'We shall see the reign of witches pass over'

How American democracy survived an administration that targeted immigrants and journalists

John Adams and Alexander Hamilton couldn’t stand each other.

The second president complained to War Secretary James McHenry that Hamilton is “a man devoid of every moral principle—a Bastard, and as much a foreigner as [Swiss-born Albert] Gallatin.”

Hamilton let loose an extraordinary 14,067-word diatribe against Adams, declaring that he did not “possess the talents adapted to the Administration of Government, and that there are great and intrinsic defects in his character.”

Among those defects: “a vanity without bounds, and a jealousy capable of discoloring every object.”

They weren’t from warring political parties. Both were Federalists who had served under President George Washington. Their mutual dislike was as much visceral as it was ideological. “Adams could not bear to be hectored by Hamilton, who could not bear to be patronized by Adams,” wrote biographer Ron Chernow. “These two vain, ambitious men seemed to bring out the worst in each other.”

Yet in policy terms, Adams and Hamilto…