During the height of the Quasi War with France,  the Federalist Congress passed a series of laws, including the Sedition Act of 1798, which made it a crime to maliciously criticize the government or its officials.   This law was opposed overwhelmingly by most Democratic Republicans.   This debate was one of the first important constitutional disputes in our nation’s history.

Read both the First Amendment and the text of the Sedition Act itself, and then  compare the following two documents:

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄMajority Report of the 5^th Congress on the Sedition Act, 1798

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄGeorge Hay    "Hortensius: an Essay on Freedom of the Press” 1799

Consider how the impact of the American Revolution; the ratification effort to adopt the Constitution; the passage of the Bill of Rights; the growth of political factions in the United States; and the French Revolution and its impact on the United States played a role in this controversy and consider the following questions in your essay:

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄWhat clause of the Constitution does Congress rely on to justify legislation dealing with the press?

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄWho or what does Congress state the law is designed to protect?

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄHow does Congress justify its assertion that the law does not abridge freedom of the press?

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄHow does Congress maintain that it is not expanding the role of government or giving it any new power or authority?

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄWhat does Congress state would have been unconstitutional if it had been prohibited?

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄWhat did Hay believe the authors of the First Amendment intended? 

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄDid Hay believe there was any distinction between protected speech and malicious speech?

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄDid Hay believe it was proper for the government or the courts to determine what was true and what was malicious speech?   Or that it was even possible?

ïÄÄÄÄÄÄWhat great damage to the country did Hay foresee if the Sedition Act were to remain the law of the land?

*   Why did Hay believe that malicious speech would not prove harmful even if allowed?