ceiving this mournful intelligence, Congress, then in session at
Philadelphia, passed the following resolution:--

"Resolved, That the Speaker's chair should be shrouded in black; that the
members should wear black during the session, and that a joint committee,
from the Senate and the House, be appointed to devise the most suitable
manner of paying honor to the memory of the Man, first in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

Testimonials of sorrow were exhibited, and funeral orations and eulogies
were delivered, throughout the United States. The Father of his Country
slept in death, and an entire people mourned his departure!

On assuming the duties of the Presidency, the elder Adams found the
finances of the country in a condition of the most deplorable prostration.
To sustain the government in this department, it was deemed indispensable
to establish a system of direct taxation, by internal duties. This
produced great dissatisfaction throughout the Union. An "alien law" was
passed, which empowered the President to banish from the United States,
any foreigner whom he should consider dangerous to the peace and safety of
the country. And a "sedition law," imposing fine and imprisonment for "any
false, scandalous, and malicious writing against the government of the
United States, or either house of Congress, or the President."

These measures are not justly chargeable to John Adams. They were not
recommended nor desired by him; but were brought forward and urged by Gen.
Hamilton and his friends. Nevertheless upon Mr. Adams was heaped the odium
they excited. The leading measures of his administration--the
demonstration against France; the standing army; the direct taxation; the
alien and sedition laws--all tended to injure his popularity with the mass
of the people, and to destroy his prospects of a re-election to the
presidency. The perplexities he was compelled to encounter during his
administration, may be conceived on perusal of his language in a letter
dated March 17, 1797:--

"From the situation where I now am, I see a scene of ambition beyond all
my former suspicions or imaginations; an emulation which will turn our
government topsy-turvy. Jealousies and rivalries have been my theme, and
checks and balances as their antidotes, till I am ashamed to repeat the
words; but they never stared me in the face in such horrid forms as at
present. I see how the thing is going. At the next elect