Made illegal the writing, publishing, or printing of "any false scandalous and malicious writing" about the president, congress, or the federal government.
The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed in 1798 by President John Adams. They made it possible for the federal government to imprison any immigrant suspected of working against the common good and also to imprison anyone who said anything bad about the government (which completely violated the First Amendment, by the way).
