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Alien and Sedition Acts were reviled in their time, and John Adams was not sorry to see them go

The Conversation
Summary
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76% Informative

John Adams signed the Sedition Act of 1798 to silence the Federalists’ political opponents.

It was one of four laws Congress passed in 1798 in an attempt to solve a perceived threat from the French and their supporters in the U.S. It was a reputation-ruining decision that painted Adams as a man who put national security and his reputation above freedom of speech and the press.

The Act was used to silence critical media and historians tend to take a dim view of it.

Marianne Holdzkom : The Alien and Sedition Acts were mistakes that Adams lived to regret.

She says Adams saved the U.S. from what would have been a disastrous war by pursuing peace negotiations with France .

She writes that Adams sacrificed personal popularity for the common good in choosing peace with France rather than subject the American people to another war.

VR Score

81

Informative language

79

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29

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semi-formal

Language

English

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55

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not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

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not detected

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detected

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medium-lived

External references

37

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