Criminal Dissent : : Prosecutions under the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 / / Wendell Bird.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Harvard University Press Complete eBook-Package 2020
• VerfasserIn: Bird, Wendell,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (512 p.)

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 opposition politics are essential to a stable democracy.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. Federalist and Republican Views of Government -- 2. Passing Laws against Internal Enemies -- The Sedition Act First Campaign: The “Suppression of the Whig Presses” -- 3. Common Law Sedition Prosecutions -- 4. Targeting Opposition Members of Congress -- 5. Keeping the North Safe from Sedition -- 6. Failed Prosecutions -- 7. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions -- The Sedition Act Second Campaign: The Rebellion the Army Could Not Find -- 8. The Fries Rebellion and Sedition -- 9. The Army and the Sedition Act -- The Sedition Act Third Campaign: “The Reign of Witches” and the Election of 1800 -- 10. A New Round of Enforcement -- 11. New York Prosecutions -- 12. New England Prosecutions -- 13. Prowling the Circuit Stalking Sedition -- The Alien Act: “Worthy of the 8th. or 9th. Century” -- 14. French Intriguers and Hordes of Wild Irishmen -- 15. At the Mercy of One Man -- Epilogue -- Appendix: Alien and Sedition Act Prosecutions -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index