TheAlien and Sedition Acts of 1798 were a set of fourUnited States statutes that sought, on national security grounds, to restrict immigration and limit1st Amendment protections for freedom of speech. They were endorsed by theFederalist Party ofPresident John Adams as a response to a developing dispute with theFrench Republic and to related fears of domestic political subversion. The prosecution of journalists under the Sedition Act rallied public support for the oppositionDemocratic-Republicans, and contributed to their success in theelections of 1800. Under the newadministration of Thomas Jefferson, only the Alien Enemies Act,[a] granting the president powers of detention and deportation of foreigners in wartime or in face of a threatened invasion, remained in force.
To allow the president to imprison and deport foreigners.
Expired in 1800.
Alien Enemies Act of 1798
To give the president additional powers to detain foreigners during times of war, invasion, or predatory incursion.[1]
Amended in 1918 to have gender-neutral applicability, currently codified at sections 4067 through 4070 of theRevised Statutes (50 U.S.C. 21 et seq.).
Sedition Act of 1798
To criminalize false and/or malicious statements about the federal government.
Expired in 1800.
Alien Friends Act of 1798
After 1800, the surviving Alien Enemies Act was invoked three times during the course of a declared war: theWar of 1812, and theFirst andSecond World Wars. Of these three invocations, the Alien Enemies Act is best known as the legal authority behind the internment ofGerman Americans during both World Wars, as well asinternment of Italian Americans and, to a lesser extent,Japanese Americans during World War II.[2] In March 2025, PresidentDonald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act as his authority for expediting deportation of foreigners; this invocation is subject to ongoing litigation.[3]
After theAmerican Revolutionary War concluded, France was unable to provide further loans; Congress could no longer pay its soldiers.[4] In 1793,Congress unilaterally suspended repayment of French loans from the war, and in 1794 signed theJay Treaty withGreat Britain. France, engaged in the 1792 to 1797War of the First Coalition, retaliated by having Frenchprivateers seize U.S. ships on both the Eastern Seaboard and the Caribbean.[5]
PresidentJohn Adams sent envoys to Paris but was purportedly confronted with a demand by French foreign ministerTalleyrand for a bribe as a condition for opening formal negotiations. The publication in thePhiladelphia Aurora of Talleyrand's account of what became known as theXYZ Affair initiated the first attempted prosecution under the Sedition Act.[6] Charged with seditious libel against Adams and his Federalist administration, the Aurora's publisherBenjamin Franklin Bache died in advance of his trial.[7]
The unresolved dispute with France evolved into theQuasi-War (1798 to 1800) fought almost entirely at sea, primarily in theCaribbean and off theEast Coast of the United States. Believing that French military successes in Europe had been assisted by the broader appeal ofFrench revolutionary ideals, the Adams administration proposed the Alien and Sedition acts as counter to what they presumed would be a French strategy of domestic subversion.[8]
Protests occurred across the country,[9] with critics denouncing the Acts as an encroachment of the federal executive upon the powers of Congress and the judiciary, and a violation of the First Amendment the right to free speech, primarily intended to suppress the Democratic-Republican opposition[10][11] As campaign material for his1800 United States presidential bid,Vice PresidentThomas Jefferson, secretly authored aKentucky resolution, seconded byJames Madison in the Virginia legislature, asserting the right of the states to nullify the Acts as unconstitutional.[12] (States north of Virginia passed counter-resolutions asserting that the courts alone had the right of interpretation).[13] Unless repealed, Jefferson suggested the legislation might drive states "into revolution and blood".[14]
Alarmed, the Federalists accused the Democratic-Republicans of shielding the subversive activities of French and French-sympathizing immigrants.[15] The Federalist pamphleteerWilliam Cobbett accused Bache's successor at theAurora,William Duane, of orchestrating a conspiracy amongUnited Irish émigrés. Convening in Philadelphia's African Free School, and admitting, together with "all those who have suffered in the cause of freedom",free blacks, the Irish republicans had formed a society dedicated to the proposition (to which each member attested) that "a free form of government, and uncontrouled [sic] opinion on all subjects, [are] the common rights of all the human species".[16] Against the backdrop of theQuasi War and of theHaitian Revolution (then still under the flag of theFrench Republic),[17] for Cobbett, this was sufficient proof of an intention to organise slave revolts and "thus involve the whole country in rebellion and bloodshed".[16] In protesting the Acts, Duane had argued, in letter toGeorge Washington, for an entirely civic concept of American citizenship, one that might encompass "the Jew, the savage, the Mahometan, the idolator, upon all of whom the sun shines equally".[18]
With PresidentJohn Adams naming Duane as one of the three or four men most responsible for his defeat,[19] Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans ticket triumphed in the elections of 1800. Upon assuming the presidency, Jefferson pardoned those still serving sentences under the Sedition Act,[20] and the new Congress repaid their fines.[21]
Of the four original acts, by 1802 only the Alien Enemies Act remained.
Signed into law by President John Adams on June 25, 1798
The Alien Friends Act (officially "An Act Concerning Aliens") authorized the president to deport any foreigner that was determined to be "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States."[22] Once a foreigner was determined to be dangerous, or was suspected of conspiring against the government, the president had the power to set a reasonable amount of time for departure, and remaining after the time limit could result to up to three years in prison. The law was never directly enforced, but it was often used in conjunction with the Sedition Act to suppress criticism of the Adams administration. Upon enactment, the Alien Friends Act was authorized for two years, andsunset thereafter. Democratic-Republicans opposed the law, withThomas Jefferson referring to it as "a most detestable thing... worthy of the 8th or 9th century."[23]: 249
While the law was not directly enforced, it resulted in the voluntary departure of foreigners who feared that they would be charged under the act. The Adams administration encouraged these departures, and Secretary of StateTimothy Pickering would ensure that the ships were granted passage. Though Adams did not delegate the final decision-making power, Secretary Pickering was responsible for overseeing enforcement of the Alien Friends Act. Both Adams and Pickering considered the law too weak to be effective; Pickering expressed his desire for the law to requiresureties and authorize detainment prior to deportation.[24]
Many French nationals were considered for deportation but were allowed to leave willingly, or Adams declined to take action against them. These figures included: philosopherConstantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney, GeneralVictor Collot, scholarMédéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry, diplomatVictor Marie du Pont. Secretary Pickering also proposed applying the act against the French diplomatic delegation to the United States, but Adams refused. JournalistJohn Daly Burk agreed to leave under the act informally to avoid being tried for sedition, but he went into hiding in Virginia until the act's expiration.[24] Adams never signed a deportation order.[25]: 187–193
Signed into law by President John Adams on July 6, 1798
The Alien Enemies Act (officially "An Act Respecting Alien Enemies") was passed to supplement the Alien Friends Act, granting the government additional powers to regulate the activity of foreigners in times of war or invasion.[24][26] Under this law, the president could authorize the arrest, relocation, or deportation of any male over the age of 14 who hailed from a foreign enemy country.[27] It also provided some legal protections for those subject to the law.[28] Unlike the other acts, this act was largely unopposed by the Democratic-Republicans.[23]: 249
The Alien Enemies Act did not contain asunset clause and has sustained force and effect, codified as sections 4067 to 4070 of theRevised Statutes (50 U.S.C. 21–24).[29]
The Naturalization Act increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from five to 14 years and increased the notice time from three to five years. Although the law was passed under the guise of protecting national security, most historians conclude it was really intended to decrease the number of citizens, and thus voters, who disagreed with the Federalist Party.[30] At the time, the majority of immigrants supportedThomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans—the political opponents of the Federalists.[8] It did not sunset, but was repealed by theNaturalization Act of 1802.
