Alien and Sedition Acts: Fear Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Law.Section)

Quote #4

"to intimidate or prevent any person holding a place or office in or under the government of the United States, from undertaking, performing or executing his trust or duty, and if any person or persons, with intent as aforesaid, shall counsel, advise or attempt to procure any insurrection, riot, unlawful assembly, or combination, whether such conspiracy, threatening, counsel, advice, or attempt shall have the proposed effect or no..." (Sedition.1)

The important part with regards to fear is the list of scary language there in the middle: "insurrection, riot, unlawful assembly." You'll note that this is pretty nebulous language. Go on, define any one of them….and realize you can already think of exceptions. That's one of the big problems here.

Quote #5

"And report, as aforesaid, shall be made in all cases of residence, within six months from and after the passing of this act, and in all after cases, within forty-eight hours after the first arrival or coming into the territory of the United States, and shall ascertain the sex, place- of birth, age, nation, place of allegiance or citizenship, condition or occupation, and place of actual or intended residence within the United States, of the alien or aliens reported, and by whom the report is made..." (Naturalization.4)

That's a lot of information that supposedly needs to be tracked…especially when we're talking about people who haven't committed any crime.