123 School Work

Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798

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  The Alien and Sedition Acts were four laws passed in 1798, as a way for Federalists to muffle or minimize their Jefferson foes. The debate over the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 reveled bitter controversies on a number of issues. The Alien and Sedition acts violated the first amendment in the Bill of Rights; it gave too much power to the executive branch and violated the traditional American policy of open-door hospitality and speedy assimilation.
  The Alien Laws which were aimed specially for pro-Jeffersonian "aliens." Since most European immigrants, lacking wealth, were scorned by the aristocratic Federalists party, and were welcomed by voters by the less prosperous and more democratic Jeffersonian; the Federalists Congress passed the Neutralization Act, which raised the residence requirements for aliens who desired to become citizens for a tolerable five years to an intolerable fourteen years. This drastic new law violated the traditional American policy of open-door hospitality and speedy assimilation
  Two additional Alien Laws struck heavily at undesirable immigrants. The Alien Act empowered the president to deport dangerous foreigners in time of peace and to deport or imprison them in time of hostilities. Likewise, the Alien Enemies Act, provided for the arrest and deportation of subjects of foreign powers at war with the United States. These acts although never enforced, were an arbitrary grant of executive power contrary to American tradition and to the spirit of the Constitution.      
  The most unlawful of these acts was the Sedition Act...