ohn Adams became president in 1797 after a bitter election. France, angered by Jay’s Treaty, seized American ships. American envoys reported that intermediaries had demanded payments before negotiationsthe XYZ Affair. Public outrage produced an undeclared naval conflict with France known as the Quasi-War. Adams expanded naval preparedness but resisted pressure for full-scale war and ultimately pursued peace, a decision that divided his Federalist Party. At home, however, Federalists enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. The laws lengthened residency requirements for citizenship, authorized presidential action against certain noncitizens and criminalized categories of false or malicious criticism of the federal government. Federalist officials prosecuted opposition editors and politicians. The First Amendment had been ratified only seven years earlier, yet courts had not developed the modern protections later associated with political speech. Jefferson and Madison responded through the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, arguing that the federal government had exceeded its constitutional authority. Their theories of state resistance would later be invoked in more dangerous sectional causes.
“A government created to protect liberty discovered how quickly fear could turn criticism into a crime.
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