Jefferson was made Secretary of State by General Washington, and was at once the head and representative man of the democracy of the country.  There was, however, no organized opposition to the Administration of Washington.  But immediately upon the election of Adams it begun to take shape and form, under the leadership of Jefferson.  The two parties were first known as the Virginia and Massachusetts parties.  Jefferson had been elected Vice-President with Adams, and before the termination of the first year of the Administration the opposition was formidable in Congress.  Governor Wolcott was of opinion that Adams destroyed the Federal party by the unwise policy of his Administration.  He said he was a man of great intellect, but of capricious temper, incapable from principle or habit of yielding to the popular will.  He certainly saw the palpable tendency of public feeling, and must have known its strength:  instead of attempting to go with it, and shape it to the exigencies his party required, he vainly attempted to stem the current, defy it, and control it by law.  He disregarded the earnest entreaties of his best friends, counselling only with the extremists of the Federal party:  the result was the Alien and Sedition Laws.  Pickering warned him, and he quarrelled with him.  He would not conciliate, but punish his political foes.  He loved to exercise power; he did it unscrupulously, and became exceedingly offensive to many of his own party, and bitterly hated by his political enemies.  The Alien and Sedition Laws emanated from the extremists of the Federal party, and were in opposition to the views of Adams himself—­yet he approved them, and determined to execute them.  He knew these laws were in direct opposition to the views and feelings of an immense majority of the people; and with these lights before him, and when he had it in his power to have conciliated the masses, he defied them.

Mr. Adams was unaccustomed to seek or court public favor; his associations had never been with the masses, and he understood very little of their feelings; when these were forced upon him, he received their manifestations with contempt, and uniformly disregarded their teachings.  All these defects of character were seized upon by the opposition, to render odious the Federal party.

Mr. Jefferson placed himself in active opposition, and was known at an early day as the candidate of the opposition to succeed Adams.  Our difficulties with France, and the action of Congress in appointing Washington commander-in-chief of the American forces, brought Washington into contact with Adams on several occasions; and especially when Washington made his acceptance of the office conditional upon the appointment of Hamilton as second in command, Adams thought he had not been respectfully treated, either by Congress or Washington; and there were some pretty sharp letters written by Washington in relation to the course of Adams.