The Laws of the United States of America.

Item Number: 124188

Philadelphia: Printed by Richard Folwell and William Ross, 1796-1797.

First editions of the scarce Folwell and Ross printings of the Laws of the United States as passed by the first five Congresses. Octavo, four volumes bound in full contemporary sheep with red morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, blind ruling to the spine and front panel. Printed in three volumes, the scarce first Richard Folwell editions contain the texts of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Treaty of Paris, and all the Congressional acts passed by the first through fourth Congresses with an extensive index in the third volume containing in itself a complete Digest of all the Laws of the United States. Complete with the addition of a fourth volume (also indexed), being the combined Ross and Folwell printing of the laws of the Fifth Congress, containing important early official printings of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Signed into law by President John Adams in 1798, the Alien and Sedition Acts included the Naturalization Act, signed into law on June 18, 1798, which increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from five to fourteen years and created other hurdles to citizenship the Alien Friends Act, passed on June 25, which allowed the President to imprison or deport aliens considered ‘dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States’; and the Alien Enemies Act, passed on July 6, which authorized the President to imprison or deport any male, whether an alien or American citizen, related to an enemy nation in times of war. Far more important to domestic politics of the era was the Sedition Act, passed on July 14, 1798, which made it a crime if ‘any person shall write, print, utter, or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered, or published any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States.to bring them, or either of them, into contempt or disrepute.’ A number of individuals were prosecuted under the Sedition Act, notably Representative Matthew Lyon, political writer James Callender, and several Republican newspaper editors including Benjamin Franklin Bache. The acts were denounced by Democratic-Republicans and ultimately helped them to victory in the 1800 election, when Thomas Jefferson defeated the incumbent, President Adams. The Sedition Act and the Alien Friends Act were allowed to expire in 1800 and 1801, respectively. The Alien Enemies Act, however, remains in effect as Chapter 3; Sections 21–24 of Title 50 of the United States Code and was used by the government to identify and imprison allegedly “dangerous enemy” aliens from Germany, Japan, and Italy in World War II. Also notable throughout this four-volume set are United States treaties establishing foreign and Native American relations, laws governing copyright, slavery, crime, duties, fisheries, banking, judicial powers, the office of the President, the establishment of the Treasury and War departments, the Post Office, and the census. In near fine condition. Ownership inscriptions. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable.

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, referring to the new nation as the "United States of America". The Articles of Confederation in 1781 created the Congress of the Confederation, a unicameral body with equal representation among the states in which each state had a veto over most decisions. Congress had executive but not legislative authority, and the federal judiciary was confined to admiralty and lacked authority to collect taxes, regulate commerce, or enforce laws. Between the 1780s and 1820s federalists and anti-federalists jostled for power as political parties became pronounced, surprising the Constitution's Founding Fathers. With the passage of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the anti-federalist movement was exhausted. Some activists joined the Anti-Administration Party that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were forming about 1790–91 to oppose policies of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton; it soon became the Democratic-Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party and began the era of the First Party System.