Summary
The Federalists, now controlling both the Senate and the House of
Representatives, argued that the possibility of open war with France and the
publicized attempts at espionage by French agents in the United States required
Congress to take drastic action to guard against breaches in national security.
To this end Congress passed a series of four measures, known collectively as the
Alien and Sedition Acts. John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts
during June and July 1798, but it was only with the gravest misgivings that he
did so, for the acts asserted the power of the central government to an
unprecedented extent.
The first, and least controversial, act was the Alien Enemies Act. This act
defined the procedure by which US authorities could determine whether a citizen
of an enemy nation posed a threat to national security during wartime. If found
guilty under the outlined procedures, the guilty party would be deported or
detained. The Alien Enemies Act was not called into use until the War of
1812.
The second Act, the Alien Friends Act, was effective during peacetime, and
allowed the president to deport any citizen of any foreign nation who he decided
posed a threat to the nation while inside its borders. The law allowed the
president to expel citizens without proof of guilt, claiming that spies would be
adept at destroying evidence and able to easily fool many authorities. The
statute was only enforceable until June 25, 1800, before the end of Adams' term
and the 1800 congressional elections.
The Third act was the Naturalization Act. The Naturalization Act revised the
procedures by which an immigrant could become a citizen of the United States.
Rather than having to establish residency in the US for five years before
becoming eligible to become a citizen, the Naturalization Act increased the
residency requirement to fourteen years.
The final, and most controversial, of the Alien and Sedition Acts, was the
Sedition Act. It forbade any individual or group to oppose "any measure or
measures of the United States." Under the Sedition Act, it was illegal to
speak, write, or print any statement about the president which brought him, in
the wording of the act, "into contempt or disrepute." The Sedition Act was set
to expire in 1801. Four of the five major Republican newspapers were charged
with sedition just before the presidential election of 1800, and several foreign
born journalists were threatened with expulsion. The Attorney General charged
seventeen people with sedition, and ten were convicted.
The strongest reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts flared up in the South.
In November and December 1798, shortly after the passage of the acts, both
Kentucky and Virginia endorsed manifestos on states' rights, written anonymously
by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectively. These resolutions
stated that state legislatures maintained the power of interposition, which
allowed them to judge the constitutionality of acts of Congress. In 1799,
Kentucky passed a resolution that declared that states could nullify
objectionable federal laws.
While most states disagreed with these radical claims, tensions ran high
everywhere. In Pennsylvania, German farmers staged what was known as the Fries
Rebellion, where they attempted to organize a jailbreak to free men who had
refused to pay taxes to support the expansion of the military. Thomas Jefferson
increasingly hinted that the South was preparing to secede from the Union. The
state legislature in Virginia purchased thousands of muskets to equip the
militia should violence ensue. John Adams grew increasingly sensitive to
criticism and feared for the future. It was under these conditions that the
election of 1800 took place.
Commentary
At the beginning of 1798, the Republicans were reeling as a party. France's
continued naval aggression, and the refusal to condemn French actions had
wrested much of the party's power from its hands. The elections of 1798
overwhelmingly favored the Federalists. It appeared to many that the great
political contest that had once raged between the two parties had ended in a
Federalist victory. However, the Republicans need not have waited long for a
new issue around which to mobilize. The Alien and Sedition Acts represented, to
the Republicans, the legal incarnation of all that was evil and corrupt about
Federalism. Claimed by many to be the greatest affront to liberty in all of
American political history, the Alien and Sedition Acts once again polarized the
nation between Republican and Federalist.
The Republicans did not object stringently to the Alien Enemies Act. The
wartime act had a legitimate claim to protecting national security, and
generally respected the rights of enemy citizens. Few could argue against its
reasonableness. However, the Alien Friends Act aroused the ire of the
Republican Party. Republicans screamed that the act effectively denied the
constitutional right to fair justice, allowing the president to expel
individuals without trial. They claimed that the Alien Friends Act had no place
during peacetime, and pointed to the expiration date in 1800, claiming that the
act was a Federalist plan to expel immigrants who were critical of the
Federalists before power could change hands in the elections. Republicans saw
the Naturalization Act as a blatant attempt to sap the political power of
immigrants, most of whom were Republicans, by denying them citizenship and the
right to vote.
The Sedition Act was by far the most offensive of the four acts to Republicans.
The supposed purpose of the Sedition Act was to distinguish the boundaries
between free speech and dangerous speech, which could cause violence or
rebellion. However, the wording of the act was sufficiently vague that the
Federalists in power could invoke the Sedition Act even in response to political
discussion. Newspapers were forced to choke back opinions, and individuals had
to take precautions before speaking or writing. The effect of the Sedition Act
was to drown out all political criticism of the party in power. The Sedition
Act clearly infringed upon the right to free speech guaranteed in the First
Amendment, considered by many to be the most sacred passage in the
Constitution. Republicans reacted strongly
to the Sedition Act; decrying the disrespect with wish the Federalist led
Congress had treated the Constitution. Furthermore, the Federalists had written
the law so that it would expire in 1801, so that they could not fall prey to it.
This seemed to the Republicans evidence enough that it was politically
motivated.
The Federalists never intended to impose a reign of terror on the nation.
Rather, they wanted to intimidate Republican newspapers and politicians so as to
prevent them from aiding the Republicans in the 1800 election. Instead, they
sparked a resurgence of political opposition and turned much of the nation
toward the Republicans. With all three branches of government under Federalist
control, Republicans predicted the failure of the system of checks and
balances, as the branches cooperated to amass power
and become tyrannical. They saw their worst fears of centralized power in the
form of the Alien and Sedition Acts. In response, the Republicans made the
states' rights doctrine the centerpiece of the party ideology.
