Origins

As tensions between France and the United States began to escalate toward war, a partisan divide between Federalists, the party of then-president John Adams, and the Democratic-Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson, formed. With the threat of war looming, Federalists passed multiple laws, including the Alien Enemies Act, which gives the president sweeping powers to deport people during times of declared war. The Sedition Act of 1798, supported by Federalists, prohibited saying anything “false, scandalous or malicious” against the federal government and was punishable by fines of up to $2,000 dollars (an astronomical amount at the time) and jail time.