OPINION:
While Cheryl K. Chumley does an admirable job of explaining the purpose and importance of the Tenth Amendment, she nevertheless errs badly in relying on the legacy of John Adams to vindicate opposition to domestic political tyranny (“Tyrannical governors are giving the Tenth Amendment a bad name,” Web, Nov. 28). Adams is certainly a heroic historical figure, but as president he committed egregious abuses of executive authority. More specifically, he signed the Alien and Sedition Acts into law, making him guilty of precisely the same tyranny Ms. Chumley attributes to the governors she so thoroughly excoriates.
Indeed, this series of legislation was so offensive that it galvanized both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to author sharp protests in response (the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions). Perhaps even more ironically, Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts into law in 1798, the same year in which he wrote the letter from which Ms. Chumley quotes.
DAVID OTERSEN
Springfield, Va.
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