One of the most significant problems that plagued John Adams in his term as President was his inability to bring people together.  Adams faced challenges both from within his own party and outside it.  Effectively placing him on an island, this plagued him and limited him to one term.

Adams was never quite comfortable with political labels and factionalization.  Yet, within the post- Washington political discourse, this was the reality into which he entered.  Adams was not comfortable with the Jeffersonian Democratic- Republican model of leadership.  Yet, Adams held more discomfort within the membership of his own party.  His division with Alexander Hamilton, the embodiment of the Federalist brand, impacted his leadership capacity.  Adams found himself fending off the Hamiltonian Federalist partisans as well as the Jeffersonian Republicans.  This put him in isolation when the election of 1800 emerged.  For Adams, the inability to bring people together plagued him throughout his Presidency and proved to be a hurdle that could not be overcome.