Editing Alien and Sedition Acts (section)

=== Alien Friends Act ===
{{Infobox U.S. legislation
| shorttitle = Alien Friends Act
| longtitle = An Act concerning Aliens
| nickname = 
| enacted by = 5th
| announced in = <!--like "enacted by" but for proposed/unpassed legislation-->
| effective date = 
| cite public law = {{USPL|5|58}}
| cite statutes at large = {{USStat|1|570}}
| acts amended = 
| acts repealed = 
| title amended = <!--US code titles changed-->
| sections created = 
| sections amended = 
| leghisturl = 
| introducedin = 
| introducedbill = 
| introducedby = 
| introduceddate = 
| committees = 
| passedbody1 = 
| signedpresident = John Adams
| signeddate = June 25, 1798
| amendments = 
| SCOTUS cases = 
| statsvol = 1
| passeddate1 = 
| passedvote1 = 
| passedbody2 =
| passeddate2 = 
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}}
The Alien Friends Act (officially "An Act Concerning Aliens") authorized the president to arbitrarily deport any non-citizen that was determined to be "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States."<ref>
{{cite web
 |title=An Act Concerning Aliens
 |date=25 June 1798
 |id=Sess II, Chap. 58; 5th Congress
 |website=memory.loc.gov
 |publisher=[[U.S. Library of Congress]]
 |url=https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=693
}}
</ref> Once a non-citizen was determined to be dangerous, or was suspected of conspiring against the government, the president had the power to set a reasonable amount of time for departure, and remaining after the time limit could result to up to three years in prison. The law was never directly enforced, but it was often used in conjunction with the Sedition Act to suppress criticism of the Adams administration. Upon enactment, the Alien Friends Act was authorized for two years, and it was [[Sunset provision|allowed to expire at the end of this period]]. Democratic-Republicans opposed the law, with [[Thomas Jefferson]] referring to it as "a most detestable thing... worthy of the 8th or 9th century."{{r|Wood2011|p=249}}

While the law was not directly enforced, it resulted in the voluntary departure of foreigners who feared that they would be charged under the act. The Adams administration encouraged these departures, and Secretary of State [[Timothy Pickering]] would ensure that the ships were granted passage. Though Adams did not delegate the final decision-making power, Secretary Pickering was responsible for overseeing enforcement of the Alien Friends Act. Both Adams and Pickering considered the law too weak to be effective; Pickering expressed his desire for the law to require [[sureties]] and authorize detainment prior to deportation.<ref name=":1">
{{Cite journal 
|last=Smith 
|first=James Morton 
|date=1954 
|title=The Enforcement of the Alien Friends Act of 1798 
|journal=The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 
|volume=41 
|issue=1 
|pages=85–104 
|doi=10.2307/1898151 
|jstor=1898151 
|issn=0161-391X}}
</ref>

Many French nationals were considered for deportation but were allowed to leave willingly, or Adams declined to take action against them. These figures included: philosopher [[Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney]], General [[Victor Collot]], scholar [[Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry]], diplomat [[Victor Marie du Pont]]. Secretary Pickering also proposed applying the act against the French diplomatic delegation to the United States, but Adams refused. Journalist [[John Daly Burk]] agreed to leave under the act informally to avoid being tried for sedition, but he went into hiding in Virginia until the act's expiration.<ref name=":1" /> Adams never signed a deportation order.{{r|miller|page1=187–193}}