I was just reading about Adams, Jefferson and the Phony War with France. This is the sort of verse that would have been heard on the street during that period as commentary about Adams' interests and relations with England. Jefferson's federalists were pro-French and Adams leaned toward England.
Despite the copyright date of the song, I would not be at all surprised to find that my surmise is correct. Many folk songs hae been copyrighted and played with by "collectors."