The Pros And Cons Of George Washington The Alien And Sedition Act

The United States has had major changes since its establishment. This country has been through a lot of diversity and plenty of ups and downs in order to get to where we are now. We’ve seen a lot of contributions from different people and events that had advantages and disadvantages to come with. For example, our first president George Washington who played a key role in the early development of this country along with the Louisiana Purchase that helped the country double in size, or whether it was negative like the XYZ Affair and the Alien and Sedition acts that caused uproar and outrage to people. Altogether these events brought us what we have today.

One key figure that helped bring growth to this country would be George Washington. Washington

These acts were passed by our second president John Adams and overall violated the first amendment and were unconstitutional. “The Sedition Act made it a crime for American citizens to "print, utter, or publish...any false, scandalous, and malicious writing" about the government.” (archives.gov) These acts raised the number of years an immigrant had to wait in order to vote from 5 to 14. They also restricted the activities of foreign residents and limited their freedom of speech. If not obeyed you would be put in jail or deported. The Alien and Sedition Acts hurt the country and were definitely negative. It was very unfair and like said before violated the constitution. People were not allowed to speak their minds and have said their own opinions. These acts were unconstitutional and not what embodied the United States' message of freedom to

The XYZ Affair also took place while John Adams was in office and was a confrontation between the French and the United States. It was a failed negotiation between France and America in the late 18th century. France and America already had some built-up friction over the years so President John Adams decided to send a 3 member delegation to try to restore peace between the two countries. “...fully instructed to enter on such amicable discussions and to give such candid explanations as might happily remove the discontents and suspicions of the French government and vindicate the conduct of the United States. For this purpose, he selected from among his fellow citizens a character whose integrity, talents, experience, and services had placed him in the rank of the most esteemed and respected in the nation.” (XYZ Affair Excerpts) Like said in this excerpt the 3 member delegation was sent to try to help gain trust between the two countries. This attempt at forming an alliance did not go as planned and Frances’ foreign minister told the agents that in order to be seen they would have to pay him a hefty amount of money. Once this message made its way to America it caused an outrage. It began as a negotiation to agree to protect U.S. shipping but then ended in violence causing the Quasi-War. The XYZ Affair was also a cause of the civil war which was detrimental to the country. The XYZ Affair had no pros to come