I.Introduction

Today we get a taste of what some have called the first battle of the American Civil War, even though slavery is not involved here in any way whatsoever.The Alien and Sedition Acts were four laws passed by Congress and signed by President John Adams in June and July of 1798.At that time the US was actively engaged in naval confrontations with France, and most believed that a formal declaration of war against France was imminent.In preparation for this event, the Federalist Party (which controlled both chambers of Congress and the White House) pushed through the statutes you read for today.The language of Alien and Sedition Acts is relatively clear, and therefore I assume that I do not need to beat you over the head with what they actually did.But two things in these laws really drew heavy protest from a broad spectrum of Americans.The first was the granting to the president broad powers to arrest and deport non-US citizens during both peace and wartime.The second, and for more controversial cause for protest was the clause making criticism of the federal government and its officials a crime, and punishable by fines and jail time.Specifically, this clause stated:

And be it farther enacted, That if any person shall write, print, utter or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered or published, or shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing, uttering or publishing any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States, with intent to defame the said government, or either house of the said Congress, or the said President, or to bring them, or either of them, into contempt or disrepute; or to excite against them, or either or any of them, the hatred of the good people of the United States, or to stir up sedition within the United States, or to excite any unlawful combinations therein, for opposing or resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the President of the United States, done in pursuance of any such law, or of the powers in him vested by the constitution of the United States, or to resist, oppose, or defeat any such law or act, or to aid, encourage or abet any hostile designs of any foreign nation against United States, their people or government, then such person, being thereof convicted before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years.

We can see how this clause might become problematic, and in fact it did.

II.The Laws

War was never declared in this case, and tensions surrounding possible French enemies within the United States eased relatively quickly.President Adams did not move to aggressively implement the alien portions of the Alien and Sedition Acts, and no one was ever deported under these clauses.The situation was far different for the sedition clauses.Here Adams did direct the executive branch to aggressively enforce the new laws, and soon arrests were being made.Eventually 25 men were arrested under the sedition clauses for criticizing the government and attempting to "stir up sedition."The vast majority of those arrested (including Ben Franklin's grandson) were editors of newspapers affiliated with the Jeffersonian Republicans, the political opposition of the Federalists.These men were fined in all cases, imprisoned in some, and in most cases their newspapers were forced to shut down.Adams was clearly using these laws to punish and silence his political opposition.

Due to a glitch in the original Constitution (rectified by the 12^thamendment in 1804), Jefferson was the vice president in the Adams' administration.So we had a sitting vice presidentwho was the leader of the political oppositionwatching helplessly as some of his most important political supporters were being fined, jailed, and perhaps most significantly, silenced.But it was unclear what Jefferson, Madison, and their supporters could do.The laws had been properly passed by Congress, and Adams was simply executing the laws.The principle of judicial review had not yet been established by the Supreme Court, and the Court was at that time entirely made up of Federalists anyway.So the question was what to do?How could Adams' actions be stopped?

III.The Jeffersonians' Response

We see the Jeffersonians' answer to the last question posed in the two additional documents we read for todayThe Virginia Resolution (written by Madison) and the Kentucky Resolution (written by Jefferson).In these documents, Madison and Jefferson make the argument that the Alien and Sedition Acts are unconstitutional.More specifically, they are unconstitutional because they represent multiple violations of the first and tenth amendments.But the important part is still to come.Because these laws are unconstitutional, Madison and Jefferson claim, the states are thereforerequiredto refuse to follow them within their borders.Here we have the first post-constitutional statement of the doctrine of nullification, the idea that because states agreed to the Constitution as sovereign entities under specific conditions, they were only required to follow those federal edicts that matched the Constitution and the specific conditions in question, unless the Constitution was amended.This is a powerful statement, and one that clearly threatened the superiority of the federal government.

In a formal sense, nothing much ever became of the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions.The Alien and Sedition Acts expired in March of 1801, just as Adams was leaving presidency after losing his reelection campaign to Jefferson.Once in power, Jefferson and his supporters in Congress pardoned all those convicted under the Alien and Sedition Acts, and repaid all fines with interest.But the doctrine of nullification did not go away.South Carolina's John Calhoun was a strong advocate of the theory, and precipitated a showdown with President Andrew Jackson over tariffs in the 1830s based on the idea.Its primary significance, of course, comes from its advocacy by those Southern interests that ultimately opted for secession, setting off the Civil War.And the idea is still not dead today.It was very prominent, for example, in the dialogue over health care reform, and it was common (and popular) fare at Tea Party movement events.

IV.Questions

• Were the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional?
• What do you think about the theory of nullification?