What was Thomas Jefferson's reaction to the John Adams' midnight appointments?

Answer 1

Incoming President Thomas Jefferson, leader of the Democratic-Republic Party (formerly called the Anti-Federalists) apparently believed former President John Adams, leader of the Federalist Party, had appointed an excessive number of Federalist Party constituents to new justice of the peace positions under the Organic Act of 1801.

The Organic Act of 1801 removed the District of Columbia from the jurisdictions of Maryland and Virginia, and placed it under the control of Congress. The legislation allowed Adams to nominate an unspecified number of justices of the peace to handle low-level judicial work in the new territory. Adams appointed 42 men.

Due to the last-minute nature of the appointments, the official paperwork commissioning the appointees remained undelivered when Adams left office. Jefferson purportedly found the commissions, discarded 12, reassigned another 5 to members of his own party, and allowed the remaining 25 to be delivered as intended.

William Marbury and three other men whose commissions were never delivered petitioned the US Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus (a court order requiring an official to take a specified action) attempting to compel new Secretary of State James Madison to present the necessary documents. This action resulted in one of the US Supreme Court's most important cases, Marbury v. Madison,(1803).

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