Analysis of John Adams and The Alien and Sedition Acts

The Alien and Sedition Acts were signed into law by John Adams in 1798. The Alien Acts made it more difficult for immigrants to become American citizens and the Seditions Acts made it a crime to criticize the federal government. The first amendment had been adopted as part of the Bill of Rights only seven years prior. The Alien and Sedition Acts planted the seeds for the election of Thomas Jefferson and the support of state rights.

The Federalist party, led by Alexander Hamilton, wanted better relations with Great Britain. During George Washington’s presidency, Secretary of State John Jay negotiated the Jay Treaty with Great Britain, which created formal commercial ties between the two countries. This inflamed conflict on both sides of the Atlantic with the Federalists aligning with Great Britain and the Republican party supporting France. The Republican party’s negative sentiments towards aristocracy made them natural allies with France, who was in the midst of a revolution. France and Great Britain had been fighting in the War of the First Coalition. Due to the newly formed relationship between the U.S. and Great Britain via the Jay Treaty, the U.S.’s refusal to repay its debts to France, and the XYZ affair, an undeclared Quasi-War between the U.S. and France commenced. France began disrupting shipping lanes in the Atlantic.

In response to French aggression, John Adams signed into law the Alien and Sedition Acts. These acts made it more difficult for immigrants to acquire American citizenship and also criminalized speech that was critical of the federal government. The Republicans were furious at what they believed to be a serious overreach by the federal government. Several people were prosecuted under this law, which included Democratic-Republican congressman Matthew Lyon of Vermont. Lyon had written an essay critical of the Adams administration. Lyon was found guilty and sentenced to four months in jail. While in prison, he was re-elected to congress.

In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison secretly authored the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. The political statement criticized the acts as unconstitutional on behalf of Kentucky and Virginia. It was a rebuke of federalism and advanced the cause of states’ rights. It argued that states had the right to judge and rule federal laws to be unconstitutional. It is believed that these resolutions planted the seed for the Civil War by setting the tone for states to defy the federal government. The controversy between the acts and the resolutions would lead to John Adams losing his reelection bid to Democratic-Republican nominee Thomas Jefferson.

In the face of a foreign aggression, John Adams attempted to shutdown domestic dissent. When John Adams signed into law the Alien and Sedition Acts, it provoked a national sentiment that led to the advancement of states’ rights. As a result of the Alien and Sedition Acts, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison promoted states’ rights through the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. The controversy of the Alien and Sedition Acts culminated in the election of Thomas Jefferson, who became the third president of the United States, who eventually repealed much of the Alien and Sedition Acts.