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expediency of suspending or amending the existing naturalization law.* On May 15, this committee reported three resolutions, one of which favored the imposition of a longer term of residence on an alien before he could be naturalized. The first two resolutions were agreed to and referred to a committee, which on May 15 introduced a bill to amend the naturalization law.|| This bill was finally passed on May 22§ and sent to the Senate, where an amended bill was reported by a committee on June 8. The bill was agreed to on the 11th, and, after further amendment, was passed on the 12th by a vote of 13 to 8. The House agreed to the Senate's amendment on the 13th, and on the 18th the act was approved.¶ This act amended the naturalization laws by requiring a residence of fourteen years in order to become a citizen, and that foreigners seeking naturalization should declare their intentions five years prior to obtaining papers. Alien enemies were debarred from becoming citi

* Annals of Congress, 5th Congress, 2d session, vol. ii., pp. 1427, 1454.

Annals, pp. 1566-1567.

For the debate, see Annals, pp. 1567–1582; Benton, Abridgment, vol. ii., 253–261.

|| Annals, p. 1707.

§ See Annals, pp. 1776-1783; Benton, Abridgment, pp. 276-280.

For text of the Naturalization Act of June 18, see United States Statutes-at-Large, vol. i., pp. 566-569; MacDonald, Select Documents, pp. 138141. For the most important sections, see Appendix I. at the end of the present chapter. The act was repealed by the act of April 14, 1802 (Statutes-at-Large, vol. ii., pp. 153-155).

zens. Had there been some constitutional means of driving the obstructive Gallatin out of public life, the Federalists would gladly have seized upon it; for, said Harper, "It is high

time for us to recover from the mistake with which we set out under the Constitution of admitting foreigners to citizenship; for nothing but birth should entitle a man to citizenship, and we ought so to declare it." Otis then introduced a resolution that no alien-born should thereafter hold office under the government, unless a citizen of the United States. But as the Constitution itself placed limitations upon office-holding, the majority was content to impose a long term of probation for citizenship, adding to which would be seven to nine years. necessary before an alien-born could become eligible for Congress.*

The second act (introduced in the Senate by Hillhouse, of Connecticut) was an "Act concerning Aliens," known as the Alien Act, which passed the Senate June 8 by a vote of 16 to 7 and was taken up by the House on June 19. The Federalists believed that the French employed agents in this country to divide the American people and that, unless the President were given the right to deport these aliens, their success was far from impossible. To little purpose did Gal latin tell the Federalists that, since the Whiskey Rebellion, the people had cheerfully submitted to the laws and that attachment to the Constitu

* Schouler, United States, vol. i., pp. 404-405.

tion was universal. The heated minds of the excited Federalists conjured up visions of plots to disrupt the government, and they thought that all aliens should be brought within the reach of the law in order to save it. Hence, after debate, the bill was amended and passed by the House on June 21 by a vote of 46 to 40. The Senate concurred in the amendments on June 22, and on June 25 the bill was signed by the President.* This act provided that it was lawful for the President to order out of the country any alien he thought dangerous to the peace and safety of the country, and that such alien, on his refusal to depart within the time named in the order, be subject to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years and forfeit forever his right to citizenship in the United States.‡

*For text, see United States Statutes-at-Large, vol. i., pp. 570–572; MacDonald, Select Documents, pp. 141-143. See also Appendix II. at the end of the present chapter.

An alien might be licensed by the President to remain in the country, if he could secure acceptable security. If he should deem it for the public safety, the President could forcibly deport

aliens who were arrested under the act; and if an alien so arrested and deported should return voluntarily without permission, he might be imprisoned as long as the President thought public safety required it. Upon their arrival, masters of vessels were required to report all alien passengers. Provision was made, however, that the property rights of those deported should be respected. (Schouler, United States, vol. i., pp. 405-407).

‡ McMaster, vol. ii., pp. 393–396. Madison calls the bill " a monster that must forever disgrace its parents." Letter to Jefferson, May 20, 1798, Madison's Works (Congress ed.) vol. ii., p. 142.

