The acts of Alienation and Sedition were four laws passed by Adams and Congress in 1798. The first act, the Naturalization Act, said that people had to live in the United States for 14 years to be a citizen instead of five. The Foreign Enemies Act gave the president the power to imprison or expel enemies in the states. The Aliens Act gave the president the power to expel all foreigners. The Sedition Act proclaimed that it was illegal to speak false, bad, or critically about government. This law caused a major problem because it overturned the first amendment on freedom of thought, prey, and speech. In response, Republican Democrats approved the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions; they believed that the Aliens and Sedition Laws were unconstitutional.
