In the (excellent!) book Six Frigates by Ian W. Toll, the author remarks that President John Adams was so unpopular that Alexander Hamilton was giving serious thought to staging a coup d’etat and removing Adams from office by force. Toll doesn’t go into detail on this.
Is there real evidence that Hamilton was thinking of this? Are there letters where he says so? Are there letters where someone else says that he said so? Was it just idle talk, or did he take any meaningful steps, such as recruiting a command group or securing a stockpile of weaponry?
How close was Hamilton to becoming the U.S. equivalent of Napoleon Bonaparte? Was Addams really that hated?
I read one of the recent popular biographies of Adams, but it didn’t seem to mention the idea of a Hamiltonian coup. Is this mainstream history, or pretty much dismissed today?
That was a rumor that went around. It was mostly a political smear.
When tensions were rising with France at the end of the 18th century, the Adams administration decided the United States needed to build up its military. Militia units were called up for service and George Washington was called out of retirement to serve as the General-in-Chief. But Washington was pretty old by this time and he said the only way he could accept the job was if Hamilton, his old aide from the Revolution, was appointed as his second-in-command and ran the day-to-day operations of the army with Washington serving mostly in a ceremonial role.
Thomas Jefferson and his supporters, who opposed Adams, Hamilton, and the Federalists, said this was all a pretext. They said there was no real threat from France (who they trusted too much) and the mobilization was a scheme for Hamilton to have an army at his command so he could seize power.
Their fears (which they may have sincerely believed) were unfounded. All of the evidence is that Adams really did think there was a serious threat of war. And if Hamilton had an ulterior motive it was probably to enhance his reputation with a military command rather than to overthrow the government which he had helped build.
Okay! Thanks!
(Blush! I just noticed I’d spelled it “Addams.” You can tell which family I follow more closely!)