https://youtu.be/ys4E4Xle1T8?si=5RpoCgtqcXAwkuaM

President John Adams oversees the passage of the Naturalization Act, the first of four pieces of controversial legislation known together as the Alien and Sedition Acts, on June 18, 1798. Strong political opposition to these acts succeeded in undermining the Adams administration, helping Thomas Jefferson to win the presidency in 1800.

At the time, America was threatened by war with France, and Congress was attempting to pass laws that would give more authority to the federal government, and the president in particular, to deal with suspicious persons, especially foreign nationals. The Naturalization Act raised the requirements for aliens to apply for U.S. citizenship, requiring that immigrants reside in the U.S. for 14 years before becoming eligible. The earlier law had required only five years of residence before an application could be made.

Adams, in fact, never enforced the Naturalization Act. Nevertheless, he came under heavy fire from opponents, led by Vice President Thomas Jefferson, who felt that the Naturalization Act and its companion legislation were unconstitutional and smacked of despotism. So disgusted was Jefferson with Adams’ enthusiastic support of the law that he could no longer support the president and left Washington during the Congressional vote. 

Source and complete article: history.com

Of the four acts, the Sedition Act was the most distressing to staunch First Amendment advocates. They objected to the fact that treasonable activity was vaguely defined, was defined at the discretion of the president, and would be punished by heavy fines and imprisonment. The arrest and imprisonment of 25 men for supposedly violating the Sedition Act ignited an enormous outcry against the legislation. Among those arrested was Benjamin Franklin’s grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache, who was the editor of the Republican-leaning Philadelphia Democrat-Republican Aurora. Citing Adams’ abuse of presidential powers and threats to free speech, Jefferson’s party took control of Congress and the presidency in 1800.

The full article is at history.com

Source: NBCNews,

A Section 1983 lawsuit is a civil rights lawsuit. It can be filed by someone whose civil rights have been violated. You can file a lawsuit if the wrongdoer was acting under color of law.¹

Civil rights are those guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution or certain federal laws. The Supreme Court recognizes that there is a deprivation of rights when:

• police misconduct such as excessive force and unreasonable use of force (like the use of a taser during an arrest),²
• police officers wantonly search your home and kill their dogs,³
• a judge sexually assaults women while in the course of his/her job,⁴
• state officials strip welfare recipients of their benefits,⁵
• jail guards put an ex-gang member in a prison cell with current gang members, even after being told of the danger.⁶

Rights guaranteed by state law cannot be the basis of a Section 1983 lawsuit. Only federal rights are protected by the statute.⁷

1.1. How it works

Technically, Section 1983 is nothing more than a procedural device based on a federal statute. It gives federal courts jurisdiction to hear civil rights actions.

No one can be liable under Section 1983. Instead, it creates liability for violating other federal laws. That is why 1983 cases always include an alleged violation of another law, such as the:

• First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, and the press),
• Fourth Amendment (for example, arrests without probable cause, unreasonable searches),⁸
• Eighth Amendment (freedom from cruel and unusual punishment),⁹
• Fourteenth Amendment (for example, lack of due process, equal protection), or
• Social Security Act.¹⁰

1215 – King John of England put his seal on the Magna Carta.

1381 – The English peasant revolt was crushed in London.

1389 – Ottoman Turks crushed Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo.

1607 – Colonists in North America completed James Fort in Jamestown, VA.

1667 – Jean-Baptiste Denys administered the first fully-documented human blood transfusion. He successfully transfused the blood of a sheep to a 15-year old boy.

1752 – Benjamin Franklin experimented by flying a kite during a thunderstorm. The result was a little spark that showed the relationship between lightning and electricity.

1775 – George Washington was appointed head of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress.

1836 – Arkansas became the 25th U.S. state.

1844 – Charles Goodyear was granted a patent for the process that strengthens rubber.

1846 – The United States and Britain settled a boundary dispute concerning the boundary between the U.S. and Canada, by signing a treaty.

1864 – An order to establish a military burial ground was signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The location later became known as Arlington National Cemetery.

1866 – Prussia attacked Austria.

1877 – Henry O. Flipper became the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

1898 – The U.S. House of representatives approved the annexation of Hawaii.

1909 – Benjamin Shibe patented the cork center baseball.

1911 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. was incorporated in the state of New York. The company was later renamed International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.

1916 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.

1917 – Great Britain pledged the release of all the Irish captured during the Easter Rebellion of 1916.

1919 – Captain John Alcock and Lt. Arthur W. Brown won $50,000 for successfully completing the first, non-stop trans-Atlantic plane flight.

1938 – Johnny Vandemeer (Cincinnati Reds) pitched his second straight no-hitter.

1940 – The French fortress of Verdun was captured by Germans.

1944 – American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II.

1947 – The All-Indian Congress accepted a British plan for the partition of India.

1948 – Soviet authorities announced that the Autobahn would be closed indefinitely “for repairs.”

1958 – Greece severed military ties to Turkey because of the Cypress issue.

1964 – The last French troops left Algeria.

1978 – King Hussein of Jordan married 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor.

1981 – The U.S. agreed to provide Pakistan with $3 billion in military and economic aid from October 1982 to October 1987.

1982 – In the capital city of Stanley, the Falklands war ended as Argentine troops surrendered to the British.

1983 – The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced its position on abortion by striking down state and local restriction on abortions.

1986 – Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, reported that the chief engineer of the Chernobyl nuclear plant was dismissed for mishandling the incident at the plant.

1992 – It was ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court that the government could kidnap criminal suspects from foreign countries for prosecution.

1992 – U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle instructed a student to spell “potato” with an “e” on the end during a spelling bee. He had relied on a faulty flash card that had been written by the student’s teacher.

1994 – Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.

1999 – South Korean naval forces sank a North Korean torpedo boat during an exchange in the disputed Yellow Sea.