In July 1798, Congress passed the Sedition Act, which made it a crime to: write, print, utter or publish… any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States, with intent to defame… or to bring them… into contempt or disrepute; or to excite against them… the hatred of the good people of the United States.
