto-monarchist who would subvert American democracy, establish a state church and perhaps reunite our fledgling republic with England.
It did not matter that Adams had drafted his state's republican constitution or that he hated the British. Democrats pointed to various events from Adams' first term - including passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts and engaging in a sea war with France - to claim that "the foundation of a monarchy is already laid." Adams' vocal support of a strong, almost imperial, presidency and his party's efforts to centralize power in the national government provided further ammunition.
