1. ALIEN AND SEDITION: AWFUL AND SORRY Chapter 8

2. The Laws are Passed The Federalist Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts  1798  Adams signed them 3 Alien Acts 1 Sedition Act

3. Alien Acts What does “alien” mean?  Foreigner Naturalization Act  What is “naturalization”?  Increased the time required to become a citizen from 5 to 14 years Alien Act  President could imprison or deport foreigners if they were considered dangerous Alien Enemies Act  Allowed government to arrest and deport all foreigners from countries at war with the United States

4. Alien Acts Are the acts fair? Why were they passed?  Aimed at the French  Why?  The Federalists supported England in their war with France  Religious prejudice  How is this religious?

5. Sedition Act Made it a crime to criticize the government  About 25 newspaper editors were arrested  10 were convicted People who disagreed with Adams accused him of trying to make himself king of America  Why would they say that?  Do you agree with them? Why?

6. Unconstitutional Laws These laws go directly against the first amendment of the Bill of Rights  How?  They got rid of freedom of speech and freedom of the press Why didn’t the court say something?  Didn’t have the power yet  Didn’t even have a regular meeting place

7. Virginia and Kentucky Wrote resolutions declaring the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional  Jefferson wrote the Kentucky Resolution  Madison wrote the Virginia Resolution Argued that if a state believed a law unconstitutional, they should say so  Is this a good thing?

8. Reaction From Massachusetts  Said that the states didn’t have the power to decide if something was unconstitutional or not  That power should remain with the federal government The Alien and Sedition acts were not renewed when they expired