What were the provisions and political objective of the Sedition Act of 1798?
Always glad to help anyone with a question, Mitzy: The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress, who were waging an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams. Proponents claimed the acts were designed to protect the United States from alien citizens of enemy powers and to stop seditious attacks from weakening the government. The Democratic-Republicans, like later historians, attacked them as being both unconstitutional and designed to stifle criticism of the administration, and as infringing on the right of the states to act in these areas. They became a major political issue in the elections of 1798 and 1800. One actthe Alien Enemies Actis still in force in 2009, and has frequently been enforced in wartime. The others expired or were repealed by 1802. Thomas Jefferson held them all to be unconstitutional and void, and pardoned and ordered the relea
