John Adams, by Charles Willson Peale, 1791-1794.


Oil on canvas of John Admas, head and shoulders, facing right.
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After he took office as the United State's second president in 1797, John Adams led the nation through a Quasi-war with France and struggled with the increasingly bold challenges of his political opponents. The Federalist party's over-reaction to Fries Rebellion infuriated Pennsylvania German voters, whose subsequent support of the Republican party in Pennsylvania may well have cost Adams the presidential election of 1800.