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Criminal dissent prosecutions under the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798

The prosecution of dissent under the Alien and Sedition Acts affected far more people than previously realized. It also provoked the first battle over the Bill of Rights. Wendell Bird provides the definitive account of a dark moment in U.S. history, reminding us that expressive freedom and oppositio...

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Bibliographic Details
Call Number:Libro Electrónico
Main Author: Bird, Wendell R. (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:Inglés
Published: Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England Harvard University Press 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:Texto completo
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Federalist and Republican views of government
  • Passing laws against internal enemies
  • The Sedition Act first campaign: "The suppression of the Whig presses": Common law sedition prosecutions
  • Targeting opposition members of Congress
  • Keeping the North safe from sedition
  • Failed prosecutions
  • The Virginia and Kentucky resolutions
  • The Sedition Act second campaign: The rebellion the army could not find
  • The Fries Rebellion and sedition
  • The army and the Sedition Act
  • The Sedition Act Third campaign: The "reign of witches" and the election of 1800
  • A new round of enforcement
  • New York prosecutions
  • New England prosecutions
  • Prowling the circuit stalking sedition
  • The Alien Act: "Worthy of the 8th. or 9th. Century"
  • French intriguers and hordes of wild Irishmen
  • At the mercy of one man
  • Epilogue