Did the Alien-Sedition Acts violate any of the first 10 amendments? The Alien Sedition Acts were a set of four acts that were passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the United States Congress. It was declared during the undeclared naval war with Britain and France with the impressment of US seamen. Passed during the presidency of John Adams, Democrat-Republican opposition reached new heights because they were in favor with an alliance with France. The first act was the Naturalization act, which was “an act supplementary to, and to amend the act to establish a uniform rule of naturalization; and to repeal the act heretofore passed on that subject”, and was to extend the amount of years needed for naturalization from 5 years to 14 years. This wasn’t violating any of the amendments, however, because it only extended the amount of time needed in a law that was already in place. The next act was the Alien Act, which was formally called “an act concerning Aliens.” This act authorized the president to deport any aliens that would be considered dangerous to the country. This isn’t unconstitutional because they’re illegal or legal aliens that aren’t provided for under the constitution.
The third act was the Alien Enemies Act, formally called “An Act Respecting Alien Enemies.” This act allowed the president to deport any and or all people from a country at which the United States was at war with. This also is constitutional because the government has to provide for its citizens first before that of peoples of other countries.
The final act was the Sedition Act, formally called “An Act in Addition to the Act Entitled "An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes against the United States.” This specifically made it a crime to publish “false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or certain officials. This violates a people’s first amendment rights.