Alien and Sedition Acts

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Text of the "Alien Friends Act"

The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress during an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams. Proponents claimed the acts were designed to protect the United States from enemy aliens, and to prevent seditious attacks from weakening the government. The Democratic-Republicans, like later historians, denounced them as being both unconstitutional and designed to stifle criticism of the administration, and as infringing on the right of the states to act in these areas. They became a major political issue in the elections of 1798 and 1800.

Acts

Four separate laws constituted what is commonly referred to as the "Alien and Sedition Acts"

  1. The Naturalization Act (officially An act supplementary to, and to amend the act to establish an uniform rule of naturalization; and to repeal the act heretofore passed on that subject; ch. 54, 1 Stat. 566) amended the Naturalization Act of 1795 to extended the duration of residence required for aliens to become citizens of the United States from five years to fourteen years.
  2. The Alien Act (officially An Act Concerning Aliens; ch. 58, 1 Stat. 570) authorized the president to deport any resident alien considered "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States." It was activated June 25, 1798, with a two year expiration date.
  3. The Alien Enemies Act (officially An Act Respecting Alien Enemies; ch. 66, 1 Stat. 577) authorized the president to apprehend and deport resident aliens if their home countries were at war with the United States of America. Enacted July 6, 1798, and providing no sunset provision, the act remains intact today as 50 U.S.C. §§ 21–24. At the time, war was considered likely between the U.S. and France.
  4. The Sedition Act (officially An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes against the United States; ch. 74, 1 Stat. 596) made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or its officials. It was enacted July 14, 1798, with an expiration date of March 3, 1801 (the day before Adams' presidential term was to end).

Allegations of unconstitutionality

Vice President Thomas Jefferson denounced the Sedition Act as invalid and a violation of the First Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights, which protected the right of free speech, and a violation of the Tenth Amendment,[1][2] Jefferson also secretly drafted the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions denouncing the federal legislation. These reflect the Compact Theory, which holds that the United States is made up of a voluntary union of states that agree to cede some of their authority in order to join the union, but that the states do not, ultimately, surrender their sovereign rights. Federalist-dominated state legislatures rejected Jefferson's position through resolutions either supporting the Acts or denying the ability of Virginia and Kentucky to circumvent them.[3]

The Alien and Sedition Acts were, however, never appealed to the Supreme Court, whose right of judicial review was not established until Marbury v. Madison in 1803. The Court in 1798 was composed entirely of Federalists, all appointed by Washington. Many of them, particularly Associate Justice Samuel Chase, were openly hostile to the Federalists' opponents. Individual Supreme Court Justices, particularly Chase, sitting in circuit, heard many of the cases prosecuting opponents of the Federalists.

Prosecutions

Republican editors, a member of Congress, and private individuals were targets of prosecution under the Sedition Act. Twenty-five people were arrested. Of them, eleven were tried, one died awaiting trial, and ten were convicted of sedition, often in trials before openly partisan Federalist judges.

Journalists

Benjamin Franklin Bache, the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, was editor of the Aurora, a Republican newspaper. Bache had accused George Washington of incompetence and financial irregularities, and "the blind, bald, crippled, toothless, querulous ADAMS" of nepotism and monarchical ambition. The Adams administration did not wait for the passage of the Sedition Act but arrested Bache on common law libel charges on June 27, 1798, two weeks before the Act was signed by the President. Bache died of yellow fever in 1798 while awaiting trial.[4]

