Hamilton wrote to Washington that the Jeffersonians were more dangerous than the French and that they were going to intrigue to sign an alliance with the French. Parallel concerns were voiced by the Jeffersonians against Hamilton and finally Washington. The Jeffersonians feared that the Federalists wanted an alliance with the British ultimately to reunite with the Mother country. It was in this political cauldron that Adams had to operate. Perhaps the greatest heat which Adams had to bear was his support of the notorious Alien and Sedition Acts.
War fever creates the atmosphere of parochialism, fear of others and mob irrationality.
The Alien and Sedition laws grew out of war fever. In fact it appeared as if those who were most vigorous in their support of a war with France intended to use the war as a way of getting rid of political enemies within the United States. The various of the alien and naturalization acts gave the president the authority to deport any alien of his choosing if he concluded that that person was inimical to the interests of the United States in time of war. To gain citizenship would take fourteen years. Another Federalist law was much broader.