True enough.
Actually, not true at all.
The Sedition Act did not criminalize criticism of the Federal government.
What it did was effectively criminalize libel against the Federal government - as if the Federal government was a individual who could be injured by libelous publications.
It wasn't a good law and Jefferson was right in allowing it to expire - but don't let's pretend that it was something different than it was.
From what I’ve read Adams merely signed that law but was not the man behind it.
I’ve also read that Adams was NOT a political animal (as another poster stated earlier) and that was one of his difficulties in dealing with others. I believe he also inherited a cabinet and was not ready for the political games that were played and he had no initial objection to the composition of that cabinet.