A grand jury indicted Lyon for publishing letters in Democratic-Republican newspapers during his reelection campaign that showed “intent and design” to defame the government and President Adams, among other charges. Matthew Lyon, a Republican congressman from Vermont, became the first person tried under the new law in October 1798. Jefferson wrote: “he several states who formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction and that a nullification, by those, of all unauthorized acts….is the rightful remedy.” Were the Alien and Sedition Acts Unconstitutional? James Madison authored the Virginia Resolution in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson, who also authored the Kentucky Resolution.īoth argued that the federal government did not have the authority to enact laws not specified in the Constitution. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were passed by the legislatures of their respective states in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. It was set to expire on March 3, 1801, the last day of his term in office. The Democratic-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.īut the Federalist majority pushed it through, arguing that English and American courts had long punished seditious libel under common law, and that freedom of speech must be balanced with an individual’s responsibility for false statements.Īdams signed the Sedition Act into law on July 14, 1798. ![]() ![]() Most importantly, Congress passed the Sedition Act, which took direct aim at those who spoke out against the president (at the time, Adams) or the Federalist-dominated government.Įven as the bitter debates between the two fledgling political parties were being played out in rival newspapers and other publications (as depicted in the politcal cartoon above), the new law outlawed any “false, scandalous and malicious writing” against Congress or the president, and made it illegal to conspire “to oppose any measure or measures of the government.” Sedition Act Debate And the Alien Friends Act allowed the president to deport any non-citizen suspected of plotting against the government, even in peacetime. The Alien Enemies Act permitted the government to arrest and deport all male citizens of an enemy nation in the event of war. (Many recent immigrants and new citizens favored the Republicans, so the Federalists were eager to exclude as many of them from voting as possible.) citizenship from five years up to 14 years. With the Naturalization Act, Congress increased residency requirements for U.S. With suspicions of enemy spies infiltrating American society, the Federalist majority in Congress passed four new laws in June and July 1798, collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. Writing in June 1798 in the Gazette of the United States, Alexander Hamilton called the Jeffersonians “more Frenchmen than Americans” and claimed that they were prepared “to immolate the independence and welfare of their country at the shrine of France.”įears of an imminent French invasion led the Adams administration to begin war preparations and pass a new land tax to pay for them. documents as X, Y and Z-demanded a $250,000 bribe, as well as a loan of $10 million, before talks could begin.Īfter the Americans refused, word of the so-called XYZ Affair spread at home, sparking outrage and calls for war against France.Īmid mounting tensions, Federalists accused the Democratic-Republican Party of being in league with France against their own country’s government. ![]() ![]() Instead, three French representatives-referred to in official U.S. Soon after Adams took office, he sent a three-member delegation to Paris to meet with the foreign minister, Charles Talleyrand. In 1794, the Federalist administration of George Washington signed the Jay Treaty with Britain, greatly improving Anglo-American relations but angering the French (who were then at war with Britain). The two parties also diverged dramatically over issues of foreign policy. The Democratic-Republican Party (forerunner to today’s Democratic Party) wanted to reserve more power to state governments and accused the Federalists of leaning more towards a monarchical style of government. In opposition to the Federalists stood the Democratic-Republican Party, also known as Jeffersonians for their ideological leader, Thomas Jefferson. The Federalist Party, which supported a strong central government, had largely dominated politics in the new nation before 1796, when John Adams won election as the second U.S.
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