Editing Democratic-Republican Party (section)

===Adams and the Revolution of 1800===
{{Further|Presidency of John Adams}}
[[File:ElectoralCollege1800.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Thomas Jefferson]] defeated [[John Adams]] in the 1800 presidential election, thereby becoming the first Democratic-Republican president.]]

Shortly after Adams took office, he dispatched a group of envoys to seek peaceful relations with France, which had begun seizing American merchantmen trading with Britain after the ratification of the Jay Treaty. The failure of talks, and the French demand for bribes in what became known as the [[XYZ Affair]], outraged the American public and led to the [[Quasi-War]], an undeclared naval war between France and the United States. The Federalist-controlled Congress passed measures to expand the [[United States Armed Forces|American military]] and also pushed through the [[Alien and Sedition Acts]]. These acts restricted speech critical of the government while also implementing stricter naturalization requirements.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=77–78}} Numerous journalists and other individuals aligned with the Democratic-Republicans were prosecuted under the Sedition Act, sparking a backlash against the Federalists.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=80–82}} Meanwhile, Jefferson and Madison drafted the [[Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions]], which held that state legislatures could determine the constitutionality of federal laws.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=78–79}}

In the [[1800 United States presidential election|1800 presidential election]], the Democratic-Republicans once again nominated a ticket of Jefferson and Burr. Shortly after a Federalist caucus re-nominated President Adams on a ticket with [[Charles Cotesworth Pinckney]], Adams dismissed two Hamilton allies from his Cabinet, leading to an open break between the two key figures in the Federalist Party.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=85–87}} Though the Federalist Party united against Jefferson's candidacy and waged an effective campaign in many states, the Democratic-Republicans won the election by winning most Southern electoral votes and carrying the crucial state of New York.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=86, 91–92}}

A significant element in the party's success in New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other east-coast cities were [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irish]] exiles, and other [[Irish Americans|Irish immigrants]], whom the Federalists regarded with distinct suspicion.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carter |first=Edward C. |title=A "Wild Irishman" under Every Federalist's Bed: Naturalization in Philadelphia, 1789-1806 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/987049 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=133 |issue=2 |pages=178–189 |date=1989 |issn=0003-049X |jstor=987049}}</ref><ref name="Gilmore">{{cite book |last1=Gilmore |first1=Peter |last2=Parkhill |first2=Trevor |last3=Roulston |first3=William |title=Exiles of '98: Ulster Presbyterians and the United States |url=https://www.ancestryireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Exiles-lo-res.pdf |publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation |location=Belfast, UK |date=2018 |pages=25–37 |access-date=16 January 2021 |isbn=9781909556621}}</ref> Among these was [[William Duane (journalist)|William Duane]] who in his newspaper, the ''[[Philadelphia Aurora]]'', exposed the details of the [[James Ross (Pennsylvania politician)|Ross Bill]], by means of which the Federalist-controlled Congress sought to establish a closed-door Grand Committee with powers to disqualify [[United States Electoral College|College electors]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Weisberger |first=Bernard A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YXU3KFC9lOcC |title=America Afire: Jefferson, Adams, and the First Contested Election |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-06-211768-7 |pages=235}}</ref> Adams was to name Duane one of the three or four men most responsible for his eventual defeat.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Phillips |first=Kim T. |date=1977 |title=William Duane, Philadelphia's Democratic Republicans, and the Origins of Modern Politics |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20091178 |journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=101 |issue=3 |pages=(365–387) 368 |jstor=20091178 |issn=0031-4587}}</ref>

Jefferson and Burr both finished with 73 electoral votes, more than Adams or Pinckney, necessitating a contingent election between Jefferson and Burr in the House of Representatives.{{efn-la|name=12thA}} Burr declined to take his name out of consideration, and the House deadlocked as most Democratic-Republican congressmen voted for Jefferson and most Federalists voted for Burr. Preferring Jefferson to Burr, Hamilton helped engineer Jefferson's election on the 36th ballot of the contingent election.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=92–94}} Jefferson would later describe the 1800 election, which also saw Democratic-Republicans gain control of Congress, as the "Revolution of 1800", writing that it was "as real of a revolution in the principles of our government as that of [1776] was in its form."{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=97–98}} In the final months of his presidency, Adams reached an agreement with France to end the Quasi-War<ref>{{harvp|Brown|1975}}, pp. 165–166</ref> and appointed several Federalist judges, including Chief Justice [[John Marshall]].<ref>{{harvp|Brown|1975}}, pp. 198–200</ref>