From VM Fri Nov 5 13:53:05 2004 X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["3310" "Friday" "5" "November" "2004" "12:58:09" "-0500" "Janyce M. Wiebe" "wiebe@cs.pitt.edu" nil "63" "Interesting quote" "^From:" nil nil "11" nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] nil) Return-Path: Received: from gomez.cs.pitt.edu (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by gomez.cs.pitt.edu (8.12.10/8.12.5) with ESMTP id iA5HwAKW025213 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA bits=168 verify=NO) for ; Fri, 5 Nov 2004 12:58:10 -0500 (envelope-from wiebe@cs.pitt.edu) Received: (from root@localhost) by gomez.cs.pitt.edu (8.12.10/8.12.5/Submit) id iA5HwAtn025208 for wiebe@cs.pitt.edu.CLEAN; Fri, 5 Nov 2004 12:58:10 -0500 Received: from magdalena.cs.pitt.edu (magdalena.cs.pitt.edu [130.49.222.87]) by gomez.cs.pitt.edu (8.12.10/8.12.5) with ESMTP id iA5Hw9KW025182 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA bits=168 verify=NO); Fri, 5 Nov 2004 12:58:09 -0500 (envelope-from wiebe@cs.pitt.edu) Received: from magdalena.cs.pitt.edu (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by magdalena.cs.pitt.edu (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id iA5Hw9Yn023696; Fri, 5 Nov 2004 12:58:09 -0500 Received: (from wiebe@localhost) by magdalena.cs.pitt.edu (8.12.8/8.12.8/Submit) id iA5Hw9P4023692; Fri, 5 Nov 2004 12:58:09 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: <16779.48945.320904.8332@magdalena.cs.pitt.edu> References: <54.3694bb0a.2ebd1789@aol.com> X-Mailer: VM 7.07 under Emacs 21.2.1 X-Virus-Scanned: Secured by Pitt CS X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-100.0 required=10.0 tests=REFERENCES,SPAM_PHRASE_01_02,USER_IN_WHITELIST version=2.44 X-Spam-Level: From: "Janyce M. Wiebe" To: litman@cs.pitt.edu, twilson@cs.pitt.edu, pjordan@pitt.edu, vanzane@yahoo.com, peters@buffalo.edu Cc: wiebe@cs.pitt.edu Subject: Interesting quote Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 12:58:09 -0500 > For all those who are trying to make sense of Tuesday's outcome, this is from > the new Bernstein biography of Thomas Jefferson. Here is part of a > letter Jefferson sent in 1798 after the passage of the Sedition Act: > > "A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over,their > spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight,restore their > government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are > suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long > oppressions of enormous public debt......If the game runs sometimes against > us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have > an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a > game where principles are at stake." To refresh your memory, here is info about the sedition act of 1798: >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. ======= The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed on July 14, 1798 under the administration of President John Adams. They were supposed to protect the United States from "dangerous" aliens, but were used by the Federalists to stop the growth of the Democratic-Republican Party. There were actually four separate laws making up what is commonly referred to as the "Alien and Sedition Acts": 1. The Alien Act authorized the president to deport any alien considered dangerous. 2. The Alien Enemies Act authorized the president to imprison or deport any alien associated with any nation the United States was fighting in a "declared war." 3. The Naturalization Act extended the duration of residence required for aliens to become citizens, nearly tripling it from five years to 14. 4. The Sedition Act made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against government or government officials. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposed the Acts, and drafted the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in protest. Though the Acts were ostensibly written for security purposes, they were in reality a tool of the ruling Federalist party. Because most immigrants became Democratic-Republicans, the Naturalization Act's longer residency requirement meant that fewer of them could become citizens and vote against the Federalists. And if, under the Alien and Alien Enemies Acts, the president could deport any "dangerous" or "enemy" alien, potential Democratic-Republicans would never have the opportunity to vote against any Federalist. Under the Sedition Act, anyone "opposing or resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the President of the United States" could be imprisoned for up to two years. It was also illegal to "write, print, utter, or publish" anything that criticized the president or Congress. Although the Federalists hoped the Act would muffle the opposition, Democratic-Republicans still "wrote, printed, uttered and published" their criticisms of the Federalists. Ultimately the Acts backfired against the Federalists; President Adams himself never supported or used them. Only one alien was actually deported, and only ten people were ever convicted of sedition. The Acts were all repealed or expired by 1802, and ultimately contributed to the Federalists' loss in the election of 1800.