Abstract
Part I will review the political and legislative standards of early America. This background provides the understanding of the conditions that led to the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Part II will assess the constitutionality of the Acts, particularly the Sedition Act. This part will focus on the contemporary legal and political arguments from both sides of the dispute. Finally, Part III will review the legal positions of each of the Supreme Court Justices at the time of the presidency of John Adams. Here, the paper will draw from contemporary accounts to determine that the Court overwhelmingly supported the Sedition Act, even though the law facially violates the First Amendment.
Volume
110
Issue
2
Page
181
Year
2026
Recommended Citation
Adam Koch,
Founding Freedoms on Trial: Speech, Sedition, and Executive Authority,
110
Minn. L. Rev. Headnotes
181
(2026).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr-headnotes/vol110/iss2/3
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
Publication Abbreviation
Minn. L. Rev. Headnotes
