Educating Young People about the Constitution

www.BillofRightsInstitute.org

Presidents and the Constitution:

Commander in Chief John Adams and

the Alien and Sedition Acts

Presidents and the Constitution Resources

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"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.“ – Benjamin Franklin, 1759

Yet, during times of war, the President and Congress have curtailed freedoms in the name of security.

Directions: Read Dr. Robert McDonald’s essay on pages 36-39. Underline or highlight the facts you think are important.

War and the Constitution

Constitutional Connection Activity

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Objectives• Understand Adams’s reasons for

believing the Alien and Sedition Acts were a constitutional war measure.

• Analyze arguments for and against the constitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

• Assess the constitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Critical Engagement Question

Was the sedition portion of the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts, signed into law by President John Adams, a constitutional war measure?

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

Picture of the Alien and Sedition Acts, National Archives

Background/HomeworkRead Handout A: John Adams and the

Alien and Sedition Acts and answer the reading comprehension questions. (questions below)

1. Why did President Adams want to quiet support for the French in the United States?

2. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts?

3. What were arguments for and against the constitutionality of these acts?

4. Do you believe the Alien and Sedition Acts were constitutional? Why or why not?

5. Do you think that the threat of war justifies limits on civil liberties? If not, why? If so, what kinds of limits would be constitutional?

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John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

Warm Up• Get one card from

Handout B: Dinner Party Guests.

• Read your “dinner party card” and learn about your character.

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

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Activity• Before you begin the

“Dinner Party”, complete question 1 on Handout C: Dinner Party Conversations.

• Now start the Dinner Party and ask one of your questions to at least 3 other people. If necessary, use information from Handout A:The Dinner Party Card, and any other resources available. 7

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

Activity continued• With about 10

minutes left in the “Dinner Party” answer question 2 on Handout C.

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John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

Activity continuedTo wrap up “dinner,” create a “toast” or “roast”

(Question 3 on Handout C) to President John Adams. Use irony or humor! • Toasts: should include mentions of

Adam’s accomplishments and the guests’ opinions about them.

• Roasts: “To His Majesty Adams, who could wait barely a year in office before trampling upon our most sacred rights.”

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John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

HomeworkWrite two or three paragraphs in response to the

following prompt: Why does history seem to blame the President—who is not a lawmaker—for bad laws?

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Court case involving the Alien and Sedition Acts

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

Extensions

While the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions condemned the Alien and Sedition Acts, ten of the fourteen states responded to those resolutions by issuing proclamations that condemned state interference with federal law, and, in some cases asserting the constitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Read the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions as well as the responses of Rhode Island and New Hampshire in response to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. How do the arguments compare and contrast? 11

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

1899 Analysis of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

The Issues EndureWrite a two to three page essay in response to the following prompt:

One historian describes a “rampant fear of the enemy within” during the time the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed. Has this description applied at other times in U.S. history? Does it apply today? Explain.

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John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts