A New Round of Enforcement

The Adams administration launched a third campaign of enforcement of the Sedition Act in the latter half of 1799, which was timed to cause defendants to be indicted and arrested during the autumn sessions of the United States Circuit Courts, and then to be brought to trial during the spring sessions of those courts—shortly before the state and federal elections in 1800. The campaign was begun by a series of nearly identical letters sent by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering to the United States attorneys in several states just before and during August 1799.¹ The third campaign’s targets were