The Alien And Sedition Acts :: essays research papers

The debate over the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 revea lead bitter controversies on a number of issues that had been developing since the penning of the personality. The writers of the document knew that over clip the needs of the nation and its deal would change, and therefore provided for its amendment. But by not expressly delegating tycoons to specific organizations, whether the federal government, state governments, or the people themselves, they inadvertently created a major(ip) problem in the years to draw Constitutional interpretation.Shortly after the Constitutions ratification, two distinct camps formed, each believing in opposite manners of interpretation. One group, the Federalists, led by the newly institute Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, thought that the Constitution should be interpreted precise loosely. He claimed that the Constitution contained powers other than those delegated or enumerated. These unspecified powers were implied powers. To explain these powers, Hamilton utter it would be natural - or implied - that the federal government would gain ascendancy over any territory gained through conquest of purchase, although the Constitution make no mention of territorial control. In essence, Hamilton wished to use the implied powers to build a strong and authoritative commutation government.In 1789, the Minister to France Thomas Jefferson, to Francis Hopkinson of Pennsylvania, protesting that "I am not of the party of the federalists. But I am much far from that of the anitfederalists." However, the situation was so sensitive that he could not help yet chose a side. In 1795, Jefferson wrote to a congressman from Virginia, William Giles, that he "held "t ethical to take a firm and decided part." The group he sided with, the Democratic-Republicans, happy a strict interpretation. As their leader, Jefferson argued that all powers not enumerated by the Constitution belonged to the States. The basi s for his argument was the old English "compact" theory. This theory declared that various individuals, in this case the states, joined together in a formal agreement of government. Since the states had drawn up the contract and given power to the federal government, it should be up to them to decide who received the power, not the embody they created.This debate over interpretation thus sparked one of the first and major issues that eventually led to the Alien and Sedition Acts should a strong central government be formed (federalist desire), or should the individual states have control. And ill-considered attacks of the ensuing debate also ignited the second issue, public defamation, which led to the Sedition Act.