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Alien and Sedition Acts
In 1798 the newly established United States of America found itself in a situation where it believed that war with France was imminent. In fact, the "Quasi-War" as it became known, was a situation where the two nations were fighting each other on the seas, but without formal declarations of war. In response to this situation, the Federalist controlled Congress passed a series of four laws which collectively became known as the "Alien and Sedition Acts." While the official purpose of these laws was to safeguard the United States in a time of impending war, they were really meant to weaken those who opposed Federalist policies: the Democratic-Republicans under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson.
The "Alien and Sedition Acts" were four individual acts passed by a Federalist controlled Congress and signed into law by Federalist President John Adams. These acts were the "Naturalization Act," which increased the time of residency necessary for...
It was aimed at delaying citizenship for Irish and French immigrants, who overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic-Republicans. The second act was the "Alien Act," which allowed for the government, during peacetime, to deport foreign aliens who were deemed dangerous to the nation. The third act was called the "Alien Enemies Act," which allowed either the deportation or imprisonment of foreign aliens and serve as an incentive for many French immigrants to leave the United States. Finally, the most controversial act was called the "Sedition Act," and it allowed for the government to imprison or fine anyone who was found to have written, printed, uttered, or published "any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either House of the Congress, or the President…" ("Sedition Act") This act was used almost exclusively to shutdown Democratic-Republican newspapers and imprison their…
References
"The 'Sedition Act'." (1798). Avalon Project. Retrieved from http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/sedact.asp
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