John Adams and the Midnight Judges

Last night's episode of HBO's John Adams covered Adams's one-term presidency, focusing primarily (spoiler alert) on his ultimately successful efforts to avoid full-out war with France and to remain above the fray of partisanship between Hamilton's Federalists and Jefferson's Republicans. Adams is shown firing two cabinet members, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and Secretary of War James McHenry, because both were too in thrall to Hamilton (whom Adams clearly disliked) and to the Federalist Party and too committed (rather openly) to furthering Federalist goals at the expense of the goals of the United States.

Unfortunately, this narrative of "Adams, the Non-Partisan," caused the show to omit what was, indirectly, his long-lasting legacy: The appointment of John Marshall (prominently featured as Adams's second Secretary of State) as Chief Justice and, as his term ended, the appointment of the "Midnight Judges," which together led to Marbury v. Madison. The latter act, in particular, appears to have been a fairly naked example of Adams's Federalist leanings and desire to keep at least part of the national government in Federalist hands.

Admittedly, this is probably too lawyerly an element for a mainstream popular mini-series. Still, it would have been interesting to see a dramatization of Adams's thought processes as he took care of partisan business on his way out the door.