What Was The Difference Between John Adams And The Federalists
After a hard fought battle in the election of 1800, John Adams and the Federalists lost to Thomas Jefferson, a Republican. After this defeat, the Federalists wanted to retain as much power as they could. So, before Jefferson and the other Republicans entered office, Adams passed the Judiciary Act of 1801.
The act made a series of specific changes to the Judiciary system, that would leave it dominated by Federalists. It reduced the amount of Supreme Court justices from six to five and removed their responsibility of what is known as riding the circuit. Riding the circuit meant that the justices would travel and oversee other federal court cases. The act ended this, and instead created six federal circuit courts around the country, which were to be run by sixteen new federal judges. This gave the Federalists more power because these judges were to be handpicked by President Adams, under the approval of the Federalist dominated Congress. …show more content…
This is because the act was passed just before the end of his presidency, and it is said that Adams appointed many of the judges at midnight before Jefferson’s inauguration. Along with choosing the new judges, Adams made another move so that Federalists could further control the Judicial system. He appointed his Secretary of State, John Marshall, to serve as the next Chief Justice. Doing this further shut Jefferson out from the Judiciary system, leaving all of the power in the hands of the Federalists. Adams specifically felt that it was necessary because Marshall told him that by controlling the Judiciary system, the Federalists would upset Jefferson’s plans as that was the only branch of government that he wouldn’t have access to. Adams didn’t initially want to choose Marshall as the Chief Justice. However, after John Jay declined the position, Adams turned to Marshall who
The act made a series of specific changes to the Judiciary system, that would leave it dominated by Federalists. It reduced the amount of Supreme Court justices from six to five and removed their responsibility of what is known as riding the circuit. Riding the circuit meant that the justices would travel and oversee other federal court cases. The act ended this, and instead created six federal circuit courts around the country, which were to be run by sixteen new federal judges. This gave the Federalists more power because these judges were to be handpicked by President Adams, under the approval of the Federalist dominated Congress. …show more content…
This is because the act was passed just before the end of his presidency, and it is said that Adams appointed many of the judges at midnight before Jefferson’s inauguration. Along with choosing the new judges, Adams made another move so that Federalists could further control the Judicial system. He appointed his Secretary of State, John Marshall, to serve as the next Chief Justice. Doing this further shut Jefferson out from the Judiciary system, leaving all of the power in the hands of the Federalists. Adams specifically felt that it was necessary because Marshall told him that by controlling the Judiciary system, the Federalists would upset Jefferson’s plans as that was the only branch of government that he wouldn’t have access to. Adams didn’t initially want to choose Marshall as the Chief Justice. However, after John Jay declined the position, Adams turned to Marshall who