Signed into law by President John Adams on July 14, 1798
The Federalist-controlled Congress passed the Sedition Act[31] by a vote of 44 to 41.[32] The legislation made it illegal to print "false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States."[6]
The act was used to suppress speech critical of the Adams administration, including the prosecution and conviction of manyJeffersonian newspaper owners who disagreed with the Federalist Party.[33]The Sedition Act did not extend enforcement to speech about the Vice President, as then-incumbent Thomas Jefferson was a political opponent of the Federalist-controlled Congress. The Sedition Act was allowed to expire in 1800, and its enactment is credited with helping Jefferson win the presidential election that year.[34][11]
Prominent prosecutions under the Sedition Act included:
Benjamin Franklin Bache, editor of thePhiladelphia Aurora, a Democratic-Republican newspaper, was the first to be arrested under the Sedition Act. In 1798, he was charged with libelling President Adams ("the blind, bald, crippled, toothless, querulous Adams") whom he had accused of nepotism and monarchical ambition[35] and against whom he had supported the French position in theXYZ affair.[7] Released on bail, he died ofyellow fever before trial.[25]: 27–29, 65, 96
In 1799,William Duane, Bache successor at theAurora, twice faced charges under the Sedition Act: for his purported instigation of a "United Irish riot" in Philadelphia,[17]: 107–111 and for an editorial that intimated thatGreat Britain had used intrigue to exert its influence with the Adams administration. In both instances, the prosecution case collapsed.[36]
Matthew Lyon, a Democratic-Republican congressman fromVermont, was the first individual to contest charges under the Alien and Sedition Acts in court.[8] He was indicted in 1800 for an essay he had written in theVermont Journal, where he had accused the administration of "ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish avarice." While awaiting trial, Lyon commenced publication ofLyon's Republican Magazine, subtitled "The Scourge of Aristocracy." At trial, he was fined $1,000 (equal to $92,637 today), and sentenced to four months in jail. After his release, he returned to Congress.[37][25]: 102–108
James T. Callender, a Scottish pamphleteer who had fled to the United States after becoming embroiled in controversy due to publishing an anti-war and anti-corruption tract. Living first inPhiladelphia, then seeking refuge close by inVirginia, he wrote a book titledThe Prospect Before Us (read and approved by Vice President Jefferson before publication), in which he called the Adams administration a "continual tempest of malignant passions," and referred to the President as a "repulsive pedant, a gross hypocrite, and an unprincipled oppressor." Callender, already residing in Virginia and writing for theRichmond Examiner, was indicted in mid-1800 under the Sedition Act, and was subsequently convicted, fined $200, and sentenced to nine months in jail.[25]: 211–220
Anthony Haswell was an English immigrant, and a printer of the JeffersonianVermont Gazette.[38] Sourced from thePhiladelphia Aurora, Haswell had reprinted Bache's claim that the federal government employedTories. Haswell also published an advertisement from Lyon's sons for a lottery to raise money for his fine that decried Lyon's oppression by jailers exercising "usurped powers".[39] Haswell was found guilty of seditious libel by judgeWilliam Paterson, and sentenced to a two-month imprisonment and a $200 fine.[40]
Luther Baldwin was indicted, convicted, and fined $100 for a drunken incident that occurred during a visit by President Adams to Newark, New Jersey. Upon hearing a gun report during a parade, he yelled "I hope it hit Adams in the [backside]."[41][25]: 112–14
In November 1798,David Brown led a group inDedham, Massachusetts, includingBenjamin Fairbanks, in setting up aliberty pole with the words, "NoStamp Act, No Sedition Act, No Alien Bills, No Land Tax, downfall to the Tyrants of America; peace and retirement to the President; Long Live the Vice President."[40][42][43] Brown was arrested in Andover, Massachusetts, but because he could not afford the $4,000 bail, he was taken to Salem for trial.[42] Brown was tried in June 1799.[40] Brown pleaded guilty, but JusticeSamuel Chase asked him to name others who had assisted him.[40] Brown refused, was fined $480 (equivalent to $8,900 in 2024),[42][44] and sentenced to eighteen months in prison, the most severe sentence imposed under the Sedition Act.[40][42]
The Sedition Act, which was signed into law by Adams on July 14, 1798, had been passed by Federalist-controlled Congress only after multiple amendments including a provision that it sunset in March 1801.[20]
