Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts, enacted in 1798 by the Federalist-controlled Congress, were a series of four laws aimed primarily at immigrants and political dissenters. These acts emerged during a period of heightened tension between the United States and France, following the XYZ Affair, and reflected the Federalists' concerns about the influence of immigrants, particularly those aligned with the opposition Republican Party. The Sedition Act, the most controversial of the four, criminalized speech and writing that criticized the federal government, effectively limiting free expression and stifling political opposition. The Alien Friends Act allowed for the deportation of non-citizens deemed dangerous during peacetime, while the Alien Enemies Act provided for the imprisonment or deportation of foreign nationals in wartime. Additionally, the Naturalization Act extended the residency requirement for citizenship from five to fourteen years, targeting the immigrant vote that leaned toward Republicans. Although these acts aimed to consolidate Federalist power, they ultimately sparked significant backlash and contributed to the decline of the Federalist Party, as many viewed the laws as unconstitutional and oppressive. The Alien and Sedition Acts remain a notable example of the tension between national security and civil liberties in American history.
Alien and Sedition Acts
Date June 25-July 14, 1798
The Alien and Sedition Acts were enacted by a Federalist-controlled U.S. Congress in the hope of not only suppressing the immigrant vote, which had been aligning most often with the Republican Party, but also deporting noncitizens during wartime and noncitizens who were considered a threat to public safety. The Sedition Act, passed in the hope of limiting the power of the Republican press especially, made it a crime to write or publish criticisms of the federal government.
Locale Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Key Figures
John Adams (1735-1826), second president of the United States, 1797-1801William Duane (1760-1835), Republican editor of the PhiladelphiaAurora who was prosecuted under the Sedition ActAlbert Gallatin (1761-1849), Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who opposed the Alien and Sedition ActsThomas Jefferson (1743-1826), vice president of the United States and author of the Virginia ResolutionsMatthew Lyon (1750-1822), Republican congressman who was prosecuted under the Sedition ActTimothy Pickering (1745-1829), secretary of state and chief enforcement officer of the Alien and Sedition ActsHarrison Gray Otis (1765-1848), Federalist senator from Massachusetts and one of the chief architects of the Alien and Sedition Acts
Summary of Event
News of the XYZ affair, a major conflict between the United States and France, descended upon the American people and their representatives in Congress like a thunderbolt. It galvanized the government into action on the high seas; it helped unite Americans against the French, just as the initial news of British seizures had united them against Great Britain; it seriously weakened the infant Republican Party, which was associated with Francophilism; and it firmly entrenched the Federalists in power. Even President John Adams, for a time, seemed to relish the thought of leading the United States against its newest antagonist, but Adams regained his sense of moderation in time to prevent a catastrophe. The same cannot be said of certain elements of the Federalist Party, which exploited the explosive situation to strike out at their political opponents.
The Federalist Party, or at least its old guard, deeply resented gains made by the Republican opposition. Many of the Federalist leaders resented the very existence of the other political party. The High Federalists were by no means committed to a two-party system and rejected the idea of a loyal opposition. With the Republican tide at low ebb, these Federalists intended to strike a killing blow at two sources of Republican strength: the immigrant vote and the manipulation of public opinion through the use (and abuse) of the press. In selecting these targets, the Federalists demonstrated an acute awareness of the impact of the press on the growth of political parties, and they intended to use their political power to muzzle the Republican press, while leaving the Federalist press intact. Furthermore, Federalists expressed a deep xenophobia, as they viewed people of foreign birth as threats to the fabric of ordered liberty they believed the Federalists had built and must preserve.
Many Federalists had a long history of antiforeign sentiment. With the United States on the verge of war with France, the Federalists were apprehensive over the loyalty of thousands of French West Indian refugees who had flocked to the United States in an effort to escape the ferment of the French Revolution and its accompanying “terror.” The Federalists were further concerned that the refugees who became U.S. citizens generally aligned themselves with the Republican Party. Much the same was true of the Irish, who supported anyone who opposed the English. Such conditions threatened the continued hold of the Federalists on political power in the national government. To deal with such potential subversives, foreign and domestic, the Federalist-controlled Congress passed a series of four acts, known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Three of the acts dealt specifically with aliens or immigrants. The Sedition Act declared speech or writing with the intent to defame the president or Congress to be a misdemeanor. The Alien Friends Act permitted the president to deport allegedly dangerous aliens during times of peace. A third act, the Alien Enemies Act, authorized the imprisonment or deportation of aliens in wartime. The Naturalization Act struck at the immigrant vote. Previously, aliens could become naturalized citizens after residing for five years in the United States. The new act raised the probationary period to fourteen years.
