Antifederalists Opponents of ratification of the Constitution and of a strong central government; united by the belief that liberty could be secure only in a small republic in which the rulers were physically close to those they ruled; argued that a strong national government should be hedged in...
Signed into law by President John Adams in 1798, the Alien and Sedition Acts consisted of four laws passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress as America prepared for war with France. These acts increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from five to fourteen years, authorized th...