Following the resolution of the Quasi War in 1800, and up until the second administration of President Trump in 2025, the Alien Enemies Act was invoked by the United States executive on three occasions.[45]
PresidentJames Madison invoked the act against British nationals during theWar of 1812, and ordered them to report to local authorities in order to undertake additional duties.[46][47]
On December 7, 1941, in response to thebombing of Pearl Harbor, PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt used the authority of the revised Alien Enemies Act to makepresidential proclamations #2525 (Alien Enemies – Japanese), #2526 (Alien Enemies – German), and #2527 (Alien Enemies – Italian), in order to apprehend, restrain, secure, and remove Japanese, German, and Italian foreigners.[51] However, most of the 120,000 persons of Japanese descent incarcerated in U.S. internment camps were U.S. citizens detained solely on the basis of their Japanese ancestry, under the authority ofExecutive Order 9066 issued by Roosevelt early in 1942. The order was issued on the basis of wartime and national defense statutes unrelated to the Alien Enemies Act, and while deployed primarily against Japanese Americans did lead to the detention of smaller numbers of U.S. citizens of German and Italian descent.[52][53][54][55]
Hostilities with Germany and Italy ended in May 1945, and PresidentHarry S. Truman issued presidential proclamation #2655 on July 14. The proclamation gave theattorney general authority regarding enemy aliens within thecontinental United States, to decide whether they are "dangerous to the public peace and safety of the United States," to order them removed, and to create regulations governing their removal, citing the Alien Enemies Act.[56] On September 8, 1945, Truman issued presidential proclamation #2662, which authorized thesecretary of state to remove enemy aliens that had been sent to the United States fromLatin American countries.[57] On April 10, 1946, Truman's proclamation #2685 modified previous proclamations, and set a 30-day deadline for removal.[58]
InLudecke v. Watkins (1948), the Supreme Court interpreted the time of release under the Alien Enemies Act.[59] German alienKurt G. W. Lüdecke was detained on December 8, 1941, under Proclamation 2526, and continued to be held after cessation of hostilities.[60] In 1947, Lüdecke petitioned for awrit of habeas corpus to order his release, after the attorney general ordered him deported. The court ruled 5–4 to affirm the district court and appellate decisions to deny the writ of habeas corpus. The Court also concluded that the Alien Enemies Act allowed for detainment beyond the time hostilities ceased until an actual treaty was signed with the hostile nation or government or the until the president determines that hostilities have concluded.[61]
PresidentRonald Reagan signed theCivil Liberties Act of 1988, which conceded that the internment of Japanese Americans had been based on "race prejudice, warhysteria, and a failure of political leadership",[62] and authorizing compensation for survivors.[63]
On September 20, 2024, amidincreased numbers of Venezuelan asylum seekers seeking refuge in the United States, then-nomineeDonald Trump announced that if elected president for a second term he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act to expedite the removal of foreigners and criminal networks operating in the United States.[64][65] On October 27, 2024, he again mentioned the Alien Enemies Act during acampaign rally held atMadison Square Garden, claiming that he would use it to remove undocumented migrants operating within gangs and criminal networks on "day one" of his presidency.[66][67]
On April 7, 2025, theU.S. Supreme Courtvacated Judge Boasberg'stemporary restraining order and held that the plaintiffs must bring the lawsuit in Texas, where they are being held, not in Washington, D.C. The court also ruled that the government must provide sufficient notice to the plaintiffs and an opportunity to challenge the deportation. The ruling did not address the constitutionality of the deportation.[73][74]
On April 19, 2025, in a signal that the majority of justices did not trust that the Trump administration was complying with the April 7 ruling, the Supreme Court issued an emergency late-night order inA.A.R.P. v. Trump, halting the deportation process in theNorthern District of Texas. According to court filings, the government intended to fly the Venezuelan detainees out of the country within 24 hours.[75]
^Duane, William (1797),Letter to George Washington President of the United States, Baltimore: Printed for George Keating's Bookstore. Cited MacGiollabhui (2019), p. 113.