James Thomson Callender, a Scottish citizen, had been expelled from Great Britain for his political writings. Living first in Philadelphia, then seeking refuge close to Jefferson in Republican Virginia, he wrote a book entitled "The Prospect Before Us" (read and approved by Jefferson before publication) in which he called the Adams administration a "continual tempest of malignant passions" and the President a repulsive pedant, a gross hypocrite and an unprincipled oppressor". Callender, already residing in Virginia and writing for the Richmond Examiner, was indicted under the Sedition Act. Justice Samuel Chase of the Supreme Court presided at Callender's trial. Callender's counsel attempted to argue the unconstitutionality of the Sedition law, but Chase refused to permit the jury to determine the constitutionality of a federal statute. Callender was convicted, and Chase fined him $200 and sentenced him to nine months in jail. Jefferson pardoned Callender when he became President, as he did the others convicted under the Sedition Act, and also gave him fifty dollars towards his fine, the last in a series of payments he made to support the journalist. Callender however, enraged by what he perceived as a slight by the new President, wrote a series of attacks on Jefferson similar to those earlier launched against Adams, and which included the assertion that Jefferson had fathered children by a slave woman.[5]

A member of Congress

Matthew Lyon, born in Ireland, was a Democratic-Republican congressman from Vermont. He was indicted under the Sedition Act for an essay he had written in the Vermont Journal accusing the administration of "ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish avarice". While awaiting trial, Lyon commenced publication of Lyon's Republican Magazine, subtitled "The Scourge of Aristocracy". Supreme Court justice Paterson presiding at trial, denied Lyon's defense of unconstitutionality of the statute, fined Lyon $1,000 and sentenced him to four months in prison. While in prison, Lyon continued to write, and also won re-election. After his release, he returned to Congress.[6][7]

Private individuals

Luther Baldwin, a private citizen, was indicted for a comment he made during a visit by President Adams to Newark, New Jersey. The President was greeted by a crowd and by a committee that saluted him by firing a cannon. A bystander said, "There goes the President and they are firing at his ass." Baldwin replied that he did not care "if they fired through his ass." He was convicted in the federal court for speaking "seditious words tending to defame the President and Government of the United States" and fined $100.[8][9]

In November 1798, David Brown led a group in Dedham, Massachusetts in setting up a liberty pole with the words, "No Stamp Act, No Sedition Act, No Alien Bills, No Land Tax, downfall to the Tyrants of America; peace and retirement to the President; Long Live the Vice President".[10][11][12] Brown was arrested in Andover, Massachusetts, but because he could not afford the $4,000 bail, he was taken to Salem for trial.[13] Brown was tried in June 1799.[10] Brown pled guilty but Justice Samuel Chase asked him to name others who had assisted him.[10] Brown refused, was fined $480,[13][14] and sentenced to eighteen months in prison, the most severe sentence ever imposed under the Sedition Act.[10][13]

Political nature of the prosecutions

The Republican prediction that the Sedition Act would be used as a tool to assure the primacy of the Federalists was confirmed by the fact that no Federalist editor was indicted for equally rough language towards Republicans. John C. Miller writes that "the Sedition Act was not construed to mean that the Federalists were to cease maligning and whipping Jefferson", who was, among numerous other assertions, called a 'vain author, false prophet, and thorough-bred Frenchman".[15]

Consequences of the Alien Act

While government authorities prepared lists of aliens for deportation, many aliens fled the country during the debate over the Alien and Sedition Acts, and Adams never signed a deportation order.[16]

Aftermath

The Republicans used the Alien and Sedition Acts as one of their principal issues in the 1800 election, in which Federalists at all levels, were turned out of power. Thomas Jefferson, upon assuming the Presidency, pardoned all of those still serving sentences under the Sedition Act.[17]

In 1832, the House Judiciary Committee denounced the Sedition Act as unconstitutional, permitting the refund of fines which had been paid under it.[18]

The Alien Enemies Act remained in force and was used as a basis for the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II.

