Alien and Sedition Acts

During the late 1790's the Alien and Sedition Acts proved to be quite controversial. Although the acts were passed to deal with some of the issues of that time period, they caused a big debate because of the differences in political opinion among America's leaders. These political schisms, in addition to foreign affairs, lead to the passage of these controversial acts.

The debate was fueled by the two political parties of the time, the federalists and the democratic-republicans. The democratic-republicans, lead by Thomas Jefferson, wanted to remain attached to France while the federalists wanted to break this attachment and become closer to England. Alexander Hamilton, the leader of the federalists, actually calls Jefferson's foreign policies "womanish", saying that "if these gentlemen were left to pursue their own course, there would be, in less than six months, an open war between the United States and Great Britain." He then says that he wants to model the government like England's, but without getting rid of the republican system which the country was founded upon (Document D). Jefferson responds by saying that "His [Hamilton's] system flowed from principles adverse to liberty, and was calculated to undermine and demolish the Republic, by creating an influence of his department over the members of the Legislature." This basically states that Jefferson feels like Hamilton has persuaded everyone that they need to retrogress, to undo the ideals fought for during the Revolution (Document E). As you can see, both men really disagreed with one another. D.M. Erkstine notes the violent competitiveness of the two political parties, saying "...they think nothing of wishing each other destroyed..." (Document S). Since the Alien and Sedition Acts restricted the rights of the people and expanded central government, they were undoubtedly in favor of the federalists. The Alien Acts enabled the president to deport any "aliens" that may be dangerous to the United States, yet it allowed immigrants to become citizens after fourteen years. During these fourteen years, these immigrants could earn money and perhaps assimilate the aristocratic, federalist way of thinking. If the immigrants were allowed to vote right away, they would most certainly vote for the democratic-republicans. By creating this fourteen year residency period, the federalists set themselves up to stay in power. The Sedition Act was ratified to stop people from slandering the government and creating conspiracies. If someone was caught, they would be fined or sentenced to prison. The democratic-republicans, or anti-federalists, argued that this was unconstitutional and that it was tyrannical. Albert Gallatin, a democratic republican from Pennsylvania, talks about how the act goes against the freedom of speech and the principles of the constitution. He then says how it is a weapon used by the federalists to remain