Meanwhile, on May 18, a

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"bill re

specting alien enemies " had been introduced in the House, on the 22d was considered in Committee of the Whole, and by a vote of 46 to 44 was recommitted. On June 8 the Committee reported an amended bill and on the same day the "Act concerning Aliens" was received from the Senate. The alien enemies bill was considered on the 25th, passed the House the next day, and then was sent to the Senate. On the 27th the bill was referred by the latter to a committee, which, on July 2, reported an amended bill that was passed the next day. The House concurred in the Senate's amendments and on July 6 the act was approved.* It provided that, if war that, if war should be declared

between the United States and any foreign power, or in case of an invasion, the citizens of the hostile na tion, on proclamation by the President, might be imprisoned or deported. Sullivan says: "As this

law respecting aliens was made at the suggestion of the President, it furnished a new and prolific theme of reproach. It was called by the opposition a British measure; a servile

* For debates, see Annals of Congress, 5th Congress, 2d session, vol. ii., pp. 1785-1796, 1896-1897, 1974-2029; Benton, Abridgment of Debates, vol. ii., pp. 280-286, 301-302. For text, see United States Statutes-at-Large, vol. i., pp. 577-578; MacDonald, Select Documents, pp. 144-146. See also Appendix III. at the end of the present chapter.

Mr. C. F. Adams (John Adams, Works, vol. i., pp. 560-562) asserts that his grandfather had no hand in suggesting or procuring the passage of the Alien and Sedition laws.

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copying of the forms of kingly despotism; and an incontestable proof of design to assimilate our government to that of England, and eventually to arrive at monarchy."* The Republicans insisted that the power possessed by the President under these acts not only could be exercised to the injury of native citizens, but was intended to be used in that manner, notwithstanding the limitations of the acts to aliens.

The Sedition Law was then taken up and rapidly pushed forward.† In the Senate, where Federalism was rampant, it passed on July 4 by a vote of 18 to 6. As originally introduced, the first section declared that the French people were enemies to the United States, and that adherence to them, or giving them aid and comfort, was punishable with death. Anyone who in any manner should attempt to justify the hostile attacks of the French or to defame and weaken the government of the United States. by stating that the government or its officers were influenced by motives hostile to the country or to the liberties or happiness of the people, might be punished by fine or imprisonment. This was a little too much even for the fanatical Federalist Senate, whose power had not reached a point where it could pass a bill in that form.

See Madison's letter, Madison's Works (Congress ed.), vol. ii., p. 142.

For the debate, see Annals of Congress, vol. ii., pp. 1954-1977, 2093-2116, 2134-2171; Benton, Abridgment of Debates, vol. ii., pp. 305-310, 316-319.

Hence, the first section was stricken out. Had the bill become a law in its first form, the Federalists not only could have silenced the Republican press, but, through the vagueness of its language, could have treated as crimes every form of opposition to their measures. The Republicans would not have been able to express a single sentiment true to their honest beliefs without being subject to fine and imprisonment. When Livingston declared that the principle of the Alien Bill "would have disgraced the age of Gothic barbarity" the Federalist Otis declared that remarks such as these were "evidence of a seditious disposition."* Had Livingston delivered his speech anywhere but on the floor of Congress, it would have been a crime under the bill as it finally passed the Senate. By a vote of 44 to 41 it passed the House on July 10 and became a law on July 14. Its duration was limited to a term of two years. It was deemed a high misdemeanor “unlawfully to combine and conspire " against or in opposition to properly authorized measures of the government, or laws of the United States, or "to commit, advise, or attempt to procure any insurrection, riot, or unlawful assembly or combinations," in order to prevent the performance of his duties by any government officer.

* Schouler, United States, vol. i., p. 408. For text, see United States Statutes-at-Large, vol. i., pp. 596-597; MacDonald, Select Documents, pp. 146-148. See also Appendix IV. at the end of the present chapter.

Such acts should be punished as high misdemeanor by fines not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment for not less than six months and not more than five years, and binding to good behavior as the court might determine. The second section provided that it was unlawful to print or publish false, scandalous or malicious writings, or assist in writing, printing, uttering, or publishing such false, scandalous or malicious writings against the Government of the United States, or either House of Congress or the President with the intent to defame them. For such acts, persons convicted should be fined not more than $2,000 or imprisoned for not more than two years. The third section provided that truth constituted good evidence in defence of libel.

