ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS
- The Alien and Sedition acts are the main reason why John Adams was the first president to only sever one term. - Congress passed these laws which made it illegal to “write, print, or publish” anything critical of the government. - The only people charged or imprisoned were Republicans. - These laws included new powers to DEPORT foreigners as well as making it harder for new IMMIGRANTS to vote. - Clearly, the Federalists saw foreigners as a deep threat to American security. - REPRESENTATIVE MATTHEW LYON of Vermont. was the first affected by theses laws/acts. - During an undeclared naval war with France, the Democratic-Republicans made the Alien and Sedition Acts an important issue in the 1880 election. - Thomas Jefferson, upon assuming the Presidency, pardoned those still serving sentences under the Sedition Act, - The Naturalization Act: 1) increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from five to fourteen years 2) required aliens to declare their intent to acquire citizenship five years before it could be granted 3) rendered people from enemy nations ineligible for naturalization - The Sedition Act: 1) banned the publishing of scandalous writings against the government 2) the acts were designed by Federalists to limit the power of the opposition Republican Party, but enforcement ended after Thomas Jefferson was elected president in 1800. |