The Alien and Sedition Acts

The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed by the Federalists mainly to strengthen their position in the government and to limit and control the growing number of Republicans in the country. These acts grant lots of power to the government, i.e. president and Congress, which at that time were controlled by the Federalists. These acts lengthened the naturalization process for foreigners, gave the president enormous powers to deal with aliens, and provide central government …

…the opposition from the Republicans. The Republicans were strongly against these acts. Several months after the acts were enacted, Republicans (Thomas Jefferson and James Madison) issued Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. These resolutions suggested that each state is a final judge of the constitutionality of federal acts and could cancel out laws issued by the central government if they found it to be unconstitutional. This idea is used as the base of America Civil War in 1860.