DBQ - Alien and Sedition Acts essays

DBQ - Alien and Sedition Acts essays The debate over the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 revealed bitter controversies on a number of issues. Discuss the issues involved and explain why these controversies developed. The Alien and Sedition acts of 1798 were a consequence of many troubles the United States was having at the time. Just emerging into the world under President George Washington, their foreign policy was not enough to support themselves yet. The United States needed to make sure that there would be no foreign threat to them and to do so, they made a strict isolationist policy that was almost broken by the French call for aid during the French Revolution and later by the French reprisal for not answering their demands. The United States pulled through but with difficulty and in order to make sure that they stayed isolated from the rest of the world, they had to make sure that no immigrants would become powerful enough to change their views and go into politics and that the media would not interfere with government affairs by slandering them and writing anything against the government. This brought about the Alien and Sedition Acts which were criticized from the moment they were passed in the summer of 1798 to the moment they were removed. Washingtons first term as president happened to fall at the same time as the French Revolution. As a consequence Washingtons 8 years in office and his successor, John Adams had to decide whether their foreign policy should be pro French, anti French, or non involvement. Most Americans saw the French as helping them in the American Revolution, so they only saw it fit that America would then help them during their revolution. It was also easy to aid the French because they were fighting a Republican revolution and that seemed to help the US ideals. Unfortunately, the US and the French monarchy had an alliance, not the US and the French people so helping the French people was breaking the ...