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222 PART 3 REVOLUTION AND REPUBLICAN CULTURE, 1754–1800

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’s agents, whom he dubbed X, Y, and Z, had insulted America’s honor. In
XYZ Affair response to the XYZ Affair, Congress cut off trade with France in 1798 and autho-
A 1797 incident in which American rized American privateering (licensing private ships to seize French vessels). This
negotiators in France were rebuffed for undeclared maritime war curtailed American trade with the French West Indies and
refusing to pay a substantial bribe. The
incident led the United States into an resulted in the capture of nearly two hundred French and American merchant vessels.
undeclared war that curtailed American trade
with the French West Indies.
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 Republi-
can critics. When Republican-minded immigrants from Ireland vehemently attacked
Adams’s policies, a Federalist pamphleteer responded in kind: “Were I president, I
would hang them for otherwise they would murder me.” To silence the critics, the
Naturalization, Alien, and Federalists enacted three coercive laws — the Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition
Sedition Acts Acts — limiting individual rights and threatening the fledgling party system. The
Three laws passed in 1798 that limited Naturalization Act lengthened the residency requirement for American citizenship
individual rights and threatened the
fledgling party system. The Naturalization from five to fourteen years, the Alien Act authorized the deportation of foreigners,
Act lengthened the residency requirement and the Sedition Act prohibited the publication of insults or malicious attacks on the
for citizenship, the Alien Act authorized the president or members of Congress. “He that is not for us is against us,” thundered the
deportation of foreigners, and the Sedition
Act prohibited the publication of insults Federalist Gazette of the United States. Using the Sedition Act, Federalist prosecutors
or malicious attacks on the president or arrested more than twenty Republican newspaper editors and politicians, accused
members of Congress.
them of sedition, and convicted and jailed a number of them.
This repression sparked a constitutional crisis. Republicans charged that the Sedi-
tion Act violated the First Amendment’s prohibition against “abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press.” However, they did not appeal to the Supreme Court because
the Court’s 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 “unauthoritative, void, and of no
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions force.” The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions set forth a states’ rights interpreta-
Resolutions by the Virginia and Kentucky tion of the Constitution, asserting that the states had a “right to judge” the legitimacy
state legislatures in 1798 condemning the of national laws; the Kentucky resolution, authored by Jefferson, even argued that
Alien and Sedition Acts. The resolutions
tested the idea that state legislatures could states could nullify unconstitutional federal laws if necessary.
judge the legitimacy of federal laws. 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 “watch and relate to the people” the activities of an oppressive government.
Meanwhile, John Adams reevaluated his foreign policy. Rejecting Hamilton’s advice
to declare war against France (and benefit from the resulting upsurge in patriotism),
Adams put country ahead of party and used diplomacy to end the maritime conflict.
The “Revolution of 1800” The campaign of 1800 was a bitter, no-holds-barred
contest. The Federalists launched personal attacks on Jefferson, branding him an
irresponsible pro-French radical and, because he opposed state support of religion in
Virginia, “the arch-apostle of irreligion and free thought.” Both parties changed state
election laws to favor their candidates, and rumors circulated of a Federalist plot to
stage a military coup.
The election did not end these worries. Thanks to a surprising Republican victory
in New York, low Federalist turnout in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the three-
fifths rule (which boosted electoral votes in the southern states), Jefferson won a
narrow 73-to-65 victory over Adams in the electoral college. However, the Republican
EXAM TIP electors also gave 73 votes to Aaron Burr of New York, who was Jefferson’s vice-
Recognizing the outcome of the presidential running mate (Map 7.1). The Constitution specified that in the case of
Election of 1800 as an effect of the a tie vote, the House of Representatives would choose between the candidates. For
political party actions is essential for thirty-five rounds of balloting, Federalists in the House blocked Jefferson’s election,
®
success on the AP Exam. prompting rumors that Virginia would raise a military force to put him into office.
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