On March 4, 1801, John Adams rose before dawn. It was his last day as president, and he was leaving Washington in defeat.

Adams had no intention of staying for the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson, his political rival whom he’d narrowly defeated four years earlier. He missed his wife, Abigail, who had already departed for their Massachusetts home, and he likely wanted to avoid public attention and questions from reporters. So he departed the newly built White House before first light.

The loss was, in some ways, close. Jefferson had claimed nine states and 73 electoral votes to Adams’s seven states and 65 electoral votes. Yet the popular vote was a different story, with Adams receiving just 39.4%, and the loss must have stung the prideful president.

Adams is remembered fondly by historians today, but he deserved to lose if for no other reason than the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, authoritarian legislation Adams embraced that was used to suppress speech and persecute his political opponents.

The Alien Act empowered the president to deport noncitizens deemed “subjects of foreign adversaries,” but it was the Sedition Act that struck at the very heart of free speech and free press. The act criminalized criticism of the government and public officials, including Adams himself, though not Vice President Jefferson.

Adams wrote lovely things about free speech on America’s path to independence, but once in power, he passed arguably the most draconian federal speech law in U.S. history. And it was no idle threat.

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