The Sedition Act of 1798 as a Federalist Legal Instrument

Abstract

The Sedition Act of 1798, enacted alongside the other Federalist-proposed Alien and Sedition Acts, stands as the most egregious violation of the First Amendment’s Free Speech and Free Press Clauses in American history. This law, passed by a predominantly Federalist Congress and signed into law by President John Adams, criminalized the uttering and publishing of criticism of the federal government. This paper aims to demonstrate that the Sedition Act constituted more than just a national security measure that the Federalists supported on the grounds of empowering a strong, central government. Rather, as shown by the motives of the law described by Federalist politicians and the biased trial proceedings of those charged under the law, the Sedition Act was a calculated act of legal instrumentalism that sought to empower the Federalists by punishing anti-Federalist dissenters.