I know the Quasi War doesn't reach the level of the Civil War or WWII but in hindsight it does seem pretty important.

Didn't the Act come from Congress rather than the Adams administration unlike many controversial policies from Lincoln and Roosevelt?

If the answer is that historians' views of Adams have been softening in recent years why was it previously so "hard?

Edit: To elaborate, off the top of my head I would say policies like Lincoln suspending the writ of habeas corpus or FDR's Executive Order 9066 which lead to Japanese internment. While these acts are often cited as low points in the respective presidencies they don't seem to weigh as heavily on overall assessments of their administrations.