Alien And Sedition Acts

The war fever made the political parties even more divided. People did not trust immigrants. Federalists thought the immigrants would back the Republicans. Congress passed the alien act that raised the time to live in the U.S. to be nationalized from 5 to 14 years (9 years longer) and gave the president the power to deport or imprison any alien he considered dangerous. People thought this was unfair, so Congress passed the sedition act (sedition is activity designed to overthrow government) that harshly limited free speech by making it illegal to write and say anything insulting, false, or with “bad intent” about the government. This law convicted about fourteen people, mostly Republican writers and newspaper editors (and one drunk who was

The Federalists mostly were the ones supporting the acts. Congress at that time was Federalist majority because the president, John Adams, was a Federalist. This made it so even if all of the Republicans voted no on the alien acts and sedition acts, which were clearly designed to harm the strength of their party, the acts would still pass. This is indeed what happened. The leaders of the political parties at that time were Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
The acts were passed after the XYZ affair. At this time, many federalists wanted the President, John Adams, to declare war on France. Adams refused, but started the building of an army and enforced a land tax to pay for it. This caused what Republican party leader Thomas Jefferson called a “War Fever”. The war fever made people distrust immigrants, and the alien acts were finally passed in the year 1798. The three alien acts and sedition act were passed in the summer of

in the congress building because that is where congress meets to discuss new bills, which eventually become acts or laws. The alien and sedition acts were enforced all over the U.S., but areas with many Republican supporters were affected the most because the acts were directed at immigrants and Republican supporters. One place where someone was tried and arrested for violating the Sedition law was Vermont.
The alien act was passed because people did not want the “dangerous” French I their country because of the French revolution (Not unlike Trump’s reaction to Muslims because of ISIS). People started to speak out against the government, specifically the Federalists. In reaction to this, the government (Federalist majority) released the Sedition act, making it illegal to say or publish anything false or with “bad intent” about the