About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

33 Litig. 53 (2006-2007)
The 1798 Sedition Act: President's Party Prosecutes Press

handle is hein.journals/laba33 and id is 273 raw text is: Legal Lore The 1798 Sedition Act: President's Party Prosecutes Press by Robert and Marilyn Aitken Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad. -James Madison Letter to Thomas Jefferson May 1798 The best of times in the new United States of America was followed by the worst of times. The golden age of the founders ended with President George Washington's farewell address in 1796, warning of the dangers of foreign alliances and party politics. As with chil- dren left in a schoolroom without the teacher present, chaos ensued. Political parties appeared and attacked each other with vitriolic fervor. Foreign alliances divided the country. The notorious Alien and Sedition Act was passed. France and Britain were at war. Vice President Thomas Jefferson and his Republican (later Democratic) party embraced France and popular sover- eignty. President John Adams, Washing- ton's successor, and the Federalists despised the excesses of the French Revolution and tilted American neutral- ity toward Britain. When President Adams sent three envoys to Paris to negotiate a treaty end- ing French attacks on American ship- ping, they were confronted by Tallyrand agents demanding bribes. The agents were referred to by initials, and the XYZ Affair helped the Federalist cause by arousing patriotism. Adams began a half-war against France with Con- gress authorizing an expanded army Robert Aitken practices law in Palos Verdes Estates, California. He is an associate editor of LITIGATION. This article was co-authored by Marilyn Aitken, a freelance writer ummer 2007 5 3 Volume 33 LITIGATION _,! umb., and a Department of the Navy. Federal- ist popularity soared as fear of war increased. J.M. Smith, Freedom's Fet- ters (1956); A. Mapp Jr., Thomas Jeffer- son (1987). Then, the Federalists went too far. Dark forces prevailed. After debating its constitutionality along party lines, Con- gress passed the 1798 Alien and Sedi- tion Act into law. The Sedition Act punished any persons who combined to oppose any measure of the government. More chilling, the Act provided for the prosecution of persons writing, printing, uttering, or publishing any false, scan- dalous and malicious writing with intent to defame that brought the federal government, the Congress, or the Presi- dent into contempt or disrepute or excited the hatred of the good people of the United States. It notably omitted Vice President Jefferson from its protec- tion. Alexander Hamilton pushed for enforcement. No one was ever deported under the companion Alien Act. The Sedition Act was used as a political tool. A. Lewis, Make No Law (1991). In the Sedition Act, truth was a defense, proof of malicious intent was required, and the jury would decide guilt, but Federalist judges did not require the government to prove state- ments false. No op-ed pieces under this law. Malice was presumed and intent to defame was inferred from words that had a bad tendency, as in the English common law of seditious libel. Juries were charged so that their only decision was whether the accused had published the offending statement. Punishment called for up to two years in prison and $2,000 in fines. The law's expiration date was March 3, 1801, the day before President Adams's term ended. Great American Trials (Knappman, ed., 1994). LITGATION Su Number4

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most