Controversies as a Result of the Alien and Sedition Acts

In the late 1700s and into the early 1800s, large controversies over the Alien and the Sedition Acts, containing four bills, took place. Some of the controversies included immigration, slander and libel of the government, and states’ rights. While the controversy set the stage for Jefferson’s election, it also left some in tense and unsettled states. The Alien and Sedition Acts brought many disagreements upon the states. The Acts had two bills that seemed to stand out most among the government. The second bill of the Alien and Sedition Acts gave the President power to deport “all such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United Stats.” Just before the Acts were created, President George Washington wrote to the Vice-President John Adams in 1794 of his believe that immigrants brought with them not only their language, but their habits and formal morals too. Later, he goes on to say, that this is not particularly a bad thing because as time goes on, as generations grow, all people will become one. Just before that though, in 1785, Thomas Jefferson had made close to the same note, but a bit different. He believed it would be a miracle for the morals and beliefs of the immigrants to halt in changing at the exact point of liberty. He believed that infusing the aliens into our United States would create a “heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass.” Altogether, immigration was an extremely controversial topic. Each person had their own opinion, especially the rising parties who seemed to almost separate the nation more. While the Acts had allowed the President this power, it also prohibited the slander of libel of the President or any other part of the government. It seems to almost be a coincidence. After this was passed, Federalist prosecutors arrested more than twenty Republican newspaper editors and politicians. The Federalists had accused them of sedition, and convicted and jailed a number of them. Many believed that this part of the Sedition Act was against the First Amendment that forbade the ”abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” As a matter of fact, the Republicans actually tried to charge the Sedition Act as a violation of the First Amendment, although it did not appeal to the Supreme Court. This was because the Court was not sure how to review the case considering the board was made up of mostly Federalists. Jefferson sent a letter to Francis Hopkinson of Pennsylvania clearing up a rumor that he was a Federalist. He states that he “never submitted the whole system of (his) opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself.” Last, but definitely not least, was the issue of whether or not the states had a right to judge the Constitution. After the Republicans tried to charge the Sedition Acts as a violation against the Constitution, Madison and Jefferson looked to the state legislature which led to their declaring the Alien and Sedition Acts to be “unauthoritative, void, and of no force.” This resolution set forth a states’ rights interpretation of the Constitution, asserting that the states had a “right to judge” the legitimacy of national laws. Albert Gallatin, a Democratic-Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, made a speech in the House of Representatives on the proposed Sedition Act wherein he stated, “The only evidences brought by the supporters of this bill consist of writings expressing an opinion that certain measures of government have been dictated by an unwise policy, or by improper motives, and that some of them are unconstitutional.” The Alien and Sedition Acts caused many controversies. The controversies led to many letters and arguments with the government. With this being said, the major problems seem to have been the topics of immigration, slander and libel of the government, and states’ rights. Although, after these controversies developed over the Acts, the Acts were then rethought. It is often wondered, even now, why the Alien and Sedition Acts were ever passed in the first place.