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224. Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798.
224．《客籍法案》和《懲治煽動叛亂法案》（1798年）
The Federalists, even if they had been united, would probably have been defeated in the election of 1800. For they had misused their power to pass several very foolish laws. The first of these laws was the Naturalization Act. It lengthened the time of residence in the United States from five to fourteen years before a foreign immigrant could gain the right to vote. This law bore very harshly on the Republicans, because most of the immigrants were Republicans. Other laws, called the Alien Acts, were also aimed at the Republican immigrants. These laws gave the President power to compel immigrants to leave the United States, or to live in certain places that he named. The worst law of all was the Sedition Act. This was aimed against the writers and printers of Republican newspapers. It provided that any one who attacked the government in the press should be severely punished as a seditious person. Several trials were held under this law. Every trial made hundreds of persons determined to vote for the Republican candidate at the next election.
即使所有聯邦黨人團結起來也不可能贏得1800年大選，因為他們已經誤用他們的權力通過了幾部十分愚蠢的法案。這些法規中第一部是《移民和國籍法案》，它將外國移民在美國獲得投票權的條件由在美國居住5年延長到14年，這部法案對共和黨人影響頗大，因為大部分移民都是共和黨人。還有一些法規，如《客籍法案》也針對共和黨的移民，這些法規給總統權力迫使移民或者離開美國，或者在總統指定的地方居住。最為糟糕的法律是《懲治煽動叛亂法案》，這部法規針對共和黨報紙的出版商和作者，它規定，如果有人在新聞界攻擊政府，他將被作為一個煽動言論者受到嚴厲懲罰。根據這部法規審理了幾個案子，每一次審判都招來數以百計的人決定在下一屆選舉中投票給共和黨人。
