He was stabbed in the back by Jefferson. He should be a lot better regarded than he is.

Grossly underrated and not given nearly enough credit in the history books for his notable accomplishments in the interests of peace. Achieved peace with honor and managed to avert military conflict with France. Given the nation's relatively weak military stature at the time, this must be seen as a major accomplishment that allowed the nation to continue to grow and expand free of military conflict. The nation's lack of military prowess and youth made us unprepared for another major war with a European power less than two decades following the American Revolution. The significance of Adams' accomplishment in averting this conflict must not be ignored. Critics often bash Adams for his approval of the Alien & Sedition Acts, but he did sign the acts into law in good faith and acted reasonably in implementing them. Unfortunately, Adams continues to be overlooked when examining greatness in presidential leadership mostly due to the reverence with which his predecessor is remembered and the brilliance of his successor. This has resulted in Adams being known simply as the man who came in between the two. Oddly enough, his inclusion in the one-termer category is probably the main reason he is so often overlooked, given that his predecessor and successor both served two terms. Ultimately, Adams left the nation in peace with a tremendous window of opportunity for American prosperity for years to come.

He was strong during the early days of the country. But his presidency was weak. The Alien & Sedition Acts began the collapse of the Federalist party and what was with the undeclared naval war with France? One cool thing he did was he fired federal judges all of the time - something no one has the balls to do now, especially since we now live in a dictatorship of the judiciary. Most people do not know that the executive and legislative branches have the power to eliminate any federal court except the Supreme Court - people have forgotten because James Madison was the last president to do it. When a judge or court ruling upset him, Adams just got rid of that particular court and replaced it with one that would see things his way. He did this something like 150 times. Just imagine the fuss if Bush just closed down the 9th Circus and replaced it with another friendlier court. That sort of thing would put an end to left and right wing judicial activism! And it would be completely constitutional.