preview

Compare And Contrast Alien And Sedition Act

Decent Essays
Open Document

Alien and Sedition Act Changes the World The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 created controversies and a bitter feeling towards the government. The Sedition Act limited freedom of speech and impeded on the freedoms of American around the U.S. The Alien Act put into effect that those who are immigrants can be exported as the president sees fit and will require a 14 year residency period before they are considered a citizen. The Acts changed the U.S. and impacted many freedoms that U.S. citizens enjoy. Theses controversies lead to the repeal and changes to the laws so that Americans could have all the freedoms that they deserve. Leading up to the creation of the Acts France and Britain were fighting in war. With these contentions present the U.S. a trading ally with both was in a stand still as to who to continue trading with without angering the other. The U.S. continued to trade with both and this lead to Britain seizes ships that were heading to France. This lead to France trying to get the U.S. to pay money in order to hide what happened; this was known as the XYZ …show more content…

According to Livingston “By this act the president alone is empowered to make the law, to fix in his mind what acts, what words, what thoughts or looks, shall constitute the crime contemplated by the bill.” (Q) With this act the president now can do what he wants even if these things are unconstitutional which caused problems among the citizens. This billed limited what the press could say and in return “the only supporters of this bill consist of writings expressing an opinion that certain measures of government have been dictated by an unwise policy and some are unconstitutional.” (P) This bill angered people around the U.S they saw it as a crime of treason and wanted it removed. (O) This billed limited freedom of American people and angered those who were persecuted from the

Get Access