At any rate, Adams gave unrestrained expression to his feelings against Hamilton, and finally Hamilton was aroused to action.

On August 1, 1800, he wrote to Adams demanding whether it was true that Adams had "asserted the existence of a British faction in this country" of which Hamilton himself was said to be a leader.

Adams did not reply.

Hamilton waited until October 1, and then wrote again, affirming "that by whomsoever a charge of the kind mentioned in my former letter, may, at any time, have been made or insinuated against me, it is a base, wicked, and cruel calumny; destitute even of a plausible pretext, to excuse the folly, or mask the depravity which must have dictated it." Hamilton, always sensitive to imputations upon his honor, was not satisfied to allow the matter to rest there.

He wrote a detailed account of his relations with Adams, involving an examination of Adams's public conduct and character, which he privately circulated among leading Federalists.