could not be bled for money through its envoys, at the bidding of
unscrupulous members of the Directory. The situation was for a time
so grave as to incite to war preparations in the United States, and
to threatened naval demonstrations against France. Nor were matters
improved by the enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798),
directed against those deemed dangerous to the peace and safety of the
country, or who, like the more violent members of the Press, published
libels on the Government. The storm which these obnoxious Acts evoked
led to their speedy repeal, though not before Jefferson and Madison
had denounced them as fetters on the freedom of public speech and
infringements of the rights of the people. They were moreover resented
as not being in harmony with the Constitution, as a compact to which
the individual States of the Union were parties, and which Jefferson
especially deemed to be in jeopardy from Federalist legislation.

The result of these agitations of the period, and of breaches, which had
now come about, between the Adams and Hamilton wings of the Federalist
party, showed itself in the Presidential campaign of 1800. Washington,
by this time, had passed from earthly scenes, and the coming nineteenth
century was to bring such changes and developments in the young nation
as few then foresaw or even dreamed of. At this era, when the Adams
Administration was about to close, Jefferson, in spite of his known
liberal, democratic views, was one of the most popular of political
leaders, save with the Federalists, now dwindling in numbers and
influence. He it was who was put forward on the Republican side for the
Presidency, while Adams, still favored by the Federalists and himself
desiring a second term of office, became the Federalist candidate.
Associated with the latter in the contest was Charles C. Pinckney,
of South Carolina, who was named for the Vice-Presidency; while the
Republican candidate for the minor post was Aaron Burr, an able but