Telling Weird Out of this World Creatures to Zip It

 By late 1800s the Federalists understood that they faced a simple problem from immigrants  many of the immigrants coming in to the US were joining forces with the Dem. Republicans  some of these immigrants were stirring up trouble in the US and posed a threat to our democracy (trying to get Americans to fight for their causes say like the French guy Genet)  Federalists understood that this could pose a big problem for them when these immigrants began voting  they believed that if they did not do something they would quickly and permanently lose power

 The Federalists also had a major problem with some newspapers  at this time there were newspapers that were loyal to political parties and ideologies (we call this bias today)  the Dem. Republican newspapers were vicious and attacked the Federalists both personally and philosophically  some of the articles were not fact based and were meant to destroy credibility without and truth to the accusations **There were Federalist papers that were doing this to Dem. Republicans as well but not as many or as popular

 1798 the Federalists were in control of the government  They passed that Alien and Sedition Acts to combat the problems that they believed the immigrants and the newspapers posed  These laws did two things 1. They changed the rules for immigrants and citizenship to make them wait longer before they could vote and give the president the authority to expel them 2. They made it illegal to speak out fallaciously against the government

 The Democratic Republicans were furious over these laws  They believed that these were political in nature  while several Dem Republicans were charged with the sedition acts no Federalists were charged  They believed that these laws were an affront to the ideals of the American Revolution  this was a violation of free speech and free press

 In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts Jefferson and Madison wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolves  The Kentucky Resolves state that a state can nullify a law that it deems to be unconstitutional  The Virginia Resolves argue that a state can interpose (stop) a law that it believes will harm its citizens  These are based on the Compact Theory which states that the constitution is built on a compact by the states whereby the states give the federal government its power  it is up to the states to be the final say in what laws are good or bad for their citizens

 The Alien and Sedition Acts terribly hurt John Adams and the Federalist Party  they were seen as bullies  many claimed and many believed that Adams wanted to create a monarchy type system with himself and then his son John Quincy as the leaders  These feelings hurt Adams in the election of 1800 and may have been the deciding factor in his defeat