Alexander Hamilton, the Alien Law, and Seditious Libels

Abstract

The biographers of Alexander Hamilton have been almost unanimous in absolving him from any complicity in the enactment and enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798. Most of them deny that he supported those now discredited laws and portray him as a defender of civil liberties who stood against the whole Federalist party. One writer asserts that by passing the laws the Federalists “mutinied” against Hamilton's recommendation of moderation. In the only thorough study of the acts, John C. Miller concludes that they “were passed by Congress against the advice of Alexander Hamilton.” Praising him as one not easily “led into error by the anxiety or the excitement of stirring and perilous times,” an early biographer describes the Federalist leader's position as “sensible and moderate.” Two of Jefferson's most widely read biographers credit Hamilton with opposing the law, and Albert J. Beveridge pictures him as an earlier and stronger opponent of the bills than Jefferson.