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From the President's Lips: The Concerns that Led to the Sedition (and Alien) Act
Guiding Question
- What conditions provided the impetus for the Sedition Act?
Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson, students will be able to:
- Summarize briefly the international situation during John Adams's presidency.
- List the concerns that led to the Sedition Act.
- Describe the Sedition Act.
1. Read with the class a brief overview of John Adams and his presidency from the class text or a source such as John Adams: A Life in Brief on the EDSITEment resource The American President. What were the international conditions that led to President Adams's Special Message to the Senate and the House, May 16, 1797 (available on the EDSITEment-reviewed website The Avalon Project)? What was the political situation at home?
2. Partisan animosity was strong during Adams's presidency. The first two political parties in the U.S. were in their infancy—the Federalists, to which the majority of members of Congress belonged, and the Democratic-Republicans, led by former vice-president Thomas Jefferson and four-term Congressman James Madison, who had left the House in 1796.
Share the cartoon Congressional Pugilists (large image) or Congressional Pugilists (medium image) from the EDSITEment resource Harp Week. Use the Cartoon Analysis Worksheet on the EDSITEment-reviewed website Digital Classroom to guide a whole-class or small-group analysis. Though the immediate cause of the fight between Representatives Matthew Lyon, a Republican from Vermont, and Roger Griswold, a Federalist from Connecticut, was a personal insult, "this unseemly congressional scandal thus manifested and exacerbated the ideological rift between the Federalists and the Republicans and was a national awakening to the virulence of America's increasingly partisan political process" (from Fracas in Congress: The Battle of Honor between Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold by Brian T. Neff, on the Electronic Text Center of the University of Virginia, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library). If desired, as an extension to this activity, interested students can read more about this incident in "Excerpt from Fracas in Congress" on pages 1-2 of the PDF file (see Preparing to Teach This Curriculum Unit for download instructions). For a complete description and analysis of the fracas, click on the title of the essay above.
3. Share with the class the handout "Excerpts from John Adams's Special Message," on pages 3-4 of the PDF file (see Preparing to Teach This Curriculum Unit for download instructions), or the full text of John Adams—Special Message to the Senate and the House, May 16, 1797 on the EDSITEment-reviewed website The Avalon Project. Adams's speech, delivered about one year before the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts, concentrates on the genuine problems in foreign relations that were used later to justify the passage of the acts. The following questions will help guide students' reading of the document:
- What were President Adams's concerns?
- What principles did President Adams suggest influenced his thinking?
- What solutions, if any, did he discuss?
Ask students to list Adams's concerns, principles, and solutions.
4. Review the selected passages from the Sedition Act (July 14, 1798) in the annotated handout "Excerpts from the Sedition Act (with Annotations)," on pages 5-6 of the PDF file (see Preparing to Teach This Curriculum Unit for download instructions), or the full text of the Sedition Act on the EDSITEment resource The Avalon Project. The following questions will help guide students' reading of the document:
- According to the EDSITEment-reviewed website The American President, "Although Adams was fiercely criticized for signing the Sedition Act, he never advocated [its] passage nor personally implemented [it]." But in what way does the act reflect President Adams's concerns, principles, or solutions, as listed by the class?
- What does the Sedition Act classify as a crime?
- In what ways does the act go beyond what Adams might have wanted?
By a show of hands, determine which students believe the Sedition Act was/was not designed to respond to the President's concerns.
5. If desired, read the background on the Alien and Sedition Acts from the EDSITEment resource Digital Classroom. Go back to the annotated handout "Excerpts from the Sedition Act" or the full text of the Sedition Act. What specific parts of the Sedition Act had the most potential for abuse?
Assessment
Lead students in a discussion of the following questions:
Keep in mind that there was a yearlong gap between President Adams's speech and passage of the Sedition Act. In addition, think about the expiration date set for the Sedition Act—March 3, 1803—one day before the next president's (or John Adams's second) term in office would officially begin. The Federalists who passed the act did not want to take a chance that their freedom of expression would be limited should a Democratic-Republican be elected. Ask each student to write a summary of the concerns/factors that led Congress to pass the Sedition Act when it did.
Selected EDSITEment Websites
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