Alien and Sedition Acts

The Alien and Sedition Acts are four laws passed by the Federalist-controlled United States Congress and signed by President John Adams in 1798, amid rising tension with Revolutionary France. The Naturalization Act lengthened the residency requirement for citizenship from five to fourteen years; the Alien Friends Act let the president deport any non-citizen judged dangerous to the country; the Alien Enemies Act authorized detention or deportation of male citizens of a hostile nation during a declared war; and the Sedition Act made it a crime to publish false, scandalous or malicious statements against the federal government, its Congress or its president. The Sedition Act was used to prosecute and jail Jeffersonian newspaper editors and other critics of the administration, and it, along with the Alien Friends Act, expired in 1800 and 1801. The Naturalization Act was repealed in 1802, but the Alien Enemies Act remains in force as part of United States law. The Acts are widely regarded by historians as a serious infringement on freedom of the press and speech, and public backlash against them contributed to the Federalist Party's decisive defeat in the 1800 elections.