^abWeisberger, Bernard A. (2000).America Afire: Jefferson, Adams, and the Revolutionary Election of 1800. New York City:William Morrow. pp. 187–193, 201.ISBN978-0380977635.
^abcSmith, James Morton (1954). "The Enforcement of the Alien Friends Act of 1798".The Mississippi Valley Historical Review.41 (1):85–104.doi:10.2307/1898151.ISSN0161-391X.JSTOR1898151.
^Lendler, Marc (2004). "'Equally Proper at All Times and at All Times Necessary': Civility, Bad Tendency, and the Sedition Act".Journal of the Early Republic.24 (3). Chapel Hill, North Carolina:University of North Carolina Press:419–444.ISSN0275-1275.JSTOR4141440.
^Smith, James Morton (1956),Freedom's Fetters: The Alien and Sedition Laws and American civil liberties, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, pp. 270–274
^Semiannual Report of the War Relocation Authority, for the period January 1 to June 30, 1946, not dated. Papers ofDillon S. Myer.Scanned ImageArchived 18 March 2025 at theWayback Machine trumanlibrary.gov. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
^Semiannual Report of the War Relocation Authority, for the period January 1 to June 30, 1946, not dated. Papers ofDillon S. Myer.Scanned image atArchived 16 June 2018 at theWayback Machine trumanlibrary.org. Retrieved September 18, 2006.
^"The War Relocation Authority and the Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II: 1948 Chronology",Web pageArchived 2015-11-05 at theWayback Machine at www.trumanlibrary.org. Retrieved September 11, 2006.
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Bird, Wendell.Press and Speech Under Assault: The Early Supreme Court Justices, the Sedition Act of 1798, and the Campaign Against Dissent. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.ISBN0190461624
Elkins, Stanley M.; McKitrick, Eric (1995).The Age of Federalism.[ISBN missing]
Halperin, Terri Diane.The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798: Testing the Constitution. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016.[ISBN missing]
Jenkins, David (April 2001). "The Sedition Act of 1798 and the Incorporation of Seditious Libel into First Amendment Jurisprudence".The American Journal of Legal History.45 (2):154–213.doi:10.2307/3185366.JSTOR3185366.
Rehnquist, William H. (1994).Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson.[ISBN missing] Chase was impeached and acquitted for his conduct of a trial under the Sedition act.
Wineapple, Brenda, "Our First Authoritarian Crackdown" (review ofWendell Bird,Criminal Dissent: Prosecutions under the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, Harvard University Press, 2020, 546 pp.),The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVII, no. 11 (2 July 2020), pp. 39–40. Wineapple closes: "Jefferson said it all: 'I know not what mortifies me most, that I should fear to write what I think, or my country bear such a state of things.'"
Wright, Barry (April 2002). "Migration, Radicalism, and State Security: Legislative Initiatives in the Canada and the United States c. 1794–1804".Studies in American Political Development.16 (1):48–60.doi:10.1017/S0898588X02000032.S2CID145076899.
Zelizer, Julian E., ed.The American Congress: The Building of Democracy (Houghton Mifflin. 2004) pp. 63–76.[ISBN missing]
Randolph, J.W.The Virginia Report of 1799–1800, Touching the Alien and Sedition Laws; together with the Virginia Resolutions of December 21, 1798, the Debate and Proceedings thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia, and several other documents illustrative of the report and resolutions
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