The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-01-08
.SED|T|0N LAWS
ARE UN-AMER!CAN
Proved Disastrous and Were
Repealed During Term Of
President Adams.

The state of the National NOnpar-
tisan league ut it's recent convention
in st. Paul against scditiOn laws in
times of peace calls to mind the
fact that the only Sedition laws Amer
lea has attempted in its century and
Il third of existence, until the espion-
age and sedition laws growing out Of
/ the war with Germany were enacted,
were the infamous ALLEN and Scdition
Laws" passed in 1893, during the adj
ADMINISTRATION Of President Adams.
These laws have been branded by prHc-
tiaclly every historian since that
period as Il blot and Il stain ON Amcri-
can history. They caused such Il re-
volt Of the people that the party guilty
Of placing them on the statute books
was wiped out and utterly destroyed
and passed away forever, although it
was the party which took The leading
part in The foundation Of the republic
and was supreme up to the time it
made this fatal mistake.
ii DitScIl cSIiplltlSt anu Nt'lll ljN
laws. are remarkably like those re-
moved from the statute books and cast
aside by an indignant race Of frccmen
12O years agO. 1t remains to be seen
in the results Of future elections how
much of that original spark of Amcri-
can liberty is still alive in the hearts
of the people.
Origin of Laws.
The "Alien and SeditiOn Laws were
enacted when we were at war with
France in 1893. This war had never
consisted of anything but over acts
by France against the American navy
and merchant marine on the high seas
1t was the result Of the quarrels be-
tween France and England for the
support of the United States. The
federa]ist party under Adams and
Hamilton favored England. The re-
publican party under jefferson and
! Monroe sympathized with France. The
criticisms of the administration by the
republican party becoming particularly
bitter and virulent and being supported
by many men of foreign birth, the
federalists, in order to put an end to
1t and get rid Of what they considered
a dangerous foreign element, passed
four alien and sedition laws in June
and July, 1893.
People Muzzled. :
The first increased the length of
residence necessary for naturalization
from five to fourteen years. The other
laws authorized the arrest and depor-
tatiOn of turbulent and dangerous
aliens at the discretion of the presi.
dent, even in time of peace, and the
arrest, trial and punishment of those
who would either unlawfully combine
with others to oppose any measures
of the government, or write, print,
utter or publish anything with intent
to defame the president or the houses
of congress, or to weaken their author
ity or bring them into contempt An
alien act passed in July, 1893, author
lied the president in time of war to
restrain, secure or remove from the
country, as he pleased, all subjects of
a hostile power.
President Wilson, under whose ad-
ministratiOn laws strangely like these
have been passed, is frank and clear
in ~denOuncing these laws of 121 years
ago in his "History of the American
People"
Wilson's Opinion.
He says: "The sedition act cut peri
lousy lear the freedom of the press.
There was no telling when such exer-
cises of power would stop. The only
limitations and safeguards lay in the
temper and good sense Of the president
and the attorney general"
"Clearly the federalists had gone too
far. The Indictment Of their enemies
seemed proved-they were the party of
power, Of autocratic power, and not
the party Of popular privilege"
SO great was'the indignation of the
American people over what they con-
sidered a blow at >tlleir most sacred
liberties, that in the election Of 1900,
Jefferson, the avowed bitter foe Of
these laws, was elected president, and
Adams, who signed them, received
only about one-fourth of the electoral
votes. The federalist party, which
had dared to sponsor these laws, never
received the support of the people
again, and disappeared from history.
Hrnr r nrrn1n