A country divided. The government, save the vice president, is held entirely by one party. Politicians characterize their opposition as agents of foreign governments, fomenting shadowy conspiracies, and beholden to immigrants, who they encourage to come to their shores so their votes can be used against the incumbents. The president’s nephew suggests that “[t]he grand cause of all our present difficulties may be traced…to so many hordes of Foreigners imigrating [sic] to America.” A future president concurs with these sentiments: there are “too many of these people here already.”
In response to this fear, in combination with escalating tensions from a foreign affairs crisis over trade interdiction and fears of war, legislators pass four laws to mitigate the threats: they more than double the time to naturalization; they allow the arrest, detention, and expulsion of non-citizens (one law for wartime, the other covering any person deemed “dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or…suspected [of] any treasonable or secret machinations against the government”); and they allow the arrest and punishment of anyone involved in writing, publishing, printing, or speaking “any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States.” The laws are seen by the administration as a necessary protection against threats to the country, a betrayal of the principles and virtues of the nation by the opposition and the public at large.
The country? The United States of America.
The year? 1798.
The passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts were met with outrage: Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions against the laws (written by Thomas Jefferson, then vice president, and James Madison respectively, with Jefferson potentially exposing himself to treason charges by doing so). Demonstrations against the laws were held in multiple states, and liberty poles were raised as shows of opposition (some to be violently removed by Federalist militias). The reaction against John Adams and his party, and the anger over these laws, including at least twenty-five (and likely more than fifty) prosecutions under the Sedition Act, have been cited as causes of the Federalist loss in 1800.
The Sedition Act was repealed in 1802, and the Alien Friends and Naturalization Acts expired in 1800. Only the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) remained.