While the Sedition Act was never reviewed by the Supreme Court, subsequent mentions in Supreme Court opinions have assumed that it was unconstitutional. In the seminal free speech case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the Court declared, "Although the Sedition Act was never tested in this Court, the attack upon its validity has carried the day in the court of history." 376 U.S. 254, 276 (1964). In a concurring opinion in Watts v. United States, which involved an alleged threat against President Lyndon Johnson, William O. Douglas noted, "The Alien and Sedition Laws constituted one of our sorriest chapters; and I had thought we had done with them forever ... Suppression of speech as an effective police measure is an old, old device, outlawed by our Constitution."[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798".
  2. ^ Reed, Ishmael (Jul 05, 2004). "Thomas Jefferson: The Patriot Act of the 18th Century". Time. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Portal:Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
  4. ^ Miller, John C. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts (New York: Little Brown and Company 1951) pp. 27-29, 65, 96.
  5. ^ Miller, John C. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts (New York: Little Brown and Company 1951) pp. 211-220.
  6. ^ Foner, Eric (2008). Give Me Liberty!. W.W. Norton and Company. pp. 282–283. ISBN 978-0-393-93257-7.
  7. ^ Miller, John C. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts (New York: Little Brown and Company 1951) pp. 102-108.
  8. ^ Smith, J. (1956), Freedom's Fetters, pp. 270–274
  9. ^ Miller, John C. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts (New York: Little Brown and Company 1951) pp. 112-114.
  10. ^ a b c d Stone, Geoffrey R. (2004). Perilous times: free speech in wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the war on terrorism. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 64. ISBN 0393058808, ISBN 978-0-393-05880-2. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  11. ^ Tise, Larry E. (1998). The American counterrevolution: a retreat from liberty, 1783-1800. Stackpole Books. p. 420. ISBN 081170100X, ISBN 978-0-8117-0100-6. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  12. ^ Curtis, Michael Kent (2000). Free speech, "the people's darling privilege": struggles for freedom of expression in American history. Duke University Press. p. 88. ISBN 0822325292, ISBN 978-0-8223-2529-1. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  13. ^ a b c Tise, Larry E. (1998). The American counterrevolution: a retreat from liberty, 1783-1800. Stackpole Books. p. 421. ISBN 081170100X, ISBN 978-0-8117-0100-6. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  14. ^ Simon, James F. (2003). What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States. Simon and Schuster. p. 55. ISBN 0684848716, ISBN 978-0-684-84871-6. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  15. ^ Miller, John C. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts (New York: Little Brown and Company 1951) p. 131-132.
  16. ^ Miller, John C. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts (New York: Little Brown and Company 1951) p. 187-193.
  17. ^ Miller, John C. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts (New York: Little Brown and Company 1951) p. 231.
  18. ^ Mott, Frank L., Jefferson and the Press (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press 1943), p. 37.
  19. ^ Watts v. United States, 394 U.S. 705

Bibliography

  • Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism (1995), the standard scholarly history of the 1790s.
  • Bill Ong Hing, Anthony D. Romero, Defining America Through Immigration Policy (Temple University Press, 2004), 17-19
  • Jenkins, David. The Sedition Act of 1798 and the Incorporation of Seditious Libel into First Amendment Jurisprudence. The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Apr., 2001), pp. 154–213.
  • Martin, James P. When Repression Is Democratic and Constitutional: The Federalist Theory of Representation and the Sedition Act of 1798. University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 66, No. 1 (Winter, 1999), pp. 117–182
  • Miller, John Chester. Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts (1951)
  • Rehnquist, William H. Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson (1994). Chase was impeached and acquitted for his conduct of a trial under the Sedition act.
  • Rosenfeld, Richard N. American Aurora: A Democratic-Republican Returns: The Suppressed History of Our Nation's Beginnings and the Heroic Newspaper That Tried to Report It (1997), clippings from a Republican newspaper
  • Smith, James Morton. Freedom's Fetters: The Alien and Sedition Laws and American Civil Liberties (1967)
  • Stone, Geoffrey R.Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from The Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism (2004)
  • Alan Taylor, "The Alien and Sedition Acts" in Julian E. Zelizer, ed., The American Congress (2004), 63–76
  • Wright, Barry. "Migration, Radicalism, and State Security: Legislative Initiatives in the Canada and the United States c. 1794–1804" in Studies in American Political Development, Volume 16, Issue 1, April 2002, 48–60

Primary sources

External links

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