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Alien And Sedition Act Essay

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Recommended: Were the Alien and Sedition Acts constitutional or unconstitutional

The Alien and Sedition Acts were laws that President John Adams and the congress passed on 1798. These laws intended to stop Democratic-Republicans from gaining power. The first act, the Naturalization Law, mandated that any resident, in order to become a citizen of the United States of America, would have to live in the country for fourteen years instead of five. Another, The Enemy Aliens law, gave Adams the power to expel and imprison any enemy of the United States. The Sedition law claimed that it was illegal to talk negatively or criticize the government. Each one of these laws, created by Adams, had a wide impact on the United States Nation. I would categorize these laws as some repressive measures over enacted by the government of the …show more content…

Laws like these make me think of how selfish Adams really was and the focus that he had on keeping his presidency. I believe is very irrational that a resident of any country should have live in the same for more than 14 years to be eligible to become a citizen. After reading about this laws, I have a different understanding of how things used to rule back in those days under the control of Adams and have come to the realization that the government that we have today and the laws are better compared to the ones enforced by Adams during his presidency. Today’s laws are far more rational and acceptable compared to the ones in this time period.
One of the reasons why I disagree with the Alien and Sedition acts is the fact that they gave the president power towards anyone considered dangerous to the wealth fair of the country, even if they were not dangerous at all. The sedition act, targeting republican activity, would imprison anyone conspiring to oppose to any laws or presenting opposition. These laws helped stop immigrants from voting for the Democratic-Republicans. The acts were against American freedom because they would not allow any citizen to have freedom of

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