Compare And Contrast Alien And Sedition Acts

A few months ago, the final part of the Alien and Sedition Acts was passed by the Federalist Congress and signed into law by President John Adams. Rumor is that the acts were made to prepare for a battle with France, our current enemy as of their hostility at sea. The Acts are a grave mistake by the Federalists, for they could lead to the downfall of our country.
The Alien and Sedition Acts consists of four sinful laws. The first law is the Naturalization Act, which demands a minimum residency of fourteen years. There is only one word to describe this-Outrageous! How is a person supposed to wait for fourteen years before being allowed to become a citizen. The act additionally prevents any people from ‘enemy’ nations to apply for naturalization. Not everyone in the ‘enemy’ country is harmful, and they even help the economy by taking more jobs. The law that follows is The Alien Enemies Act. It states that once war has been declared, all male citizens of a foreign nation could be arrested or deported. Afterwards, the Alien Friends Act was passed, being the third law. This law authorizes the president to deport any non-citizen suspected of plotting against the government during either wartime or peacetime. The last …show more content…
They violate the First Amendment in the constitution: the freedom of speech. Moreover, it also violates the Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Obviously, the alien and sedition act violates the constitution making them illegitimate. Passing the Alien and Sedition Acts was not the brightest decision made by the government. It is unconstitutional, breaking even more than one amendment. Furthermore, the Federal government misuses the acts to abuse the power they have control over. Therefore, all bills of the Alien and Sedition Acts should be revoked from the