The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed. 2002) online. Adams initially avoided becoming directly involved in politics, instead focusing on building his legal career. Adams supported the Jay Treaty, but it proved unpopular with many in the United States, contributing to a growing partisan split between the Federalist Party of Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson. Adams had long feared that the United States would enter a war it could not win against Britain, and by early 1812 he saw such a war as inevitable due to the constant British attacks on American shipping and the British practice of impressment. Stevenson, an ally of Jackson, expected that the committee chairmanship would keep Adams busy defending the tariff even while the Jacksonian majority on the committee would prevent Adams from accruing any real power. As chairman of the committee charged with writing tariff laws, Adams became an important player in the Nullification Crisis, which stemmed largely from Southern objections to the high rates imposed by the Tariff of 1828.