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Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited.

Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

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Page 1: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Alien & Sedition Acts

Presentation by Robert L. MartinezPrimary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim.Images as cited.

Page 2: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

In 1798, the Federalist Congress passed laws called the Alien and Sedition acts,

and President John Adams signed them.

http://www.americanrevolution.com/ppl_john_adams.html

Page 3: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

There were three Alien acts. One made it difficult for aliens (foreigners) to become U.S. citizens. Another said the president could throw anyone he wanted out of the

U.S., if he thought them dangerous.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/piedmont_fossil/545029809/

President John Adams

Page 4: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

The acts were aimed at the French, many of who were fleeing from the violence of

the French Revolution.

http://libcom.org/history/1789-1989-revolutionary-song-in-france

Page 5: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

France and England were at war. The Federalists supported the English. Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans

supported the French.

http://nibiryukov.narod.ru/nb_pinacoteca/nbe_pinacoteca_philosophers_j.htm

Thomas Jefferson

Page 6: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

The Federalists acted as if the French were all villains. Religious prejudice was at

work, too. Most people in the U.S. were Protestants. Most French people were

Catholics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22715572@N08/2179204667/

Page 7: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Unfortunately, some Americans wanted to keep Catholics out of the country. They

supported the Alien acts.

http://www.etss.edu/hts/hts5/info2.htm

Page 8: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

The Alien acts were bad enough, but the Sedition Act may have been worse. It made

it a crime to criticize the government.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kill_yoshee/2749546934/

Page 9: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Some people got arrested for doing just that. One was Ben Franklin’s grandson.

Another was Congressman Lyon of Vermont, a revolutionary war veteran.

http://law.jrank.org/pages/2396/Alien-Sedition-Acts-1798.html

Page 10: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Congressman Lyon attacked President Adams in the Rutland Gazette, saying Adams was trying to act like a king. He said Adams should be sent “to a mad house.”

http://www.multied.com/NN/Alien.html

Page 11: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Article I of the Bill of Rights says: Congress shall make no law respecting an

establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the

freedom of speech, or of the press…

http://illuminatela.com/whose-bill-of-rights

Page 12: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Congress and the president had done something the Constitution said they

couldn’t do. They were restricting freedom of speech and of the press.

http://huquq.com/WordPress?p=19

Page 13: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

If Congress were to pass Alien and Sedition acts today, the Supreme Court would declare them unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court was just getting organized during Adam’s term as president.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/37621686/

Page 14: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

The court was not very strong. No one was quite sure what to do. But, the Virginia and Kentucky state legislatures declared the Alien and Sedition laws unconstitutional.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grco61/187630891/

Page 15: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Kentucky resolutions, while James Madison wrote the Virginia resolutions. They argued that if a state believed a law unconstitutional, it had the right to say so and not obey the law.

http://www.encyclopedie-enligne.com/j/ja/james_madison.html

James Madison

Page 16: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Remember the Alien and Sedition acts when you read about the Civil War. The South will say the states have a right not to follow lays they think unconstitutional

( remember the Nullification Crisis.)

http://web.olivet.edu/gradusers/mmossber/Top%20Page.htm

Page 17: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

But just imagine if each state had the right to declare laws unconstitutional. Things would get very combative in this 50-state

country (like the Civil War.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardh/259876896/

Page 18: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Massachusetts responded, stating it had agreed to the Constitution and were bound

by that agreement. It was not up to the states to say if a law was unconstitutional or not.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neal1960/1017190356/

Page 19: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

In the end, the Alien and Sedition acts expired, but they were not renewed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mireille/49161827/

Page 20: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

The Constitution was a great beginning, but there were things to be worked out. It was not until 1803 that the Supreme Court first

claimed the right to decide if a law is unconstitutional (Marbury v. Madison).

http://www.east-buc.k12.ia.us/02_03/AG/mar/ak.htm

Page 21: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

The men who wrote the Constitution were afraid of political power. So they set up a government with a separation of powers,

with three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28768887@N07/2683998145/

Page 22: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

The three branches were supposed to be equal partners to check and balance each other.

http://steelturman.typepad.com/thesteeldeal/personal

Checks and Balances

Page 23: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

But at first the Supreme Court didn’t seem to know what to do. There was no check and balance at all. The court was so weak it was hard to get good people even to serve as justices.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/mss/guide/concord.html

Page 24: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Then President Adams made a brilliant choice. He appointed John Marshall as

chief justice of the Supreme Court.

http://www.arthistoryclub.com/art_history/John_Marshall

Page 25: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

As a young congressman, John Marshall voted against the Sedition Act and against

his own Federalist Party. That took courage.

http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whoweare/exhibits/marshall

Page 26: Alien & Sedition Acts Presentation by Robert L. Martinez Primary Content Source: The New Nation by Joy Hakim. Images as cited

Marshall would make the Supreme Court powerful and the judiciary an equal third

branch of the government.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelrays/310393764/