Alien and Sedition Acts

Alien and Sedition Acts

One might believe that the federalist did not have the right to pass a law prohibiting public criticism of the Government during the time of a war. The federalist passed this law and prevented any criticism of the federalist party during an election, so inevitably it made the federalist have an easier time to stay in office and win elections. Technically they did not have the power to put this law in place because it violates the First Amendment which consists of freedom of speech, religion, and way of life.

Most would believe that the First Amendment is violated and the rights it gives are took away from the people at times. For example, the Alien Sedition Act violates the First Amendment because all people are suppose to have the right to say what they want and have their own opinions. The Alien and Sedition Acts made it so that people had to accept the Federalist and they could not talk about them or make their opinions heard. Overall this made it extremely easy for the Federalist to win over the votes of the people during the elections. Inevitably this made the more dominant party which were the Federalist, more predominant party in the White House. This sadly made it very hard for change and for different views to be seen and heard in the political stance.

Not only did the Alien and Sedition Acts limit which party was in the White House and whether or not the people could voice their opinions, but it made it harder for immigrants to live freely and equally in the United States. The Alien and Sedition Acts made it so that immigrants could not vote which somewhat helped out the Federalist party, but also angered the people even more. After all of this build up of anger it eventually led to the extermination of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1809.