ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS

Security Vs. Liberty

International Crisis• In 1798 Federalists believed the U.S. was facing the most

dangerous crisis in its short history—an undeclared naval warwith France, infiltration on the part of immigrants, and possiblymob rule or the overthrow of the republic.

• France perceived that Jay’s Treaty favored Britain since itallowed the British to seize French goods from Americanships in exchange for financial compensation. Franceretaliated by capturing hundreds of ships flying the U.S. flag.

• President Adams attempted to negotiate with France, but theFrench government refused to receive the American envoyand suspended commercial relations.

• Congress responded by authorizing the president to armAmerican merchant vessels.

Federalists Vs. Republicans• Federalists viewed their Republican

rivals as dangerous radicals, hell-bent onfomenting a social revolution asdemocratic as the French Revolution.

• Federalists considered the FrenchRevolution and subsequent “Reign ofTerror” a degeneration into anarchy.

• Federalists feared that aliens withextremist ideas would corrupt the mindsof Americans and mobilize the massesfor mob rule. One Pennsylvanianewspaper argued that “none but themost vile and worthless” were invadingthe nation and willing to commit acts oftreason against rightful authority.

• Hysteria gripped members of theFederalist party. On June 25, 1798 JohnJay said it would be “just and proper” todeclare the treaty with France “void.” Hepredicted that the “Jacobin leaders willcontinue to persuade their deludedfollowers that the Government ischargeable not only with precipitation butwith a desire to preventaccommodation….”

• Republicans considered the Federaliststo be reactionary defenders of thewealthy, commercial elite, eager toreinstitute monarchy.

• Republicans supported the FrenchRevolution and its attack on aristocraticprivileges.

• As some realized, the Jeffersonians hadbeen exceedingly idealistic and naïve intheir support of Revolutionary France.

• Federalists considered the widespreadparticipations of immigrants in theRepublican party as evidence ofdisloyalty. So, many Federalists soughtto tighten restrictions on foreigners and tosilence dissent as well as critics of theirpolicies.

• In an attempt to halt French seizures ofAmerican ships, President Adamsworked diligently to push bills throughCongress that would allow him toincrease the size of the army and navy.

XYZ Affair• Against the advice of Washington and

Hamilton, Adams sent three emissariesto France. The French foreign minister,Talleyrand, refused to negotiate with thediplomats. Talleyrand sent three agents,who demanded a bribe beforenegotiating with the Americancommission. The envoys, of course,refused the bribe. The diplomaticmission failed miserably. When news ofthe XYZ Affair appeared in the press, ittriggered demands for war with France.Americans cried, “Millions for defense,but not one cent for tribute.

• The Quasi-War ensued for two years.Rumors of alien plots wreak havoc uponthe young, fragile nation abounded.

• Federalists acted to preclude domesticsubversion and silence opposition to theFederalist-controlled government.

Quasi-War• Congress passed four laws to control threats to

the national security and to punish theopposition party for seditious libel. These actsgave the president the power to imprison ordeport foreigners believed to pose a threat tothe U.S. and made it a crime to criticize thegovernment with “false, scandalous, ormalicious statements.”

• The Naturalization Act increased the residencyrequirement for American citizenship from 5 to14 years, required aliens to declare their intentto acquire citizenship 5 years before it could begranted, and made people from “enemy”nations ineligible for naturalization.

• The Alien Enemies Act allowed for thedeportation of aliens from nations at war withthe U.S.

• The Alien Friends Act gave the president thepower to incarcerate or deport any alien hedeemed “dangerous to the peace and safety ofthe United States.”

• The Sedition Act limited freedom of speech andthe right to peaceably assemble. The act madeit illegal to “print, utter, or publish … any false,scandalous, and malicious writing” against thegovernment. It also prohibited assembly “withintent to oppose any measure … of thegovernment.”

Alien and Sedition Acts• Many Federalists interpreted “seditious libel” to

mean any effort intended to malign or weakenthe government. Thus many Republicans werenot entitled to freedom of speech. Republicannewspapers were guilty of “lies andmisrepresentations.”

• First Lady Abigail Adams demanded that the“abuse, deception, and falsehood” cease. Sheargued that if Benjamin Bache and his Aurorawere not stopped, the nation would be mired in“civil war.”

• Federalists tried to suppress Republicanopposition on the basis of ideologicaldifferences and to extinguish support forrevolutionary France.

