eep the nation out of war with France. He secured peace once Napoleon came into power in 1799. The resentment of the population toward France jeopardized this treaty. The Federalist majority in Congress decided to pass the Alien and sedition acts in order to weaken the supporters of war with France (mainly the Republicans). Adams himself was against these laws. These measures were hated. Some of the extreme measures taken to combat them were the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions. These measures tried to say that the laws were unconstitutional. When the time of the next election came the people of the nation had a choice of either maintaining the ways of the Federalists or vote for Jefferson and the republicans. The people, who were mostly farmers at the time, saw the threat to the common man's rights and so they voted Jefferson and other Republicans into office.This was probably the only thing that the federalist ever really messed up. They made the country strong but then went too far and people took them out of the national picture. The federalist party would never see such strong days again. Its power dwindled down slowly until the party vanished from the national picture in 1816. Federalists after 1801Although no longer influential in Congress the federalist remained in control in several states. Some states had federalists in office as far down as 1820. This wasn't though what kept the federalist ideals in America.John Marshall, chief justice of supreme court, began his tenure in 1801. Justice Marshall was a steadfast Federalist. He maintained the Federalist ways long after the party seized to exist. Decision after decision chief Marshall declared the central government supreme to the state. He stretched the constitution far in seeing that the states yield rights to the federal government. He maintained this for 34 years, shaping the loose collection of states into a solid National Union. Another way that the Federalist ideals were...
