Alexander Hamilton was a Secretary of the Treasury …show more content…
A number of laws that were applied were also known as the alien and sedition acts. They were passed by the Federalist Congress in 1798. These laws contained the powers to deport aliens. These laws also made it tough for the new immigrants to vote. This led to federalist having Englishmen as their main supporters, but the immigrants supported the republican. The Federalists thought that foreigners were a major threat to the American society. One Federalist argued, there was no need to "invite hordes of Wild Irishmen, nor the turbulent and disorderly of all the world, to come here with a basic view to distract our tranquillity (Alien, n.d.)." The first law was the Naturalization Act. It prolonged the time immigrants had to live in America to become citizens from five to 14 years. Most immigrants favored the Republicans, so delaying their citizenship would slow the growth of Republicans.The Alien Enemies Act stated that once the war had been declared, all male citizens of an enemy country could be arrested, and deported. The law was never used because the countries didn’t go to war. The last law was the Sedition Act. Its targeted those who spoke out against the Federalists (Primary, n.d.).
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799. The Kentucky and Virginia legislatures stated that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. The causes that resulted in Kentucky and Virginia resolutions died away, and the Alien and Sedition Acts were taken back (Virginia, n.d.). Members of the Federalist Party were against the resolution because they believed that the Alien and Sedition Acts would silence the Republican Party and their supporters (Editors, 2017, April