The "Half War" With France

Monday April 9, 2012

     Well today we finally started our last book of the semester!  The book is called "Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime" by Geoffrey R. Stone.  I am actually happy that we saved this book for last because it is SO much easier to read than the first two.  The book flows so much easier and it doesn't feel like a bunch of information is thrown at you at once.  So today we discussed the first chapter.  This chapter was 78 pages long (all the chapters are pretty lengthy), but the reading goes quite quickly.
     The chapter talks a great deal about the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.  This act was actually four bills that were passed by the Federalists after the French Revolution.  The acts were supposed to protect the country against anarchy.  Like many acts passed by the government, the Alien and Sedition Acts were very debatable, and still are today.  The first part was the Naturalization Act that made the rules of citizenship.  Next, was the Alien Act.  This act gave the president the power to deport any person who he considered a danger or threat to the United States.  Many believed that this gave the president too much power because he could basically deport anyone who he felt like it just by saying that the person could be a threat.  The third act was the Alien Enemies Act.  This gave the president the power to deport anyone who was from a country that the U.S. was at war with.  So if the country was at war with Germany, the president could deport ALL Germans if he wanted to.  This did not exclude people who were legal citizens; anyone could be sent back to their home/native country.  The last part was the Sedition Act.  This act made it illegal for people to publish false or scandalous writing against the government or people of the government.  This act goes against freedom of speech, but the government thought it was constitutional because the people who published lies were seen as a threat to the government and; therefore, were not allowed the same rights as others.
     We had a great discussion on the question, "Today, would the Alien and Friends Act be viewed as unconstitutional?  Had this Act been revived right after 9/11, what would the ramifications of it have been?"  I believe that if this was revived that the country would have went mad!  People everywhere would be screaming for their Freedom of Speech and say that the government is becoming too communist.  If this was re-used after 9/11 the country would have become even more divided between those who support the act or those against it, and the government versus the "common" person.
     We also talked about the similarities between the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and the Sedition Acts of 1917.  In both cases the U.S. was anticipating invasion from either France or Mexico.  There was a state of war or a fear of a state of war.  There was also the believe that the government was trying to protect its merchant ships and outside affairs with other countries.  However, in 1798 there was a fear of anarchy, whereas in 1917 there was a fear of communism.  In 1917 the Sedition Acts were used more as a political tool.
     Like in other times during the semester, we talked about the First Amendment, especially the differences between back in 1798 and today.  I believe that back then the First Amendment was used more strictly because even though people disagreed with the government and had their own opinions, they mainly kept their ideas to themselves or among their friends.  Today, we use the First Amendment a lot.  People today believe that they can say whatever that want because they have the freedom of speech.  Because our country is more creative and diverse than it used to be, the government lets more things go that would have gotten people into a lot of trouble back in the late 1700s.  It could also have something to do with people of today's world:  everyone wants to be seen as unique and different, but yet they want to be accepted.  I also believe that this could have something to do with the fact that back in the day people had more respect for their government and the majority of people trusted the government to do the right thing and protect the people.  Today, after years of being led astray, people are less likely to trust what the government says and go against it.  
     The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were also discussed today.  There were a few different reasons why Thomas Jefferson and James Madison secretly drafted these documents.  First, they knew that they were doing was dangerous and the majority of people would not agree with them.  Next, they were going against the federal government.  This could pose dangerous to their reputations.  Last, the American people of the time were already divided over several different issues, and the Kentucky and Virginia Resolution would have only furthered this division.  I believe that they also kept the secret because they wanted to make sure that their thoughts were well written and they had ample support for their ideas.  For example, I would not write about a topic that I knew nothing about and show it off to people like it was truth because people would know that I did not know what I was talking about.  Jefferson and Madison did a good thing by keeping their ideas secret and only sharing with a select few because then if the idea was to take off, it would already have supporters.