John Adams

John Adams
1797 - 1801
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Topic.................... Grade

Foreign Policy........... 92 (A-)
Domestic Policy........ 70 (D+)
Economic Policy........ 88 (B+)
Cabinet.................... 74 (C)
Legacy..................... 75 (C)

Final Grade: 79.8 (C+)

This is a tough man to grade, I'll tell you...

His management of the Quasi-War and the lead up to it seem to be without err... he averted all-out war, but made sure that America was as ready as it could be, and thus he got a good grade for Foreign Policy. He lost big-time in Domestic, though, for the massive amount of legislation produced to keep the opposition party silent (Alien and Sedition Acts), and I gave him lower grades in Cabinet for not changing anything from the previous Administration... at all.

Frankly, as the last (only, really) true Federalist Party President, he was almost the "third term" of Washington's Presidency, and for that I gave him "average" marks in legacy. This is painful in the fact that I KNOW the man was a great man... but I'm not sure he was a great President. Good... but not great.