'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 t…