Passing Laws against Internal Enemies

As the 1790s progressed, the divisions between Federalists and Republicans widened. Each charged that the other was seeking to overthrow the Constitution and government under it—deviously rendering the federal government ineffectual or illicitly expanding it—and that the other was in league with a foreign power—France or Britain. Even wider chasms appeared between the partisan newspapers. Both sides saw enemies abounding. By 1798, maritime attacks and threats from France seemed to be escalating from a half-war to a full war, and invasion looked likely enough to require expensive defense mea sures and new taxes. In that year of