It was said that there had been great provocation for the passage of this act, that the papers had indulged in falsehood, scandalous abuse, and other maliciousness with a freedom which it is almost impossible to conceive; but, on the other hand, the malice, vehemence, and indecency were by no means monopolized by the Republican press. It cannot be conceived by any stretch of imagination that the intent of the Sedition Law was to restrain Federalist papers. It Iwas not the abuse itself to which the Federalists objected, but abuse directed at them. The effects of the alien acts soon became manifest. In a letter to James Madison, dated May 3 (before the passage of the Alien

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Act), Jefferson said: "The threatening appearances from the Alien bills have so alarmed the French who are among us, that they are going off. A ship, chartered by themselves for this purpose, will sail within a fortnight for France, with as many as she can carry. Among these I believe will be Volney, who has in truth been the principal object aimed at by the law."*

The principal objection was to the Sedition Law, which afforded abundant opportunity to the opposition for attacking the administration. A measure more unwise could no possibly be ventured upon by any political party than that which either restrains or appears to restrain the fullest liberty of the press, as the Federalists soon learned. Hamilton saw that the passage of the act would make many enemies for the administration and begged the Federalists not to set up tyranny; but they had their hearts bent on havoc and would not heed his advice. Marshall, also almost alone among the Federalists, disapproved of the Alien and Sedition Laws, and before this opposition the New England Federalists were disposed to question the soundness of his Federalism. Goodhue wrote: "I confess nothing has given me more surprise and regret than that General Marshall should so far degrade himself as to fan the flame of opposition to government by giving his opinion so

* Ford's ed. of Jefferson's Writinge, vol. vii., p. 248; see also pp. 257, 262.

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decidedly against the Alien and Sedition Laws.''* As a consequence, from the day the act was passed the Federal party gradually sank into utter ruin. In speaking of the Alien and Sedition Laws, John Quincy John Quincy Adams says:

"If Jefferson and Madison deemed the alien and sedition acts plain and palpable infractions of the Constitution, Washington and Patrick Henry held them to be good and wholesome laws. These opinions were perhaps all formed under excitements and prepossessions which detract from the weight of the highest authority. The alien act was passed under feelings of honest indignation at the audacity with which foreign emissaries were practising within the bosom of the country upon the passions of the people against their own government. The sedition act was intended as a curb upon the publication of malicious and incendiary slander upon the president, or the two Houses of Congress, or either of them. But they were restrictive upon the personal liberty of foreign emissaries, and upon the political licentiousness of the press. The alien act produced its effect by its mere enactment, in the departure from the country of the most obnoxious foreigners, and the power conferred upon it by the president was never exercised. The prosecutions under the sedition act did but aggravate the evil which they were intended to repress. Without believing that either of those laws was an infraction of the Constitution, it may be admitted, without disparagement to the authority of Washington and Henry, or of the Congress which framed the acts, that they were not good and wholesome laws, inasmuch as they were not suited to the temper of the people.Ӡ

* Life and Letters of George Cabot, p. 179. Lives of Madison and Monroe, pp. 73–74. Condensed statements of the force and workings of these acts will be found in Lalor's Cyclopædia, vol. i., p. 58; Van Buren, Political Parties, p. 264; Cocke, Constitutional History, vol. i., p. 175. For feeling in the west, see Albach, Annals of the West, p. 747; and Warfield, The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. Patrick Henry was their advocate (Garland, Life of Randolph, vol. i., chapter xx), while frank acknowledgments of the blunder and denunciations will be found in Morse, Jefferson, p. 193, and John Adams, p. 287; Schurz, Henry

After Congress had adjourned, and it was certain that the country was not in any danger of an invasion, the Federalists and Republicans turned their attention to politics and engaged in measures for supporting or attacking the administration. Public sentiment had turned against the Federalists. The Republicans knew this and were determined to take advantage of it. Under the guidance of Jefferson and, Madison, they prepared vigorously to assail the Alien and Sedition Laws, centering their attack on these chiefly because they offered the best opportunity for the most stirring speeches, pamphlets, and resolutions, and the best political capital generally. Petitions for their repeal were circulated, and those against whom the Sedition Law had operated were elevated to the rank of martyrs. There were numerous other acts of the Federalists which the Republicans could not abide — indeed, as they scanned the work of Congress, there was scarcely an act that did not seem to them iniquitous. Naturalization, direct taxes, public loans, the excise and stamp acts, standing armies and navies, peculation in offices of public trust, etc., were topics which afforded abundant points of attack, which were used with telling effect.*

Clay, vol. i., p. 32; Randall, Jefferson, vol. ii., chapter viii.; Parton, Life of Jefferson, chapter lviii. For their effect on the newspapers, see Hudson, Journalism, pp. 145, 159.

* McMaster, vol. ii., pp. 417-418.