A new proposal was then drawn up demanding that the Treaty of Alliance of 1778 be superseded and that France pay for its damages to American property. On February 3, the treaty with the reservations passed 22–9 and was signed by Adams.[244][c] News of the peace treaty did not arrive in the United States until after the election, too late to sway the results.[246]
As president, Adams proudly avoided war, but deeply split his party in the process. Historian Ron Chernow writes that "the threat of Jacobinism" was the one thing that united the Federalist Party, and that Adams's elimination of it unwittingly contributed to the party's demise.[247]

Establishing government institutions and move to Washington
Adams's leadership on naval defense has sometimes led him to be called the "father of the American Navy."[248][249] In July 1798, he signed into law An Act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen, which authorized the establishment of a government-operated marine hospital service.[250] In 1800, he signed the law establishing the Library of Congress.[251]
Adams made his first official visit to the nation's new seat of government in early June 1800. 