ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS

In 1798, the Federalist-controlled Congress passed four acts to empower the president of the United States to expel dangerous ALIENS from the country; to give the president authority to arrest, detain, and deport resident aliens hailing from enemy countries during times of war; to lengthen the period of naturalization for immigrants, and to silence Republican criticism of the FEDERALIST PARTY. Also an act passed by Congress in 1918 during WORLD WAR I that made it
a crime to disrupt military recruiting or enlist-
ments, to encourage support for Germany and
its allies or disrespect for American war efforts,
or to otherwise bring the U.S. government, its
leaders, or its symbols into disrepute.
The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798
Passions over the French Revolution split
early American politics. Having endured
SHAYS’S REBELLION and the WHISKEY REBEL-
LION, Federalists saw much to fear in the French
Revolution. On the other hand, Democratic-
Republicans, led by THOMAS JEFFERSON,
proudly supported the French Revolution as the
progeny of the American Revolution. Democra-
tic-Republicans still viewed Britain as an enemy,
while the Federalists regarded Britain as a bul-
wark against French militancy.
In early 1798, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, son of
President JOHN ADAMS and the U.S. ambassador
to Prussia, advised his father that France
intended to invade America’s western frontier.
Jonathon Dayton, speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives, speculated publicly that troops
already massed in French ports were destined
for North America. Federal officials feared parts
of America were rife with French agents and
sympathizers who might rise up in support of
an invasion. George Tucker, professor of Law at
the College of William and Mary, predicted that
100,000 U.S. inhabitants, including himself,
would join a French invading army. Former
president GEORGE WASHINGTON, summoned from retirement to lead the U.S. Army against a
possible French invasion, expressed concerns
that France would invade the southern states
first, “because the French will expect from the
tenor of the debates in Congress to find more
friends there.”
Congress responded to these concerns by
enacting the ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS, the
popular names for four laws passed in 1798. On
June 18, Congress passed the Naturalization Act,
which extended from five to 14 years the period
of residence required for alien immigrants to
become full U.S. citizens (1 Stat. 566). On June
25, Congress passed the Alien Act, which
authorized the president to expel, without a
hearing, any alien the president deemed “dan-
gerous to the peace and safety” of the United
States or whom the president suspected of “trea-
sonable or secret” inclinations (1 Stat. 570). On
July 6, Congress passed the Alien Enemy Act,
which authorized the president to arrest,
imprison, or banish any resident alien hailing
from a country against which the United States
had declared war (1 Stat. 577).
None of these first three acts had much
practical impact. The Naturalization Act con-
tained a built-in window period that allowed
resident aliens to become U.S. citizens before the
fourteen-year requirement went into effect.
President Adams never invoked the Alien Act,
and the passing of the war scare in 1789 ren-
dered the Alien Enemies Act meaningless.
However, the Sedition Act deepened partisan
political positions between the Federalist Party
and the DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY.The
Sedition Act made it a high misdemeanor, pun-
ishable by fine, imprisonment, or both, for citi-
zens or aliens (1) to oppose the execution of
federal laws; (2) to prevent a federal officer from
performing his or her duties; (3) to aid “any
insurrection, riot, UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY,or
combination”; or (4) to make any defamatory
statement about the federal government or the
president (1 Stat. 596).
Because the Federalists controlled Congress
and the White House, Republicans believed
these laws were aimed at silencing Jeffersonian
critics of the Adams administration and its laws
and policies. Eighteen people were indicted
under the Sedition Act of 1798; 14 were prose-
cuted, and 10 convicted, some of whom received
prison sentences.
The validity of the Sedition Act was never
tested in the U.S. Supreme Court before it
expired in 1801. But Congress later passed a law
that repaid all fines collected under it, and Jefferson, after becoming president in 1801, pardoned all those convicted under the act.
Before becoming president, Jefferson joined
Madison in voicing opposition to the Sedition
Act by drafting the VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY
RESOLUTIONS. Jefferson was responsible for
drafting the two Kentucky Resolutions, while
Madison penned the one Virginia Resolution.
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions con-
demned the Sedition Act as a violation of the
Free Speech Clause to the FIRST AMENDMENT of
the U.S. Constitution. The resolutions also
argued that Congress had exceeded its powers by
passing the law in the first place, since Congress
may only exercise those powers specifically dele-
gated to it, and nowhere in Article I of the Con-
stitution is authority given to the legislative
branch to regulate political speech. The Ken-
tucky state legislature passed its two resolutions
on November 16, 1798, and November 22, 1999,
while Virginia passed its one resolution on
December 24, 1798.
Sedition Act of 1918
Concern over disloyalty during wartime
provided the backdrop for the second Sedition
Act in U.S. history. In April 1917, the United
States entered World War I when Congress
declared war against Germany and its allies. A
month later, the Selective Service Act reinstated
the military draft. Both the draft and U.S. entry
into the war were met with protest at home.
Worried that anti-war protestors might interfere
with the prosecution of the war, Congress
passed the Sedition Act of 1918.
An amendment to the ESPIONAGE ACT OF
1917, the Sedition Act of 1918 made it a felony
(1) to convey false statements interfering with
American war efforts; (2) to willfully employ
“disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive lan-
guage” about the U.S. form of government, the
Constitution, the flag, or U.S. military or naval
forces; (3) to urge the curtailed production of
necessary war materials; or (4) to advocate,
teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any such
acts. Violations were punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both. The law was aimed at curbing political dissent expressed by socialists, anarchists, pacifists, and certain labor leaders.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Sedition Act of 1918 over free speech objections made by civil libertarians. However, in a famous dissenting opinion that shaped First Amendmentlaw for the rest of the twentieth century,Associate Justice OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES JR.encouraged courts to closely scrutinize prosecutionsunder the Sedition Act to make sure thatonly those individuals who created a CLEARAND PRESENT DANGER of immediate criminalactivity were convicted (ABRAMS V. UNITEDSTATES, 250 U.S. 616, 1180, 40 S. Ct. 17, 63 L. Ed.1173 [1919]).

ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS