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264 PART 3 REVOLUTION AND REPUBLICAN CULTURE, 1754%u20131800parties were dangerous because they looked out for themselves rather than serving the public interest.But a shared understanding of the public interest collapsed in the face of sharp conflicts over Hamilton%u2019s fiscal policies. Most merchants and creditors supported the Federalist Party, as did wheat-exporting slaveholders in the Tidewater districts of the Chesapeake. The emerging Republican coalition included southern tobacco and rice planters, debt-conscious western farmers, Germans and Scots-Irish in the southern backcountry, and subsistence farmers in the Northeast.Party identity crystallized in 1796. To prepare for the presidential election, Federalist and Republican leaders called caucuses in Congress and conventions in the states. They also mobilized popular support by organizing public festivals and processions: the Federalists held banquets in February to celebrate Washington%u2019s birthday, and the Republicans marched through the streets on July 4 to honor the Declaration of Independence.In the election, voters gave Federalists a majority in Congress and made John Adams president. Jefferson, narrowly defeated, became vice president. Adams continued Hamilton%u2019s pro-British foreign policy and strongly criticized French seizures of American merchant ships. When American diplomats insisted that France respect U.S. neutrality, the French foreign minister Talleyrand instructed his agents to demand a loan and a bribe from the United States to stop the seizures. American diplomats refused to pay, Talleyrand ignored their pleas, and Adams charged that Talleyrand%u2019s agents, whom he dubbed X, Y, and Z, had insulted America%u2019s honor. In response to the XYZ Affair, Congress cut off trade with France in 1798 and authorized American privateering (licensing private ships to seize French vessels). This undeclared maritime war curtailed American trade with the French West Indies and resulted in the capture of nearly two hundred French and American merchant vessels.The Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts of 1798 As Federalists became more hostile to the French Republic, they also took a harder line against their Republican critics. When Republican-minded immigrants from Ireland vehemently attacked Adams%u2019s policies, a Federalist pamphleteer responded in kind: %u201cWere I president, I would hang them for otherwise they would murder me.%u201d To silence the critics, the Federalists enacted three coercive laws%u2014the Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts%u2014 limiting individual rights and criminalizing political dissent. The Naturalization Act lengthened the residency requirement for American citizenship from five to fourteen years, the Alien Act authorized the deportation of foreigners, and the Sedition Act prohibited the publication of insults or malicious attacks on the president or members of Congress. %u201cHe that is not for us is against us,%u201d thundered the Federalist Gazette of the United States. Using the Sedition Act, Federalist prosecutors arrested more than twenty Republican newspaper editors and politicians, accused them of sedition, and convicted and jailed a number of them.This repression sparked a constitutional crisis. Republicans charged that the Sedition Act violated the First Amendment%u2019s prohibition against %u201cabridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.%u201d However, they did not appeal to the Supreme Court because the Court%u2019s power to review congressional legislation was uncertain and because most of the justices were Federalists. Instead, Madison and Jefferson looked to the state legislatures. At their urging, the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures issued resolutions in 1798 declaring the Alien and Sedition Acts to be %u201cunauthoritative, void, and of no force.%u201d The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions set forth a states%u2019 rights interpretation of the Constitution, asserting that the states had a %u201cright to judge%u201d the legitimacy of national laws; the Kentucky Resolution, authored by Jefferson, even argued that states could nullify unconstitutional federal laws if necessary.The conflict over the Sedition Act set the stage for the presidential election of 1800. Jefferson, once opposed on principle to political parties, now asserted that they could %u201cwatch and relate to the people%u201d the activities of an oppressive government. skills & processesCAUSATIONHow did events abroad during the 1790s sharpen political divisions in the United States?XYZ AffairA 1797 incident in which American negotiators in France were rebuffed for refusing to pay a substantial bribe. In response, in 1798 the United States cut off trade with France and its colonies, leading to a two-year period of undeclared war between the two nations.Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition ActsThree laws passed in 1798 that limited individual rights, criminalized political dissent, and threatened the fledgling party system. The Naturalization Act lengthened the residency requirement for citizenship, the Alien Act authorized the deportation of foreigners, and the Sedition Act prohibited the publication of insults or malicious attacks on the president or members of Congress.Virginia and Kentucky ResolutionsResolutions by the Virginia and Kentucky state legislatures in 1798 condemning the Alien and Sedition Acts. The resolutions tested the idea that state legislatures could judge the legitimacy of federal laws.exam tipUnderstanding how the debates over the Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts helped crystallize political party identities is essential for success on the AP%u00ae exam.%u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.