(Alien and Sedition Acts) | First edition of the Acts of the Fifth Congress, containing the Alien and Sedition Acts

(Alien and Sedition Acts)

Acts Passed at the First Session of the Fifth Congress of the U.S … Philadelphia … May 15, 1797 and of the Independence of the U.S., the twenty-first. Issued with Acts Passed at the Second Session of the Fifth Congress … issued with Acts Passed at the Third Session of the Fifth Congress. Philadelphia: William Ross 1797 [–1799]

8vo (204 x 123 mm). Section titles; browning and foxing, one or two marginal tears. Contemporary sheep, bordered in blind, smooth spine ruled in blind and numbered "4" in blind, gilt-lettered red morocco label; rubbed, upper joint weak. In custom slipcase and folding chemise.  

Scarce first edition of the Acts of the Fifth Congress, containing the Alien and Sedition Acts

The present volume represents the early official printings of the Alien and Sedition Acts. "The first bill, the Naturalization Act, was signed into law on June 18, 1798. It increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from five to fourteen years and created other hurdles to citizenship (the majority of emigrants were supporters of the Jeffersonian Republicans). The second, the Alien Friends Act, was passed on June 25. It allowed the President to imprison or deport aliens considered 'dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States.' On July 6 the Alien Enemies Act passed, authorizing the President to imprison or deport any male, whether an alien or American citizen, related to an enemy nation in times of war. The first two acts expired in March 1801, at the end of the Adams presidency, but the Alien Enemies Act is still in effect, and was the basis for the confinement of Japanese and German ethnic groups during World War II. Its use has been raised as a possibility in modern times. Far more important to domestic politics of the era was the Sedition Act, passed on July 14, 1798. This made it a crime if 'any person shall write, print, utter, or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered, or published … any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States … to bring them, or either of them, into contempt or disrepute.' A number of individuals were prosecuted under the Sedition Act, notably Representative Matthew Lyon, the aggressive Congressman from Vermont; the political writer James Callender; and some ordinary citizens. The majority prosecuted were Republican newspaper editors such as Benjamin Franklin Bache. The Sedition Act provoked an angry reaction from many, and contributed to the Federalist collapse at the polls in the 1800 election. It expired at the end of 1800, and Jefferson pardoned those still imprisoned under it when he took office in March 1801" (Federal).

PROVENANCE

Lenox (contemporary signature to front free endpaper)

REFERENCE

Evans 32951, 34688, 36479; Federal Hundred 70 (note); Sabin 15501, 15502, 15503