Sedition Dbq

The American people of today have had it instilled into their minds that they possess certain unalienable rights. Citizens are educated that they have an ability to express their thoughts regarding the world around them, whether or not these thoughts adhere to the beliefs of others, and they are able to attempt and play a part in repairing and amending any aspect of their nation they may consider problematic. Every person within the United States, whether they are native or foreign, is encouraged to take advantage of their rights and abilities in an attempt to better their society. Yet, in 1798, the Alien and Sedition Acts emerged, and were encouraged largely by the Federalist Party in an attempt to squander the desires of people who opposed

The Alien and Seditionn Acts, as aforementioned, were established in 1789, shortly after the ratification of the Constitution on June 21, 1788. In the very first amendment of the constitution, it is stated that “Congress shall make no law respecting... or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…”, and yet the Sedition Act directly opposes this notion by threatening any citizen who publishes a piece criticizing the government with fines or imprisonment, while the Naturalization and Alien Acts, although despicable, are technically not opposing the Constitution. The Federalists, who argued and fought for the ratification of the Constitution, almost immediately instate an act which directly disobeys the first amendment, in a petty attempt to gain leverage on the opposing party, the Democratic-Republicans. Although the Anti-Federalists, who later became the Democratic-Republicans, were those who desired The Bill of Rights, which includes the first amendment, this still does not undermine the hopes of the Federalists to ratify the finished constitution, nor does it excuse the violation of the constitution that the Sedition Act proposes. Thus, the Sedition act displays not only apathy towards the constitution and the effort that went into the documents production, but also displays the apparent hypocrisy of the Federalist Party in exchange for working to silence the

Of the three acts, the Sedition Act was clearly the most harmful to the American people of the time by transgressing upon the constitutional rights of citizens by removing their freedom of the press, through inhibiting progress of America as a government through silencing the people, and by reverting the society back to a power construct similar to that of British rule by instating a jaundiced