Part IV follows the Democratic-Republicans as the prosecutions widen and the question becomes practical as much as constitutional: who gets to decide if the Alien and Sedition Acts are unconstitutional when the federal courts and Congress are controlled by Federalists. With few options left, Jefferson and Madison turn to state power through the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, triggering a national debate over the First Amendment, federal authority, and whether states can interpose or nullify federal law. From there, the story shifts into the endgame, with a second stage of enforcement tied to Fries’ Rebellion and Justice Samuel Chase’s aggressive courtroom posture, then a third wave of prosecutions aimed at editors and critics in the run up to the election of 1800, including the sustained campaign against the Aurora and high profile cases like Thomas Cooper and James Callender. The section closes with the Quasi-War ending, the Sedition Act prosecutions stopping and then sunsetting, Jefferson’s victory and pardons, and the longer aftermath in the judiciary, including the Midnight Judges, the impeachment battles, Marbury v. Madison, and how this crisis helped shape a more modern American understanding of freedom of speech and the press.

Part 2 follows Congress as the Quasi-War fears peak and the Federalists move a package of laws aimed at immigrants and political opposition: the Naturalization Act, the Alien Enemies Act, the Alien Friends Act, and the Sedition Act. We break down what each law did, the penalties and sunset clauses, and the core constitutional fight over whether criminalizing criticism of the government could coexist with the First Amendment, including the competing Federalist and Democratic-Republican theories of seditious libel and federal court power.

Part 3 then moves from legislation to enforcement, as Jefferson warns of a coming "reign of witches" and the first wave of prosecutions begins, targeting opposition newspapers and loud political enemies. We track how the Federal court system and Federalist marshals shaped outcomes, and we follow early cases and flashpoints like the Aurora prosecutions, Congressman Matthew Lyon, the Wild Irishman cases, tavern-talk prosecutions, and the Liberty Pole cases that exposed how uneven justice could look in practice.

Part I sets the stage for the Alien and Sedition Act crisis by tracing the young republic’s first decade: the new Constitution and Bill of Rights, Washington’s cabinet, and the birth of political parties as Hamilton and Jefferson clash over finance and federal power. As the French, Haitian, and Irish revolutions convulse the Atlantic world and Britain responds with crackdowns on dissent, refugees flood into the United States, polarization hardens, and foreign policy flashpoints like the Jay Treaty, Citizen Genet, and the XYZ Affair push America toward the Quasi-War with France.