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224. Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798.
224．《客籍法案》和《惩治煽动叛乱法案》（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.
即使所有联邦党人团结起来也不可能赢得1800年大选，因为他们已经误用他们的权力通过了几部十分愚蠢的法案。这些法规中第一部是《移民和国籍法案》，它将外国移民在美国获得投票权的条件由在美国居住5年延长到14年，这部法案对共和党人影响颇大，因为大部分移民都是共和党人。还有一些法规，如《客籍法案》也针对共和党的移民，这些法规给总统权力迫使移民或者离开美国，或者在总统指定的地方居住。最为糟糕的法律是《惩治煽动叛乱法案》，这部法规针对共和党报纸的出版商和作者，它规定，如果有人在新闻界攻击政府，他将被作为一个煽动言论者受到严厉惩罚。根据这部法规审理了几个案子，每一次审判都招来数以百计的人决定在下一届选举中投票给共和党人。
