he Federalists introduced four bills, known as the Alien and Sedition Acts to the legislature. The first three, passed in June and July 1798, dealt with aliens residing in the United States. Immigrants were distrusted because of a basic belief that unless you were born in the U.S. you weren't really a good American. Federalists touted this belief and Gray Otis declared "the native American germ" was the only one sufficient to produce such individuals as are "worth cultivation." In 1798 the Massachusetts legislature proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow only citizens born in the U.S. to hold public office. Some wanted to go further and end all immigration into the U.S., since recently many immigrants had arrived from France and Ireland, where anti-British sentiment and revolutionary radicalism made life difficult. Aliens, once naturalized, tended to support the Republican Party, which galled the Federalists.
             The first bill, the Naturalization Act, extended the period of probationary residence prior to citizensh
             ...