Shaping of America 1783-1815 Primary Sources | U.S. Congress: The Alien and Sedition Acts

Excerpt from The Alien and Sedition Acts

Passed in June and July 1798
Published in Documents of American History, edited by
Henry S. Commager, 1943

The Jay Treaty opened trade with Britain and brought Britain and the United States closer together than they had been for years. The pact, signed on November 19, 1794, and named for U.S. Supreme Court justice John Jay (1745–1829), who negotiated it, angered the French. They saw it as a direct violation of the Treaty of Alliance, which they signed with the United States in 1778. In that treaty, France and the United States promised each other that if one were at war with Britain, the other would lend assistance. Also, under Article 8 of the treaty, neither the United States nor France could make a truce with Britain without the consent of the other. The 1778 French alliance had served the United States well during the American...