The Alien and sedition Acts showed the different points of view between the Democratic-Republican Jeffersonians and the Federalists. The Acts made by the Federalist Congress dealt with how to deal with the naturalization of foreign aliens, how much power the central government should have, and restricted the rights of freedom of speech and press given to American citizens via the Bill of Rights.

After the French heard about Jay's Treaty with the British, they were outraged. They saw it as a direct violation of the Franco-American Treaty of 1778. French warships started to seize American merchant vessels. Thomas Jefferson, who, like many of his fellow Democratic-Republicans, was in favor of keeping a cordial association with France, was very ashamed of how the French had acted. But the largest difficulty was still to come. The XYZ affair infuriated American colonists beyond belief. The Federalists were ecstatic over the horrendous occurrence...