• Federalists successfully prosecutedRepublicans, such as newspaperman ThomasCooper and Congressman Mathew Lyon.

• Fierce debate and even violence erupted inCongress. The cartoon shows a quarrelbetween Federalist Roger Griswold andRepublican Mathew Lyon.

• Former President Washington supported theAlien and Sedition Acts and expressed hostilitytoward the Republicans when he wrote toSecretary of War James McHenry: “A profestDemocrat … will leave nothing unattempted tooverturn the Government of this Country.”

Luther Baldwin• Hundreds of refugees fled to Europe fearing detention.• Federalist prosecutors indicted 25 people. Ten were

convicted. The most notorious case was that of LutherBaldwin, the pilot of a garbage scow. Authoritiesarrested Baldwin in Newark, New Jersey on charges ofcriminal sedition. While cannons saluted the presidentduring his visit, Baldwin said “that he did not care if theyfired through [the president’s] arse.” For his drunkencomments, the court ordered Baldwin to pay a fine of$150 along with court costs, and Baldwin spent twomonths in jail until he paid the fine and fees.

• Alexander Addison, president Pennsylvania’s countycourts defended the Alien and Sedition Acts by arguing,“It is of the utmost importance to a free people that thefull limits of their rights be well ascertained andpreserved; for liberty without limit is licentiousness, it isthe worst kind of tyranny.”

• One Federalist described Republicans as “democrats,mobocrats and all other kinds of rats.”

• President Adams may have some reservations aboutsigning the acts into law, but he did support and enforcethe laws once in force.

• Federalist U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chaseasserted, “There is nothing we should more dread thanthe licentiousness of the press. Chase and other judgesdelivered harsh sentences, but they never imposed themaximum-$2000 fine or jail sentence of 2 years. Theyoften sent the guilty to jail. Average fines were $300.Lyon’s fine was $1000. Most of the convicted served 3-4months in jail.

• Juries determined whether or not a statementconstituted seditious libel.

Virginia and KentuckyResolutions

• Jefferson and Madison collaborated inproducing protest resolutionscontending that the government was a“compact” between the states and thatcitizens, through their statelegislatures, possessed the right tojudge the constitutionality of federallegislation. They presented thedoctrines of interposition andnullification. Essentially, they arguedthat the Alien and Sedition Actsviolated the First Amendment andshould be declared null and void.

• The Virginia Resolution claimed thatthe states had the duty to “interposefor arresting the progress of the evil.”The Kentucky Resolution argued that asingle state could nullify a federalaction it judged to be unconstitutional.

• Southern slaveholders later usedthese doctrines to justify secession.

Revolution of 1800• Jefferson and Madison urged

Republicans to repudiate the Alien andSedition Acts by making the unjustlaws an issue in the campaign of 1800.

• Because of voter disgust with the Alienand Sedition Acts, higher taxes andrising debt, the Republicans won amajority in Congress.

• Mathew Lyon campaigned forreelection from his prison cell and woneasily.

• Circulation increased for Republicannewspapers and periodicals.

• When Jefferson won the presidencyenforcement of the Alien and SeditionActs ceased. Jefferson pardoned allof those remaining in prison forviolating the Sedition Act.

• The Federalists failed to legislate aone-party press and a one-partygovernment.

Legacy• Citizens supported an expanded

view of freedom of expression.• In subsequent wars government

officials resurrected the seditionand incarceration provisions in thename of national security.

• As historian Larry Gragg argues,“In the 200 years since thepassage of the Alien and SeditionActs, each generation ofAmericans has struggled todetermine the limits of free speechand freedom of the press. In largepart, it has been a dilemma ofreconciling freedom and securitywith liberty and order. For theFederalist Party in 1798, however,the answer was simple; order andsecurity had to prevail.”

BIBLIOGRAPHYBanner, James M. Jr. “John Adams”. In: “To The Best Of My Ability”:

The American Presidents. Edited by James M. McPherson. NewYork: Dorling Kindersley, 2000.

Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation.New York: Vintage, 2000.

Gragg, Larry. “Order vs. Liberty”. American History. October 1998, pp.24-28, 56-59.

Miller, John C. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts.Boston: Little, Brown, 1951.

The Boisterous Sea of Liberty: A Documentary History of America fromDiscovery through the Civil War. Edited by David Brion Davis andSteven Mintz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.