The Sedition Act was by far the most notorious. It imposed heavy fines and imprisonment as punishment on all those found guilty of writing, publishing, or speaking against the federal government. By allowing a defendant to prove the truth of statements as a defense, the Sedition Act was a definite improvement over the English laws of sedition libel. The fact remains, however, that its intent was the repression of political opposition and the annoying Republican press, and the Sedition Act seemed plainly to ignore the First Amendment. Under the law, suits were initiated against the editors of eight major opposition presses. The principal target was the Philadelphia Aurora, whose editor, William Duane, was prosecuted under the act. Congressman Matthew Lyon of Vermont received a jail sentence of four months and was fined $1,000 for disparaging remarks he made about President Adams. Some of these suits gave a comic air to the gross abuse of power. One gentleman was fined $100 for wishing out loud that the wadding of a salute cannon would strike President Adams in his backside.
Republican opposition to these laws was immediate. Vice President Thomas Jefferson, himself a Republican, believed that the Alien and Sedition Acts were designed to be used against such leading Republicans as the Swiss-born congressman from Pennsylvania, Albert Gallatin. Republicans were convinced that the Sedition Act was designed to destroy them as an organized political party. The act had passed the house strictly along sectional-party lines. The vote was forty-four to forty-one, with only two affirmative votes coming from south of the Potomac River, where the Republicans were strongest.
Significance
From the Federalist point of view, the Alien and Sedition Acts were completely unsuccessful in suppressing the opposition. They were resented by many, and it soon became obvious even to those who first supported the new laws that they were as unnecessary as they were ineffective. The handful of “subversives” prosecuted under the Sedition Act hardly compensated for the fact that its existence gave the Republicans another campaign issue. Jefferson through the Kentucky legislature, and Madison through the Virginia legislature, penned immediate responses to the Alien and Sedition Acts. These remonstrances, known as the Virginia and Kentucky Resolves, aroused little enthusiasm at the time but did point out not only some of the basic principles of the Republican Party but also some striking differences between two streams of thought within the party.
Both resolutions maintained that the Constitution was a compact between sovereign states that granted to the federal government certain narrowly defined powers, while retaining all other enumerated powers. If the states created the Constitution, they had the power to decide when the federal government had overstepped its proper bounds. Jefferson, in the Kentucky Resolves, went much further than Madison in assigning to the states the power to nullify a federal law—to declare it inoperable and void within the boundaries of a state. South Carolina was to do so in 1832, when it nullified the Tariff of 1828. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolves had no immediate effect, but they had spelled out the theoretical position that those advocating states’ rights could, and ultimately did, take.
The Alien and Sedition Acts took their place among a growing list of grievances against the Federalist Party. The Alien Acts expired in 1800 and the Sedition Act in the following year. The Naturalization Act was repealed by the Republican-controlled Congress in 1802. The only tangible effect of these measures was to contribute to the defeat of Federalism in 1800. However, the mood that led to their passage was to return in later days.
Bibliography
Elkins, Stanley, and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Chapter 15 of this gracefully written document captures the motives and mentalities of the principals responsible for the acts.
McCoy, Drew R. The Elusive Republic: Political Economy in Jefferson’s America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980. Contains an excellent discussion of the competing theories of society and government discussed by Federalists and Republicans.
McCullough, David G. John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. The definitive, best-selling biography provides a detailed account of Adams’s presidential administration, including the XYZ affair and the adoption and impact of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Miller, John C. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. A thorough and judicious narrative of the passage of, and response to, the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Sharp, James Roger. American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1993. Places the Alien and Sedition Acts in the context of the politics of the 1790’s.
Smith, James Morton. Freedom’s Fetters: The Alien and Sedition Laws and American Civil Liberties. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1966. Contains an excellent discussion of the congressional debates concerning the passage of these laws.
Stone, Geoffrey R. Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004. This book, written after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the World Trade Center in New York City, examines how American liberties have been curtailed during wars or national emergencies. It cites passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts as an example of this restriction and describes the acts and the trial of Republican congress member Matthew Lyon.