vices to erect forts and earthworks. Every French flag was now pulled
down from the coffeehouses, and the black cockade of our own
Revolutionary days was once more worn as the badge of patriotism. Then
was written, by Joseph Hopkinson of Philadelphia,[1] and sung for the
first time, our national song _Hail, Columbia!_

[Footnote 1: The music to which we sing _Hail, Columbia!_ was called
_The President's March_, and was played for the first time when the
people of Trenton were welcoming Washington on his way to be inaugurated
President in 1789. For an account of the trouble with France read
McMaster's _History of the People of the United States_, Vol. II, pp.
207-416, 427-476.]

%236. The Alien and Sedition Acts.%--Carried away by the excitement
of the hour, the Federalists now passed two most unwise laws. Many of
the active leaders and very many of the members of the Republican party
were men born abroad and naturalized in this country. Generally they
were Irishmen or Frenchmen, and as such had good reason to hate England,
and therefore hated the Federalists, who they believed were too friendly
to her. To prevent such becoming voters, and so taking an active part in
politics, the Federalists passed a new naturalization law, which forbade
any foreigner to become an American citizen until he had lived fourteen
years in our country. Lest this should not be enough to keep them
quiet, a second law was passed by which the President had power for two
years to send any alien (any of these men who for fourteen years could
not become citizens) out of the country whenever he thought it proper.
This law Adams never used.

For five years past the Republican newspapers had been abusing
Washington, Adams, the acts of Congress, the members of Congress, and
the whole foreign policy of the Federalists. The Federalist newspapers,
of course, had retaliated and had been just as abusive of the
Republicans. But as the Federalists now had the power, they determined
to punish the Republicans for their abuse, and passed the Sedition Act.
This provided that any man who acted seditiously (that is, interfered
with the execution of a law of Congress) or spoke or wrote seditiously
(that is, abused the President, or Congress, or any member of the
Federal government) should be tried, and if found guilty, be fined and
imprisoned. This law was used, and used vigorously, and Republican
editors all over the country were fined and sometimes imprisoned.[1]