John Adams and the Sedition Acts
* When John Adams became president in 1800, the US seemed to be close to war with both Britain and France. Adam's Federalist Party pushed through the Sedition and Alien Acts, outlawing criticism of the president and deporting aliens who were deemed a threat.* Twenty five people were arrested and ten convicted for up to eighteen months in prison. An unknown number of French immigrants fled.
* As repression goes, the Sedition Acts are minor. Yet they receive quite a bit of attention from historians, in part as a way to study how a nation claiming to have only a few decades before fought for freedom was willing to throw people in jail solely for their views. In one case a man was even jailed for his outburst while drunk.
* Adams certainly deserves much of the blame for these acts. He pushed for them, and he led the party which passed them. But there were no deaths from these acts, thus they are not included. Even the deportations were only threatened, and no orders were ever signed or carried out.