John+Adams

media type="custom" key="22353864" Political Career of John Adams

=**No protesting the government? No immigrants allowed in? No freedom of the press. Lawmakers jailed? Is this the story of the Soviet Union during the Cold War?** = =**No. It describes the United States in 1798 after the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts.** =


 * The strong steps that Adams took in response to the French foreign threat also included severe repression of domestic protest. A series of laws known collectively as the ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS  were passed by the Federalist Congress in 1798 and signed into law by President Adams. These laws included new powers to DEPORT  foreigners as well as making it harder for new IMMIGRANTS  to vote. Previously a new immigrant would have to reside in the United States for five years before becoming eligible to vote, but a new law raised this to 14 years. **
 *  Clearly, the Federalists saw foreigners as a deep threat to American security. As one Federalist in Congress declared, there was no need to "invite hordes of Wild Irishmen, nor the turbulent and disorderly of all the world, to come here with a basic view to distract our tranquility ." Not coincidentally, non-English ethnic groups had been among the core supporters of the Democratic-Republicans in 1796. **
 * The most controversial of the new laws permitting strong government control over individual actions was the SEDITION ACT . In essence, this Act prohibited public opposition to the government. Fines and imprisonment could be used against those who "write, print, utter, or publish . . . any false, scandalous and malicious writing" against the government. **

**The Sedition Act clearly violated individual protections under the first amendment of the Constitution; however, the practice of " JUDICIAL REVIEW ," whereby the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of laws was not yet well developed. Furthermore, the justices were all strong Federalists. As a result, Madison and Jefferson directed their opposition to the new laws to state legislatures. The Virginia and Kentucky legislatures passed resolutions declaring the federal laws invalid within their states. The bold challenge to the federal government offered by this strong states' rights position seemed to point toward imminent armed conflict within the United States.** **Enormous changes had occurred in the explosive decade of the 1790s. Federalists in government now viewed the persistence of their party as the equivalent of the survival of the republic. This led them to enact and enforce harsh laws. Madison, who had been the chief architect of a strong central government in the Constitution, now was wary of national authority. He actually helped the KENTUCKY LEGISLATURE to reject federal law. By placing states rights above those of the federal government, Kentucky and Virginia had established a precedent that would be used to justify the secession of southern states in the Civil War.**  <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: #8b8b8b; color: #808080; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: center;">Copyright ©2008-2013 <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: #8b8b8b; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: center;">[|ushistory.org] <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: #8b8b8b; color: #808080; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: center;">, owned by the Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia, founded 1942. <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">