New York: Oxford University Press, Freeman, Joanne. Meg Jacobs, William J. Novak, and Julian E. Zelizer, 20— Smith, James Morton. Ithaca, N. Berkin, Carol. New York: Basic Books, Peter McNamara. Sedition Act of [electronic resource]. Other articles in Laws and Proposed Laws, Many recent immigrants and new citizens favored the Republicans. The Alien Enemies Act permitted the government to arrest and deport all male citizens of an enemy nation in the event of war, while the Alien Friends Act allowed the president to deport any non-citizen suspected of plotting against the government, even in peacetime.
Most importantly, Congress passed the Sedition Act, which took direct aim at those who spoke out against Adams or the Federalist-dominated government. The Republican minority in Congress complained that the Sedition Act violated the First Amendment to the Constitution , which protected freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Adams signed the Sedition Act into law on July 14, It was set to expire on March 3, , the last day of his term in office.
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were passed by the legislatures of their respective states in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. Both argued that the federal government did not have the authority to enact laws not specified in the constitution. Matthew Lyon, a Republican congressman from Vermont , became the first person tried under the new law in October Lyon acted as his own attorney, and defended himself by claiming the Sedition Act was unconstitutional, and that he had not intended to damage the government.
Lyon won reelection while sitting in jail, and would later defeat a Federalist attempt to kick him out of the House. Another individual famously prosecuted under the Sedition Act was the Republican-friendly journalist James Callender.
After Jefferson won, Callender demanded a government post in return for his service. All told, between and , U. The prosecutions fueled furious debate over the meaning of a free press and the rights that should be afforded to political opposition parties in the United States. By , all of the Alien and Sedition Acts had been repealed or expired, save for the Alien Enemies Act, which has stayed on the books.
In , Congress amended the act to include women. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. In foreign affairs, the Federalists detested the French Revolution of because it led to mob rule and confiscation of property.
The Republicans supported the French Revolution for its democratic ideals. In , President Washington negotiated a treaty with England to settle outstanding differences between the two countries. The resulting improvement in American-English relations angered the revolutionary French leaders, who were enemies of the English.
In the election of , Federalist John Adams won the most electoral votes to become president. Republican Thomas Jefferson came in second, which made him vice-president.
The 12th Amendment later changed this election method, requiring separate electoral ballots for president and vice-president. Shortly after becoming president, Adams sent diplomats to France to smooth over the bad feelings. When the Americans refused, Mr. X threatened the United States with the "power and violence of France. Many Federalists immediately called for war against France. President Adams, however, only proposed war preparations and a land tax to pay for them. On the defensive, Republicans spoke out against the "war fever.
Neither the United States nor France ever declared war. But the Federalists increasingly accused Jefferson and the Republicans of being a traitorous "French Party. Rumors of a French invasion and enemy spies frightened many Americans. President Adams warned that foreign influence within the United States was dangerous and must be "exterminated. The Federalist majority in Congress quickly passed four laws in to make the United States more secure from alien foreign spies and domestic traitors.
Most of these laws, however, were also intended to weaken Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party. The first law, the Naturalization Act , extended the time immigrants had to live in the United States to become citizens from five to 14 years. Since most immigrants favored the Republicans, delaying their citizenship would slow the growth of Jefferson's party. The Alien Enemies Act provided that once war had been declared, all male citizens of an enemy nation could be arrested, detained, and deported.
If war had broken out, this act could have expelled many of the estimated 25, French citizens then living in the United States. But the country did not go to war, and the law was never used. The Alien Friends Act authorized the president to deport any non-citizen suspected of plotting against the government during either wartime or peacetime.
This law could have resulted in the mass expulsion of new immigrants. The act was limited to two years, but no alien was ever deported under it. The fourth law was the Sedition Act. Its provisions seemed directly aimed at those who spoke out against the Federalists. In general, sedition means inciting others to resist or rebel against lawful authority. In England, "seditious libel" prohibited virtually any criticism of the king or his officials. English common law held that any spoken or written words that found fault with the king's government undermined the respect of the people for his authority.
The U. Sedition Act first outlawed conspiracies "to oppose any measure or measures of the government. Significantly, the act did not specifically protect the vice-president who, of course, was Jefferson. Additional language punished any spoken or published words that had "bad intent" to "defame" the government or to cause the "hatred" of the people toward it. These definitions of sedition were more specific than those found in English common law.
Even so, they were still broad enough to punish anyone who criticized the federal government, its laws, or its elected leaders. Unlike English common law, the Sedition Act allowed "the truth of the matter" to be a defense.
The act also left it to the jury to decide if a defendant had "bad intent.
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