The first of these attempts resulted in the ill-fated Alien
and Sedition laws of 1798, which extended to fourteen years the period
of probation before a foreigner could be naturalized and which
attempted to safeguard the Government against defamatory attacks. The
Jeffersonians, who came into power in 1801 largely upon the issue
raised by this attempt to curtail free speech, made short shrift of
this unpopular law and restored the term of residence to five years.
The second anti-foreign movement found expression in the Know-Nothing
party, which rose in the decade preceding the Civil War. The third
movement brought about a secret order called the American Protective
Association, popularly known as the A.P.A., which, like the
Know-Nothing hysteria, was aimed primarily at the Catholic Church. Its
platform stated that "the conditions growing out of our immigration
laws are such as to weaken our democratic institutions," and that "the
immigrant vote, under the direction of certain ecclesiastical
institutions," controlled politics. In 1896 the organization claimed
two and a half million adherents, and the air was vibrant with ominous
rumors of impending events. But nothing happened. The A.P.A.
disappeared suddenly and left no trace.
For over a century it was almost universally believed that the
prosperity of the country depended largely upon a copious influx of
population.
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