The Sedition Act

The Sedition Act of July 1798

In 1798 the United States was split into two parties, the Federalist and the Democratic-Republicans. Alexander Hamilton formed The Federalists and they wanted a financially stable and strong patriotic government. The Federalists felt that alien’s living in the United Stated were untrustworthy. They feared that these aliens were going to empathize with the French and join their side of the war. The Federalists felt the way to hand this problem was to have congress pass four different laws that are known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. “These laws raised the residency requirements for citizenship from 5 to 14 years, authorized the President to deport Alien and Sedition Acts. . The Sedition Act made it a crime for American citizens to "print, utter, or publish . . . any false, scandalous, and malicious writing" about the Government.” The laws were aimed against Democratic-Republicans. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison founded The Democratic-Republican Party in 1792. This party was formed because they were opposed to the views and actions of the Federalists. The Federalists eventually were defected and the acts were repealed.