The Consequences of the Alien and Sedition Acts in the United States

John Adams, the 2′ president of the United States of America, once said “Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.” This was especially true regarding The Alien and Sedition Acts; its passage lead to end of John Adams’ political campaign and the demise of the Federalist party altogether.

It also lead citizens to fight for the rights they deserved, and caused a reformation in politics, society, and government.

The Alien and Sedition Acts were signed and passed in 1798. Within the Alien and Sedition Acts were four different laws; the Naturalization Act, the Alien Act, the Alien Enemies Act, and the Sedition Act. The first law required foreigners who wanted to become American citizens to wait fourteen years instead of five, which had been the original numberof years to wait.

The second law gave the president the right to deport any American citizen who had moved from a foreign country into America after it had been formed. The third law allowed the president to detain or deport any aliens if their home country was at war with America. The fourth and last law declared that it was illegal to write and/or publish anything that criticized the government. John Adams’ political career was ruined because of the Alien and Sedition Acts. When they were passed, they were heavily criticized by most citizens because of how unconstitutional they were.

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In turn, Adams was criticized because he supported the acts. This hurt his re-election campaign; people believed that he wasn’t a good choice for president. They believed he was a hypocrite for saying that all people have “…rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws… derived from the Great Legislator of the universe.” while supporting laws that clearly took rights away from people. This resulted in John Adams losing the election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson, which was ironic because one of the main reasons the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed was to help silence the Democratic-Republicans’ critical views on Adams and help ensure his re-election in 1800. The Alien and Sedition Acts’ unfairness prompted American citizens to fight for their rights. This began when they elected Thomas Jefferson as president in 1800. They believed that his reforms would help their country. One of the first things Jefferson did as a president was to pardon everyone who had been convicted because of the Sedition Act. In some ways, the Alien and Sedition Acts helped influence the way America is today.

For instance, it helped establish the idea that the Supreme Court could repeal laws that they believed were unconstitutional, as it did to half of the laws that made up the Alien and Sedition Acts. Since then, the Alien and Sedition Acts have been recreated under the name of ‘The Patriot Act’. The Patriot Act allows the government to tap phone lines and access information about people whenever they want. This law takes away the basic human right of privacy. ‘The Patriot Act was created in order to stop people who might possibly be terrorists, but while doing so, it takes away everyone else’s rights. The Alien and Sedition Acts helped establish the idea that the Supreme Court has final rule on what and what is not constitutional. According to the website ‘lessig.org’, ever since the Sedition Act was repealed, ” ..the Supreme Court has never… missed an opportunity to declare that… [an] Act was unconstitutional in the “court of history.’** This is important because it helped increase the importance of having checks and balances. Checks and balances is a system that gives different branches powers over other branches. The Supreme Court ruled that the Legislative Branch shouldn’t have passed the Sedition Act, and declared it unconstitutional. Since then, the Court has overruled many other laws that were deemed unconstitutional.

For example, in the case of Lawrence vs. Texas in 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that anti-sodomy laws in the US were unconstitutional because the Constitution didn’t condemn it, and the laws were taking away people’s rights. John Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts greatly affected America in both positive and negative ways. It caused the end of John Adams’ career as a politician and the death of the Federalist party. It also helped US citizens be pro-active in trying to defend their rights. A negative result is that the Alien and Sedition Acts have been repeated in modern America. However, when unconstitutional laws have been passed, the Judicial branch has never been afraid to repeal them. No matter what one believes, it’s a fact that the Alien and Sedition Acts changed America forever.